question in using mach3 in a laser cnc

[lasersafe1]

Probably what PappaBear10 posted 4 posts back is the solution, but I haven't tried it. Mach 3 settings can get pretty confusing.

[lasersafe1]

Duh! Why not replace the power control pot on my laser with something like the MAX5450 digital pot. This type of pot uses an UP/DOWN pin (We know this as direction), and an Increment pin (We know this as step).

Wire the step and direction as the Z-axis and we have instant digital power control of the laser without needing a mechanical "stepper to pot" interface.

This particular digital pot only has 256 bits of control, but the same theory would be easy to do with a 10-12 bit DAC and a Pic microcontroller taking step and direction inputs to control the DAC.

[lasersafe1]

So the bigger general question still exists. Am I wasting my time? Sure, I now know I can make laser power change depending on the requested Z depth, but is this a reasonable or desirable feature? After all, when engraving wood black is black. It wouldn't matter if it is 1/16" deep or 1/8" deep. I haven't really done much with this device other than a couple test engravings on wood and the mod to Mach 3 for paper cutting.

[Frans_K]

Hi,

Have you already found (and tested) a decent solution to engrave with a laser using mach3?

I'm asking this because I want to replace the stepper drivers from my Chinese HX40A laser with step and direction boards. I know cutting will be no problem with mach3 but engraving I'm not sure

[lasersafe1]

I have not engraved yet. I haven't touched my machine since mid June. No time. I did find that I could attach the laser on-off control to the Z axis. This worked well for turning on and off, but as you would imagine, you get a deeper burn during a circular cut than you get during a straight X or Y motion. It's all a matter of speed over the project.

I think the BMPtoCNC program I have will do just fine with straight black & white images with no "grey" depth. It produces a nice raster file for Mach3 to run.