Laser Stories Board

[ArtF]

Hi Everyone:


  Well, we've hit the point others are hooking up lasers, and testing Auggie, so this board may be a handy
place to collect information, not just on how to manipulate Auggie for lasers, but any info one would like to share
about cutting speeds, power, material and cool patterns or experiences. From Wiring a laser up, or troubleshooting
a problem, this type of information can be hard to find, so if you have anything interesting, feel free to mention it
here. Comparisons to DSP driven machines or other software would be great as would photos of work done on
any system.  Nice relief files or projects to cut would be great too, as I know I spend a lot of time finding and
making such things.. Over time, we may be able to collect quite a bit of usefull information here.

Thx
Art

PS: As a start, here's my relief image of a Gearotic Badge..

[GlennD]

The picture I started with is on the other PC so I can't load it but.
It came from the google K40 forum that some one else had ran.
I did a screen shot and used it.

Was running at 6000mm/m and varying power outputs.
The darkest part in the bottom of the right photo was 40% and the upper half was 25% i think.
50mm/75mm picture size.
Glenn
Edit Add original photo.

[ArtF]

Not bad.....

Art

[GlennD]

It actually looks pretty good the phone camera blurs it out some.
You can see better detail.  I can say with certainty the output for Grey scale is way better with Auggie than the DSP that I have.
Machine is the same for both controllers.
I still have to figure out how to cut something out.
I did a simple 10 mm square.
M3
G0X0Y0
G1 X10.
   Y10.
   X0.
   Y0.
M5
M30
Power at 90% and after 3 passes on the 5mm acrylic I didn't get through.
With the DSP i am able to get through in 2 passes pretty easily, depending on how well I have things set up.
Yep a taper issue but wasn't horrible.
With the DSP i was running 10mm/s I think I was doing 600mm/m was on last Friday so not 100% sure I am correct on that.
i am pretty sure I had the correct set up when i gave it a go.
I do know you don't want to go to slow the PWM is just to low for the speed output.

Any hints as to what i am doing wrong?

Glenn
Update: as of revision 1.48 this no longer an issue Auggie is working for cutting just tested it 4/27/16

[ArtF]

Glen:

Im not sure as yet is the best answer.. I was running tests all day and cleared up many issues,
and Im not sure if that would be a PWM issue ( too limited.. ) or something perhaps Im doing.. We'll
know more over the next couple days. We did get a k40 running tonight and are finding the power lower
than I think it should be, and Im wondering if we need to use a higher current pwm, ( The OC-PWMs are higher
current.. What channel did you use? Same as mine?).

  Next couple of days will probably tell us. It took me a year to get Auggie to this stage, now that multiple
people are lasing, I think things will move much quicker. :)

  Glad to hear we can beat the grey scale of the DSP.. I think if we can figure out the power fully we'll have
a great replacement  controller for K40's and the like.. I find my results are starting to top my chinese
laser's DSP in terms of quality, though at lower power...

Thx.. Ill keep reporting what we find...

Art

[GlennD]

Art
Pin20/PWM pin2.
Since i am really not using the pin but running it through the transistor circuit I have the full 5v needed plus higher amperage to  draw from then the pin allows.  At least I think that is correct.

Hopefully tomorrow i can try a PWM out with the G code I have set up and see what I get.
See my post on Shared PWM
Probably get a over burn but not going to hurt to see.
Thanks
Glenn

[DanL]

your circuit works fine Glenn I have had no problems with it ;D

[GlennD]

Test on running the straight PWM value to cut. Using the G110 P value.
600mm/m and 85% laser power 2 passes cuts through the 5mm acrylic, beautifully.
Made it three quarters of the way through on the first pass.

M3
G110P85
G1X10
Y10
X0
Y0
G110P0
M5
M30

I had run the above code in single line mode since every time i loaded the Gcode file Auggie would crash.

Finally figured out why Doh, M3 M5 are not compatible with running the G110 since both are using the same PWM Pin.
So removing the M3 M5 the file loaded fine.  In single line mode i started at the G110 and never made it to the M5

Hope this helps.

Thanks
Glenn

[ArtF]

Hi Glen:

Yes, to use direct PWM, Id turn off the laser spindle, and select another. Not sure why the crash yet, looking into it. I do think Ive found why the difference, a new version will be out tomorrow to  see. I think distance correction was failing at low feedrates, its been corrected,
so you may find the laser spindle cuts just as easily after I update..  In the end Id prefer all lasering to be done with Laser Spindle as its safer
and has the added capability that you can pause and such and cutting stops..

  Just a matter of tweaking till I find the rigth way to do that.,. lol

Art

[GlennD]

Art
I whole heartily agree. 
I would prefer to just have the M3 and not be switching back and forth.

I wanted to see if that made a difference though.

I decided to put my bigger table build on hold, too much fun playing with the K40 right now.
Get to see immediate results.  ;D

Question I also made a adapter board so i didn't have to rewire inside the K40 cabinet.  It converts the stock home switches and the cabling to something that is direct wire to a BOB for the pokeys.  Is it alright if i post it with the Pokey bob board?
Thank you
Glenn

[ArtF]

Glenn:

Of course, feel free to post anything you think helps anyone with anything..,
its really hard to find K40 or any laser info on wiring or specs , so Id like as much as possible
stored here for future wonderer... :)

Art

[Ya-Nvr-No]

Here is a photo of my recent test of power and feeds on a Luan plywood board.

I started off at 5% power output with each line being 10" to 300" per minute @10" feed change per line
1" long the top two are 3" long.

Minimum on my K40 was set to 52 and max 100, I still need to build a boost circuit to get to the 5+ volts.
So only really getting about 80% out of the tube for power at this time.
This was a good way for me to test the physical results, the K40 ma meter and the Oscilloscope (showing PWM output).

Once I found my minimum (52) in my case that takes out the coning shape you see in the bottom row (notice the length of lines truncated as the feed increased)

I incrementally increase power for each test block sequence.

Then use a single edge razor blade to gauge depths.

My intentions are to write a routine to do this for each material I might want to use.

[Ya-Nvr-No]

Here is a photo of me showing the results through a piece if note paper I tested on. (looking at a florescent lamp)

[Ya-Nvr-No]

Couple of raster burn tests
and then a poor photo of a vector burn

[Ya-Nvr-No]

My Initial "Walnut, Teak and Lexan" test with the following script in the MultiLine-MDI fold
from left to right; 10% to 100% power
bottom to top; feed 10 to 200 inches per min.
and an On/Off Mcode script calls for my air assist.

Code: Select all

m3 (start pulse engine)
g20 (set for imperial)
M103 (air blow on)
{  
x=0.4;y=0;z=0;a=0;f=0;p=0;
&nbsp; for( j = 0; j < 10; j+=1 )
&nbsp; &nbsp; {
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; p+=10;
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; GlobalSet("LaserMaxPower",p);
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; block("MotionStill");
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; for( k = 0; k < 20; k+=1 )
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; {
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; f+=10;
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; GlobalSet("Feedrate",f);
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Engine.FeedTo(x,y,z,a);
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; block("MotionStill");
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; y+=0.03;
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; x2=(x-0.4);
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; print("feed= "+f);
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Engine.RapidTo(x2,y,z,a);
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; block("MotionStill");
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; }
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; x+=.5;f=0;y=0;
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; print("power= "+p + "\t\t&nbsp; x= "+x+"\t\t&nbsp; x2= "+x2);
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Engine.RapidTo(x-.4,y,z,a);
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; block("MotionStill");
&nbsp; &nbsp; }
};
m105 (air blow off)
g0x0y0
m30