51 (edited by ysb 2015-11-28 20:16:17)

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

ok... dust removed from my sd2 with my beta L-cheapo...

after numerous test to try to find a way to reverse the Z movement... i switched to a simple hardware solution :

i reverse all the wire that goes to the Z motor (4 wires...  1 2 3 4 , change to 4 3 2 1 ) AND i removed the Z switch and put it on a bit of wood  glued to the bottom of the SD2 under the bed (the height size of the wood will be the new ZERO. something like 70/80mm tall will be ok)..  so now the bed goes UP instead of going down

http://soliforum.com/i/?tksqNRL.jpg

also, you need to change the PRINT AREA HEIGHT in the printer setting/printer shape of repetier-host (from something like 150, to something like 50 - it will be the max thickness of the material that you can cut and will be the max height that the bed can move up from the new ZERO))

you will change the Z offset in Printer setting/General to something that with be the THRU thickness of the material you will put on the bed surface...and this height will be where you will focus the laser -

with that, you need to adjust the speed and some other parameters (size of the nozzle.. etc etc)

i can give you my slicer profil to help as a start place...

it's a raw hacking, but it works...  it's not a definitive modification of the printer so you can reverse it to a 3d printer if you want to

52

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

Hey as long as it works. For the Z-stop. There is a kickstand out there for that http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:354453 . I see that the J tech software has options to change the Z-height after each pass....but I don't know if it's going the right way, but since it's meant for lasers I am hoping the software does that. If not I may have to do what you did and reverse the Z-axis. I will still have to figure out the rest when I start playing with my laser (gotta wait till xmas).

Tammy
Solidoodle 2
E3Dv6 Hotend, MK5 v6 version, Glass Bed, Anti Z backlash slop nut, SureStepr SD8825 1/32 Extruder Driver, makeshift breakaway plexiglass case; . L-Cheapo 3.8 Watt Laser Attachment w/Custom built enclosure
From Buffalo, NY, USA

53 (edited by LdyMox 2015-11-29 15:21:39)

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

As for the Z-Axis direction, I just figured out something. With LaserEtch, it has an option under "Cut" that says "Advance down each repeat". While in the program it won't let you enter a negative number you can edit the settings to a negative number and it reverses to direction of the Z in the Gcode. You can save your settings as "profiles", for example mine I named LCheapo.prf and I opened it up in a text editor and change "AdvDownAmount=0.05" to "AdvDownAmount=-0.05" and it seemed to work when I reopened the software and generated G-Code with Z in the opposite direction, going up instead of down. I am still not certain is the right way till I get my laser, but seems it is covered either way.

Tammy
Solidoodle 2
E3Dv6 Hotend, MK5 v6 version, Glass Bed, Anti Z backlash slop nut, SureStepr SD8825 1/32 Extruder Driver, makeshift breakaway plexiglass case; . L-Cheapo 3.8 Watt Laser Attachment w/Custom built enclosure
From Buffalo, NY, USA

54

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

Well done LdyMox !! nice find about the parameter...

55

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

Over the long holiday, I got to see my laser has  arrived, I quickly plugged it in and it worked etc, can't wait to try it (had to give it over to be wrapped as an xmas present, now the waiting game….but it’s IN my house..LOL).

I have been working on a profile for LaserEtch, but of course I can't test it but I can add things to added to the gcode automatically  at the beggining(and end) etc via the software like the M302 (allow cold extrusion)...maybe I won't need that gcode, but I added it so hopefully the code wouldn’t stop on an error.

Form what I understand from the L-Cheapo Wiki "Feed rate is used to control cutting; some values for materials follow. - Paper: 12mm/sec - Acrylic: 2mm/sec - Leather: 5mm/sec ". While LaserEtch does not have a direct setting for Feed Rate, I assume something that can be done in GCode additions. Which I am guessing is the GCode F2 would be for acrylic, Paper F12, Leather F5. All seem so low, but since the laser needs to go slow, that makes sense depending on what you are cuttingI guess you can only go so slow, but that is probably why they say you need multiple passes for some materials , I am not quite sure yet if I I can just enter F12 as a gcode line, or if it needs additional parameters.

Tammy
Solidoodle 2
E3Dv6 Hotend, MK5 v6 version, Glass Bed, Anti Z backlash slop nut, SureStepr SD8825 1/32 Extruder Driver, makeshift breakaway plexiglass case; . L-Cheapo 3.8 Watt Laser Attachment w/Custom built enclosure
From Buffalo, NY, USA

56

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

A few more notes on LaserEtch (if anyone plans to use it at all).

1. Make sure any images are thoroughly Black and white, it won't even read dark grey as to be engraved

2. If you plan to use the additional cut feature of it .
  2a. Make sure whatever shape on the outside is atleast 2 pixels wide and makes a complete shape around the image. Aka contagious shape for the outside, since the cut only "cuts" the outside of the shape
  2b. Make sure no stray pixels. I had a lil test file where I made a file to engrave a pattern inside a circle (which was just the pattern I wanted engrave with a circle around it to cut). I had ONE pixel outside the outer circle and it threw it off till I removed the stray pixel.
   2c. Make sure atleast a pixel or two of whitespace around your image
   2D. Seems to only take BMP files

3. Sometimes if you switch from the other options to B+W+Cut the red line indicating where the cut goes, does not show visible till you hit the generate the gcode button. Seems to be a minor glitch, but nothing major.

4. Seems the best way to control where the cut/engrave will be done on the bed of the 3D printer is to just surround your image with whitespace. I.e I made a 6 inch by 6 inch square (size of my print bed) and plopped by image in the center and saved it as a BMP file. I also have done a 12 inch by 12 inch BMP sample image, and LaserEtch has an option under "basics" named "Half Pixel Height" I checked with allowed me more resolution...maybe other ways too that I have not explored.

Tammy
Solidoodle 2
E3Dv6 Hotend, MK5 v6 version, Glass Bed, Anti Z backlash slop nut, SureStepr SD8825 1/32 Extruder Driver, makeshift breakaway plexiglass case; . L-Cheapo 3.8 Watt Laser Attachment w/Custom built enclosure
From Buffalo, NY, USA

57

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

I am not so sure my laser will be able to PWM after some research, from what I heard some L-Cheapos have a third white wire for PWM, which mine does not have (I saw it before it got wrapped for xmas). Maybe because mine is 3.5W they had to ditch the PWM??

Tammy
Solidoodle 2
E3Dv6 Hotend, MK5 v6 version, Glass Bed, Anti Z backlash slop nut, SureStepr SD8825 1/32 Extruder Driver, makeshift breakaway plexiglass case; . L-Cheapo 3.8 Watt Laser Attachment w/Custom built enclosure
From Buffalo, NY, USA

58

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

don't know... mine got only two wires too and can't do PWM

59

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

While PWM would be very nice, I suppose it's not end of the world if I can get it to cut and engrave basic B&W images. Is it Christmas yet, so I can play with my laser? haha

Tammy
Solidoodle 2
E3Dv6 Hotend, MK5 v6 version, Glass Bed, Anti Z backlash slop nut, SureStepr SD8825 1/32 Extruder Driver, makeshift breakaway plexiglass case; . L-Cheapo 3.8 Watt Laser Attachment w/Custom built enclosure
From Buffalo, NY, USA

60 (edited by LdyMox 2015-12-03 13:38:30)

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

After talking to the L-Cheapo people, seems my laser can not do PWM. Though I am sending it back and they are going to add it. The next challenge will be to figure out how to add PWM to my Solidoodle Sang board. So far I am looking at a cross between the instructions found at http://jtechphotonics.com/?page_id=980 and https://solidoodletips.wordpress.com/20 … uder-fan/. Though the Jtech laser is different, it is in the same ballpark as the l-Cheapo at least, though their laser uses the fan connection to a laser driver board; Where as the L-Cheapo uses the extruder and mine will have a PWM connector. I am guessing by the sources that I have to remove the solder in holes by the PWM connector, attach some straight headers and plug in the PWM connector and maybe activate PWM in the firmware. Of course I don't really do electronics much so will be a challenge to get it right.

Tammy
Solidoodle 2
E3Dv6 Hotend, MK5 v6 version, Glass Bed, Anti Z backlash slop nut, SureStepr SD8825 1/32 Extruder Driver, makeshift breakaway plexiglass case; . L-Cheapo 3.8 Watt Laser Attachment w/Custom built enclosure
From Buffalo, NY, USA

61

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

Turns out it's a little more complex then this, but the L-Cheapo people are helping me out by doing some parts while they have my laser and I will have to do some parts. Sadly I don't think I know enough here to leave any help, otherwise I would for future readers.

Tammy
Solidoodle 2
E3Dv6 Hotend, MK5 v6 version, Glass Bed, Anti Z backlash slop nut, SureStepr SD8825 1/32 Extruder Driver, makeshift breakaway plexiglass case; . L-Cheapo 3.8 Watt Laser Attachment w/Custom built enclosure
From Buffalo, NY, USA

62 (edited by LdyMox 2016-01-05 14:26:07)

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

Just a note incase anyone finds this and not the other thread...I started posting more in the Hacks and Mods section..well I started atleast LOL

http://www.soliforum.com/topic/13229/lc … d-printer/

Tammy
Solidoodle 2
E3Dv6 Hotend, MK5 v6 version, Glass Bed, Anti Z backlash slop nut, SureStepr SD8825 1/32 Extruder Driver, makeshift breakaway plexiglass case; . L-Cheapo 3.8 Watt Laser Attachment w/Custom built enclosure
From Buffalo, NY, USA

63

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

Now a Days Laser cutting is very in market and it's very easy or simple to use........

*****Hey******

64

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

Cool might give that a try!