Greetings fellow makers, I ordered a 20w Laser on Aliexpress as an add-on for my Duet3d powered Workbee. I would like to use the shipping time to try to learn how to connect it to the Duet and how can I use it. I usually use Fusion 360 for my CAD and CAM endeavors, but as far as I've seen Fusion does not support laser engraving. So, if somebody has some info to share, it'd be appreciated. My main questions as of right now are: 1- How to connect it to the Duet 2- How to configure it on the config.g file 3- What software can I use to generate Duet-friendly G-Codes Point number 1 I think I know where to go, as I already modified the duet to turn the router on and off automatically, so I'm guessing it will be something similar. About the two other points, I have no idea, so far... thanks in advance!
I know nothing about the Duet, but I do laser (and router) engravings a lot. I can help with software. I make .svg files out of the drawings using Inkscape which is free. There are lots of Youtube videos on how to do this. I import the image, then I go to the "path" tab and select "trace bitmap" which will convert your image into a nice clean vector image for engraving. The nice feature is that only the image is within the borders of the final product and you can scale it to whatever size you want if you select the "edit" tab and select "resize page to selection." An example of the end product is this "plan" my dog had hidden under her dog bed that I scanned and followed the above procedure. As you can see there are nice sharp vector lines. Another example is this coaster I made by swiping clip art online and raster engraving it into a slate coaster. There is a scaling feature and I just link the H and W and for these coasters, scale to 85 or 90 mm depending on the image. I then have my XY zero in the coaster center.
Thanks @Giarc for your input. I've spent my afternoon researching about it and Inkscape pop up very often. I am no stranger to vector graphics, many years ago I used Illustrator intensively to design custom decals. I installed Inkscape (1.0 on my iMac) and I am able to import images, create shapes and texts. However, I haven't been able to generate a Gcode out of it. I tried different plugins to that effect, but none seem to work. I don't know if the macOS version of Inkscape is buggy (it's really slow on my 3 years old computer) or the plugins are not up to date with the most recent version of Inkscape. Also the folks back on ooznest seem to be idle lately. No updates, no new videos, no firmware upgrades, etc. An upgrade project like this would be a nice addition to their "knowledge center"...
I do not generate the g-code with inkscape. I create an .svg file and import that to my g-code generating software for my laser, which is currently K40 Whisperer. OpenBuilds control can create g-code form vectors for laser. If I am doing it with the router and V bit, I save the vector as a bitmap and import it into F-engrave to get the g-code. That will be changing soon though since I recently purchased Vcarve.
Incorrect. You are thinking of Openbuilds CAM at cam.openbuilds.com Refer to docs:software:overview [OpenBuilds Documentation]
no worries, I figured that out myself... I was coincidentally having a look over there. Seems interesting! Too bad that the Duet is not supported. I generated a GCode using the Smoothieware profile and the Gcode seems quite the same. So I guess I could use this profile to generate Gcodes. But adding Duet support would be nice. Seems like a popular board over here (and generally underrated, in my honest opinion). If anyone lands on this topics searching for answer to my same questions, I also found Visicut: Visicut It is an Open Source (yeah!), cross-plattform (yeah!) Gcode generator for Lase cutters. It also does not support Duet natively, but a "generic Gcode board" generates similar Gcodes. Worth having a look in my opinion. Now that I'm here, I have a related question: the G-Code generated looks like this: ; GCODE Generated by cam.openbuilds.com on 2020-06-28 G21 ; mm-mode G54; Work Coordinates G21; mm-mode G90; Absolute Positioning M4; Dynamic Power Laser On ; Pass 0 ; Operation 0: Laser: Vector (path inside) ; Tool Diameter: 6.35 ; Starting inflateGrp: Closed?:true G0 Z10 G0 F1000 X96.1363 Y33.9220 G0 Z0 G1 F300 Z-0.1000 G1 F500 X96.1668 Y33.9347 Z-0.1000 S0.5 G1 F500 X96.1969 Y33.9472 Z-0.1000 S0.5 etc... If I understand that right, the M4 command (red) tells the Laser to power up, but without beam and, the S.05 command (blue) tells the laser to go ahead with 50% power, right? I was (am) wondering because first the M4 command is generated and then it moves to the starting point of the engraving. ufff... a whole new world!
gnea/grbl explains that in detail. M3/M4 sets the mode. G1/2/3 Moves turns on the laser at last specified S value. G0 Moves have laser off. Smoothie used the same protocol. Don't know if duet does too.
You probably need to have a read of the Duet g-code wiki - the section on M452 in particular.(Gcode). I was hoping @Rob Atha would pick up on this as he has recently succeeded in attaching a laser to his workbee and controlling it with the Duet. The Duet uses M3 to turn a laser on and M5 to turn it off. M4 is used in cnc mode to turn the spindle on counter clockwise. Alex
Any input is very welcome. I've been reading how to put laser on the Duet and it is not a matter of crimping a bunch of wires and 3d-printing a holder. It seems that it needs a breakout board to... well I don't really understood that very well. I think I will be using Visicut to prepare my Gcodes. I've tried the openbuild CAM web App and, somehow, it's unresponsive (I cannot mouse select drawings, it doesn't update when I move an object and some small things). Anyway, on both openbuilds CAM and Visicut, you can select which Mcode controls the Laser, so that should not be an issue. It's quite a shame that Fusion 360 does not support laser engraving. Another thing I don't know how to handle is how should I switch the Duet's operation mode from CNC to Laser and back. I've asked back on the Duet forums, I hope they have an answer for me...
As the Duet uses G-code for everything (all G and M codes - no $ settings) I can see no reason why you couldn't have the config.g file set up the machine for cnc operation at power on, but have a macro file that you could run immediately on start up to change the configuration to laser mode and overwrite the necessary settings. I haven't tried any of this yet - my laser diode is still sitting in it's box! Alex.
That's what I think too, but every time I change the config.g file, I am prompted to reboot the board. That's what makes me doubt
I wasn't suggesting changing the config.g file - leave that set for cnc. Run a macro after the Duet has booted up to write new configuration settings - logically it should work but I haven't tried it on the machine as I'm nowhere near setting my laser up yet. Alex.
The reason that the Duet prompts you to re-boot after you change the config.g file is that the changes won't take effect unless you re-boot - it runs config.g on start up and doesn't look at it again. Alex.
I know this is an ancient thread, so I apologize for digging it up. But as it is one of the only sources of information about the subject of adding a laser to a workbee I don’t have a lot of choice in any case has either of you succeeded in successfully adding a laser to a workbee and controlling it via the duet board/interface? Am really curious on the details!
Nope, diode laser is still in it's box. If you haven't got a laser module yet have a look at these links;- Jtech Lasers Opt Lasers For help connecting it to a Duet controller join this group and search for "laser" to find posts and people who will help;- Log into Facebook or consider changing your controller for a https://openbuildspartstore.com/BlackBox-Motion-Control-System-X32 where a lot of the work has been done for you. Alex.
Nope, diode laser is still in it's box. If you haven't got a laser module yet have a look at these links;- Jtech Lasers Opt Lasers For help connecting it to a Duet controller join this group and search for "laser" to find posts and people who will help;- Log into Facebook or consider changing your controller for a BlackBox Motion Control System X32 where a lot of the work has been done for you. Alex.
