Hi folks I just installed the J Tech 7 watt laser. I found a video on you tube describing the installation on the 1010. I have the workbee 1050 and there is no option for the laser in the grbl settings so I am not sure how to proceed. Could someone assist please? Thanks, Randy
Not sure what you're stuck on. Generally when switching to a laser operation you'd want to switch grbl to laser mode for safety and quality reasons. Other than that, settings should be the same, you'd just treat it as a second spindle. Set your laser CAM software to use the same S-numbers as you do for your spindle, so you don't have to change your spindle scale. Make sure you understand the difference between M3 and M4 in grbl laser mode, it's also fully explained on the wiki. You'll probably want to use them both at different times. You might want to use G55 for laser operations and reserve G54 for spindle ops, if you're going to have a consistent offset after unmounting and remounting. Make sure you have OD4+ glasses on before firing up that laser, "shielding" or not. That's a LOT of power. (Which I'm looking forward to as well, I also just bought a NUBM44v2! I'm gonna build an enclosure too.)
I'll have a look on wiki. The 1010 has the option to select it with the laser mode. The workbee does not so that was what I was getting at. I know nothing about the codes so I will have to look all this up. I was hoping all this was plug and play so to speak. Now i have to buy another software package. I downloaded the Lightburn Software so I guess I will have to use that.
That I'm not sure about. WorkBees are all belt driven, so I'd assume they'd all have a laser option. Might just be something Peter missed, but if you're using CONTROL and you can save custom settings it'll be just a couple seconds to adjust it for your own uses. Personally I use LaserWeb probably 99% of the time for laser CAM stuff, it's free. Could be a lot better UI-wise (it makes bCNC look friendly, I'mma be honest), but it's pretty friendly on file formats, produces good code and has nice features. The other 1% of the time, when I need to do something weird, I just use Fusion 360 and then do find and replace in Notepad++ to make it exactly what I need.
Not so much missed, as, the profiles match what videos the video team released. There is a video for the Lead1010 but its really so similar i doubt there will be a workbee specific video Its super basic though, really just $32=1 (enable laser mode) I would still advise you to read the Grbl wiki at github.com/gnea/grbl/wiki top to bottom. While the profiles are easy, its no substitute for understanding Grbl - long term, it just opens all the doors for you to do anything yourself. Only things I know more than you, is what I read in that Wiki (; it really is gold
Sorry to be a nusance. After doing some searching I noticed a setting to use the laser and saved it. Here is a test at full power. It cut into the wood about 1 mm.
You are definitely not a nuisance, and that looks cool. I recently bought a new tube for my CO2 laser and noticed it is cutting much deeper on rastering images which made me think about trying to raster an image than fill it with colored epoxy. Then, after curing, sand it flush. It would be a interesting way to do fine detailed engravings.
