I have just installed the J tech laser, and tested the laser using the small switch on the controller, I’m thinking it tested at 100% as it immediately burned a small dot on a piece of maple, so I guess I have my hardware installed correctly. Although I have to figure out how to test fire at a lower power using the midi commands. I am running 1.09 firmware and believe I have to choose the jtech under tools for laser and makita under tools for carving. I have installed the laser module in my vcarve pro and installed the Onefinity Laser V2 post processor. So I guess my question is, how do I proceed from here. Do I just start a project and trial and error through all the settings or is there a resource for this, as well as for setting the laser up on the workpiece as far as positioning goes. I have been through the forums and haven’t really come across a getting started section.
Thanks
Let me know how it turns out. I’m interested in getting the Jtech laser as well.
This is the way I do it, not necessarily the only or best way, but a way.
I have my laser about 2-3" above the workpiece, in general area of XY zero
To test fire you can use the MDI section and manually type M3 S25 and press play to fire at 2.5% power, increase the S setting by +5 until it fires, if it does not light up initially. Once you find this number, it should be consistent for your laser. This should not burn anything at this power (Make sure you are wearing your laser protected eyewear)
Use controller or joystick to move to XY Zero. You can either use this method to set the XY zero on either a corner or center of the workpiece.
When done maneuvering it to the XY zero, use M5 and hit play to turn it off.
Once that is done, turn off the laser and then use the included 1/8" spacer to set the Z zero to get it to the focus point.
In Vectric, I have my default tool set as 80% power and when I build the individual toolpaths I set the specific percentage of power based on my needs. I noticed that i start getting marks in the 20% power mark(equivalent of M3 S200, well above the S20 mentioned above), but it is very very faint in Pine.
I have used/saved multiple toolpaths at different powers and run as one file, just like you can do with multiple tools.
Hope this helps you get started.
Dean
Ok thanks very much, that should certainly get me headed in the right direction
Ok I’ll try to post an update after I get the hang of it, or message me in a week or so lol
Michael
I used the instructions below for getting started and they worked great. I think I was over thinking the whole process as it turned out fairly easy. Just download appropriate software for the laser and just make sure to choose laser for post processor when saving your toolpaths. Then select Jtech laser from fly out menu on your machine, if you have the latest firmware, set your x,y,z and run. I found that using a small level helped to get the laser mount square to the spoil board as there is a bit movement when installing the 4 screws. I also downloaded the laser card file from the files section as it shows the difference in power and speeds when running the laser. Hope some of this helps.
Greg
What Laser Card File are you referencing? I did not see anything in the Files Section of this forum.
Sorry it was in the Facebook Onefinity user group, here is the link
Thanks this is jsut what I was hoping for. I did one but it was from 20-100 and only a single row(i.e. 80 ipm) and not as well displayed. Will try this out in a day or two.
Hi guys,
If I may, one tip from my experience to AVOID REPEATED FIRING OF LASER WITH MDI and setting xy starting position. Maybe somebody already posted similar thing, anyway…
It really bothered me especially during the testing of speeds and power on different materials, so I decided to use absolute coordinates instead of user origin. So I did following:
- after having installed the Onefinity 1.0.9 firmware upgrade it is possible to home the machine and laser afterwards (I had problems with that before)
- so I homed the machine
- zeroed the Z at such height to be able to laser directly on my wasteboard
- made a file in Lightburn (that is the SW I use for laser projects) with simple square frame of a size 300mm x 300mm (you can make different size). The left bottom corner of this square is positioned at x 200mm and y 200mm coordinates (see screenshot). You can naturally choose your own starting point, different to this one.
- I used the absolute coordinate system as a reference in the Lightburn (see screenshot). Means the XY zero in gcode is always the homing position of my Onefinity, in other words the very left bottom corner of the Onefinity working area.
- I exported the gcode, uploaded to my Onefinity
- I ran the file, marked my wasteboard with laser, creating a reference square directly on my wasteboard
- I can now easily place any piece for lasering directly on my wasteboard again and again into correct position. Similar to having a corner fence for milling. PLEASE NOTE - as the laser is mounted in front of the router/spindle, the position of the laser spot is different to the centre of your router/spindle bit! This means that the real position of the lasered square on my wasteboard does not really start at the above mentioned x200mm and y200mm but the y position is shifted towards the front of the wasteboard by some 70mm (resulting in y130mm on wasteboard). But it does not matter unless you keep working repeatedly the same way.
- now I know, that I can start always at the same point with all my new projects without firing the laser manually and searching for the right xy zero spot. I simply know where it is.
- I always keep my laser area frame with bottom left corner at x200mm y200mm in my Lightburn software
- I always place new piece of material at the bottom left corner of my reference square marked on my wasteboard.
- the only thing I do is to zero the Z for my new piece of materials to be lasered. I use the joypad to move the laser above the material, move the the laser down to barely touch the orange focusing/distance plastic piece. If you have corresponding settings in your laser software, you even do not have to zero the Z. But you can easily do it just by pushing the zero Z button on your Onefinity screen.
- if you do not want to have the lasered reference square on your wasteboard, and you have a corner fence or other reliable register system on your wasteboard, you can for sure use kind of removable “laser wasteboard” and laser the reference square on it.
I am sure this is not the only way to avoid the manual xy user origin setup. But sharing is a strength of this community.
Hope this can help you,
Cheers, Josef
I need help folks, I updated firmware and now laser does not fire so I can zero it, I tried M3 S08 to S40 nothing, I set tool to the Jtech option, and the tool enable mode is at disabled please help