$32 CO2 Laser Controller


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    Default $32 CO2 Laser Controller



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    Default Re: $32 CO2 Laser Controller

    No, but it is really close to what I have been (slowly) designing, though. But with an Atmega168 or 328 (it doesn't specify which version of nano it comes with) your software options might be a little limited and you will need to customize at least the pins file of any standard firmware.

    There really does need to be a laser specific control board made available for sub $50 price range. Obviously there are 3D printer boards out there in this price range, and those have much more features than you would need for a laser controller.

    I'd be tempted to pick one up just to play around with, but it says epacket from China (meaning 1 to 2 months for delivery, especially with Chinese New Year coming up.) If I must order from China, I try to find a seller that ships EMS or DHL. Much faster.



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    Default Re: $32 CO2 Laser Controller

    Quote Originally Posted by Retroplayer View Post
    No, but it is really close to what I have been (slowly) designing, though. But with an Atmega168 or 328 (it doesn't specify which version of nano it comes with) your software options might be a little limited and you will need to customize at least the pins file of any standard firmware.

    There really does need to be a laser specific control board made available for sub $50 price range. Obviously there are 3D printer boards out there in this price range, and those have much more features than you would need for a laser controller.

    I'd be tempted to pick one up just to play around with, but it says epacket from China (meaning 1 to 2 months for delivery, especially with Chinese New Year coming up.) If I must order from China, I try to find a seller that ships EMS or DHL. Much faster.
    My technical skills are so outdated ( having been retired for so many years) that I have many problems understanding what is going on today. It is therefore I'm hesitant
    to buy electronics that requires a lot of software skills.
    I have been tempted to buy a 3-D printer controller for my CO2 laser but I have been unable to find documentation of anybody having done this. Has anyone converted a 3-D printer driver to be controlled by G code or or is this the way they operate? I would love to be able to control my machine from VisiCut or Inkscape.

    If you're serious about playing around with the eBay $32 controller board, I will be glad to buy one and ship it to you, if you're located in the USA. My purchases from China usually arrives in a couple weeks, how much the Chinese New Year's celebration extends this is of course an unknown.



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    Default Re: $32 CO2 Laser Controller

    I am in the process of adding the RAMPs1.4 controller in my laser (you can follow my build thread in this forum). Lansing Makers Network already modified the Marlin firmware to work with a CO2 laser cutter, and also created a plugin for Inkscape.

    equipment:buildlog_laser_cutter [Lansing Makers Network Wiki]

    Here is one guy pretty far into it already:
    WeisTek Engineeing

    Now, the Ramps is not as cheap as the one you linked to. It is also quite overkill for a laser cutter. But you do gain a nice LCD panel, menu controls, and the ability to load your G-Code from an SD card instead of being tethered to a computer. And of course you can send G-Code to it regardless of what software you used to generate it. The SD card, open-source firmware, and LCD menu are the main reasons I chose RAMPS. Not to mention someone else already figured out the firmware customizations.

    What's really needed is something in-between the RAMPs and the controller you posted. Domestically, there is the GRBL CNC shield which is not much different than this Chinese one.

    The controller that you linked to would either not be capable of running Marlin firmware or only a very scaled down version of it (if it is the Atemga328 version) and would require customizing the firmware.

    I do appreciate the offer, but I couldn't accept. I tend to tinker at my own risk as there is no guarantee of success or that my attention span will last long enough to complete it within the next year. lol

    I would recommend reading the links above, following Weistek engineering blog, and also keeping an eye on my threads to learn how to do this.



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    Default Re: $32 CO2 Laser Controller

    Oops forgot this link, which is a completed build as well:
    Adventures in DIY Engineering: 40 Watt Chinese CO2 Laser Upgrade with RAMPS & Arudino



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    Default Re: $32 CO2 Laser Controller

    Quote Originally Posted by Retroplayer View Post
    Oops forgot this link, which is a completed build as well:
    Adventures in DIY Engineering: 40 Watt Chinese CO2 Laser Upgrade with RAMPS & Arudino
    I have seen that before. That thread plus so many others are not sufficient instructions for novices like me. Take for instance the firmware that it consists of ZIP folder with about a dozen directories and at least a hundred files but little to no information of how to use any of it.
    I get the feeling that most instructions posted online are directed towards other programmers, this is probably unintentional because the authors have no training in how to write in an informative way that would more understandable to novices like me.



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    Default Re: $32 CO2 Laser Controller

    Quote Originally Posted by Rolf_K View Post
    I have seen that before. That thread plus so many others are not sufficient instructions for novices like me. Take for instance the firmware that it consists of ZIP folder with about a dozen directories and at least a hundred files but little to no information of how to use any of it.
    I get the feeling that most instructions posted online are directed towards other programmers, this is probably unintentional because the authors have no training in how to write in an informative way that would more understandable to novices like me.
    Rolf you nailed it for me to. SHield this, ramps that. I know my 3d printer has that stuff but I hope it never breaks cause I don't know how I would get my shield up my ramp!



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    Default Re: $32 CO2 Laser Controller

    Quote Originally Posted by buddydog View Post
    Rolf you nailed it for me to. SHield this, ramps that. I know my 3d printer has that stuff but I hope it never breaks cause I don't know how I would get my shield up my ramp!
    Oh come on now. It's not THAT bad. lol

    As I told Ralf, I will do my best to provide instructions with the novice in mind. Ralf is correct that most of the information out there is not detailed enough for someone completely new to all this. But it really isn't that bad. And when you are done you will understand far more about your machine and gain full control over it to get the most out of it.

    With an open-source controller and open-source software, you have access to every little detail. If you find something limiting, you can change it. It is worth the steep learning curve.



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    Default Re: $32 CO2 Laser Controller

    Quote Originally Posted by Retroplayer View Post
    Oh come on now. It's not THAT bad. lol

    As I told Ralf, I will do my best to provide instructions with the novice in mind. Ralf is correct that most of the information out there is not detailed enough for someone completely new to all this. But it really isn't that bad. And when you are done you will understand far more about your machine and gain full control over it to get the most out of it.

    With an open-source controller and open-source software, you have access to every little detail. If you find something limiting, you can change it. It is worth the steep learning curve.
    Retroplayer, you statement: " If you find something limiting, you can change it. It is worth the steep learning curve. " This is exactly what I am talking about, we can't even get the software working and we are expected to learn how to change it!
    In my younger days this might have been an option, but now that I am 85, a config.sys is about the limits of my understanding, anything else is Greek to me in and I doubt I will ever learn how.



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    Default Re: $32 CO2 Laser Controller

    Quote Originally Posted by Rolf_K View Post
    Retroplayer, you statement: " If you find something limiting, you can change it. It is worth the steep learning curve. " This is exactly what I am talking about, we can't even get the software working and we are expected to learn how to change it!
    In my younger days this might have been an option, but now that I am 85, a config.sys is about the limits of my understanding, anything else is Greek to me in and I doubt I will ever learn how.
    Well, you will get enough from me to get your laser up and running, I think. If necessary, I would even offer to program it for you so you only need to install it. But I think you will be surprised how simple it really is when I get those instructions up. The RAMPS is based on Arduino, which means you don't really need any special tools. You plug it in to the USB and use a simple program to tell it to upload the code. The 'harder' part is compiling all those files you seen into one file. That one file is all that you send over to the RAMPS. I could do that part for you.

    I have been dealing with a bad sinus infection, so my motivation has been really lacking lately. I did finally get my ATX power supply all prepped, so I should be getting to the RAMPS install here shortly.

    When we get to it, I will need to ask you to take photos inside your laser cutter to help you wire it up.

    I know it seems overwhelming, but I really think you will be surprised. I have no doubt you can handle it. It's just a matter of 'don't know what you don't know.' I always have that when starting a new project as well.



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    Default Re: $32 CO2 Laser Controller

    I've seen this apparent *gap* an awful lot over the years, Mach3 was the same when it started out, and while it has evolved a *lot* it can still be a steep learning curve for a brand newbie to the whole thing.

    Generally speaking I found there were two broad camps of people.

    Group A - they had at least as much fun building the machine and getting to it work just so as they ever did actually producing anything with it.

    Group B - they only reason they were building was because they could not either afford or justify the outlay on a fully set up does everything plug and go machine, they had little or no interest in the build.

    I have never really seen much successful bridging between these two groups, and if I found myself in Group A I tried to find a Group A guy to go to and pester, and if I found myself in Group B I tried to find a Group B guy yo go and pester.

    Some of the most frustrating times I had where when I was in Group B and the only people I could find were in Group A, and no matter how helpful they seemed to be or tried to be at the time, those in Group A who suggested that all I needed to do was take an existing open source linux driver for a very similar piece of hardware and re-write it to work with the hardware I had, which with my coding skills was like asking me to fly across a river by flapping my arms.

    Eventually I came to a conclusion that I didn't like much, so it took a long time to accept, if I find myself in Group B nowadays I go and find someone in Group A who is actually producing and selling a product that I can just buy and solve my problem, inevitably it costs a lot more than I wanted to pay to solve my problem, but a lot less than the true commercial alternative I couldn't afford at all.

    I just wish I could have all the hundreds of hours back that I spent trying to avoid spending ten bucks....lol



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    Default Re: $32 CO2 Laser Controller

    Quote Originally Posted by Retroplayer View Post
    {snip}

    When we get to it, I will need to ask you to take photos inside your laser cutter to help you wire it up.
    Sorry about the sinus problems.
    Don't have any trouble with the wiring, I think I know it by heart, having installed three controllers. It is the software installation that gives me problems.

     CO2 Laser  Controller-laser-solustan-cont-jpg
    It was working a short time with the Solustan controller until my hard drive crashed. Did not want to pay $200 blackmail for a new access code.

    Currently I am trying to get a Laos controller working, without much luck :-(
     CO2 Laser  Controller-laos-controller-board-jpg
    Picture of the Laos controller, the hardware and the firmware( open architecture) and the nice thing is that it is controlled from Inscape or VisiCut..
    So why can't some or all this information be applied to a 3-D printer controller?

    PS. Are there anyone in my neck of the woods ( East Tennessee USA ) that has successfully installed a Laos controller?

    Last edited by Rolf_K; 01-20-2015 at 11:00 AM.


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    Default Re: $32 CO2 Laser Controller

    Quote Originally Posted by ELaser View Post
    I've seen this apparent *gap* an awful lot over the years, Mach3 was the same when it started out, and while it has evolved a *lot* it can still be a steep learning curve for a brand newbie to the whole thing.

    Generally speaking I found there were two broad camps of people.

    Group A - they had at least as much fun building the machine and getting to it work just so as they ever did actually producing anything with it.

    Group B - they only reason they were building was because they could not either afford or justify the outlay on a fully set up does everything plug and go machine, they had little or no interest in the build.

    I have never really seen much successful bridging between these two groups, and if I found myself in Group A I tried to find a Group A guy to go to and pester, and if I found myself in Group B I tried to find a Group B guy yo go and pester.

    Some of the most frustrating times I had where when I was in Group B and the only people I could find were in Group A, and no matter how helpful they seemed to be or tried to be at the time, those in Group A who suggested that all I needed to do was take an existing open source linux driver for a very similar piece of hardware and re-write it to work with the hardware I had, which with my coding skills was like asking me to fly across a river by flapping my arms.

    Eventually I came to a conclusion that I didn't like much, so it took a long time to accept, if I find myself in Group B nowadays I go and find someone in Group A who is actually producing and selling a product that I can just buy and solve my problem, inevitably it costs a lot more than I wanted to pay to solve my problem, but a lot less than the true commercial alternative I couldn't afford at all.

    I just wish I could have all the hundreds of hours back that I spent trying to avoid spending ten bucks....lol
    I think you hit the nail on the head!



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    Default Re: $32 CO2 Laser Controller

    "Hi. My name is Buddy and I'm a gearhead"
    I like the philosophy part of this thread and there is nothing like the elements of a K40 to bring this out. I am on the other side of this when discussing the electronics portion of these (the "A" group" and I have to admit I have to check my feelings when trying to help someone struggling with a short circuit, saying they are doing the tests but then you realize they don't really have a grasp of what you are saying and it seems sooo easy to me. Very arrogant on whose part (rhetorical question)? On software, I had the second computer in my county back in the 70's. Radio Shack model 1 (a teacher "part time summer" employee had the first one and turned me on to the concept). When it came home I don't think I slept for 20 hours. Self taught the basic language, worked through syntax suddenly becoming the most important thing in my life. Over the next ten years worked on integrating computers into my business's Spent a fortune on all kinds, hired programmers (actually only two), Fought with my partner (wife (now ex) who had no vision about these things), Crash after crash, long hours backing up after work every night, finally selling the businesses and retiring. Humans can develop prejudices. Those are not excuses but they are reasons I have no passion for the "behind the screen" part. I love what these things do, but it's what they do I like. I am busy building a super cub and the most important thing to me "today" is completing the process of riveting the leading edge to the little forming ribs in such a way that the shape over a 5 foot long flap is perfectly symmetrical. If I don't get it right I will spend the rest of my life having to push slightly one way or the other when deploying the flaps. I am focused on getting it as right as I can. The application of the laser to this problem has really helped me to zero in a tolerance level that I would not have attained otherwise. I have a passion for that.
    I entered two way radio in the late 60's and we were "god's" a lot of the time. If the dispatch radio quit in a tug boat they would come get me and there would be people to carry the equipment. If a local repeater went down at a paper mill I got woke up in the middle of the night and there were people waiting when I got there. If the local sheriff's repeater went out in a snow storm, there was a helicopter to take me to the mountain top. As you became a better troubleshooter you were assigned to more and more important outages. The cell phone came along and I saw the writing on the wall. I no longer care what happens in my smart phone. I do have an extensive collection of pre 1920's commercial and amateur radio equipment.

    Gutenberg would have just printed advertisements if he had had the modern printer. At home he would have found a different hobby!



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    Default Re: $32 CO2 Laser Controller

    The bridging of group B into group A is "passion". With passion a person of normal intelligence moves from B to A in about twenty consecutive hours.



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    Default Re: $32 CO2 Laser Controller

    I can definitely relate to the "hours spent trying to save $10". I grew up in a lower middle class family with 5 siblings, so we didn't have a whole lot of money. This meant that often if I wanted something, I needed to either salvage it, repair it, or modify it. This is where I learned. Started at 8 years old. I shocked the neighbor who was in college for electrical engineering when he was moving and gave me a broken 13" color monitor (those were like gold back then) and I fixed it within 10 minutes. I was about 11 or 12, I think. So, I have been in the realm of the A group for many years. I am 41 now.

    It became natural to me to get something cheap and add functionality to it of a more expensive thing. Or to buy something not at all intended for the purpose I wanted it for and modify it. Then I went to college to formally become an electrical engineer (which actually made me dumber in some ways!)

    Like Buddy, I kicked butt in computers. Had an Atari 800XL my sister bought me when I was 10, and then a Commodore 64 until they went out of business. I then went on to make a lot of money selling PCs when they first started the 'computer in every home' craze. Now, I HATE working on my computer. I just want it to work.

    But, anyway, nostalgia aside... I actually don't regret those hours spent trying to save $10 because in the end I learned things far cheaper than a college education. Things I can apply to the next project.

    The wandering point is that it really depends on what is important to you. To me, half the fun is in the building, customizing, and tinkering. If you just want a laser cutter that works, you will spend the money on it. And that's the catch for you, Rolf. Any controller you find is unfortunately going to require you to get in there and tweak things to install it. I can't think of any real exceptions to that. You could pay someone else to install it for you, perhaps. Or you could cut your losses and succumb to the blackmail from the vendor to get your software (making a backup this time.)

    All I can offer is to try to help. I can't offer to do it for you because I am far from an expert in this as I am just learning as well. I couldn't guarantee success. Perhaps after I finish mine and deem it a success, I could.



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    Default Re: $32 CO2 Laser Controller

    Quote Originally Posted by buddydog View Post
    The bridging of group B into group A is "passion". With passion a person of normal intelligence moves from B to A in about twenty consecutive hours.

    And of course, our examples show it is possible to transition from Group A to Group B as well. For example, I know HOW to fix my own car, but now that I am no longer a poor college student, I usually pay others to do it. Cheaper for me than to maintain the tools and honestly, I just don't enjoy working on my car. lol



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    Default Re: $32 CO2 Laser Controller

    Obviously there are 3-D printer controllers used as CO2 controllers, check the link below:

    GCODE M104 processed with delay?

    However any further information I have not been able to find.

    Regarding the blackmail and backup, the software was somehow linked to the computer footprint, of course that changed when when the new hard drive was installed, which rendered my backup useless.



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    Default Re: $32 CO2 Laser Controller

    Yep cars the same thing. One of my businesses was a Honda motorcycle dealership and I loved the old bikes. I have 20 odd some 60's Honda's in my grody collection. I was a mechanic as a kid and worked my way through my 2 years radio technician degree (got the paper which Motorola wanted. The rest was mostly a waste of time). Always troubleshot my own cars. Still do if the dealership doesn't know what they are doing (Last time was a control problem on the 4 wheel drive 1997 F250. "Mr.Buddy you need a new 700$ computer". Didn't fix it of course and had to finally figure out what was really wrong. I digress. I don't even open the hood on my Prius.
    Like you Retro No money as a kid (Did find the old family had had money but my father pissed them off in the late 40's and got ex communicated from the family). I grew up thinking I only had one set of grandparents and that hiding from debt collectors in the closet was a "normal" thing! I often think how grateful I am for my experiences and that I had no expectations except those I created for myself. Weird parallels when at 60 I discovered my "other" family from Boston and their influence on America.

    OK so maybe Rolf and I need to start from the beginning. Man up, swallow prejudices and bite the bullet. First you type something into a keyboard into a program like laserDRW or openscad. It makes it's way through the software,sequences etc. and arrives as a digital word called a "G" code. I bet I can find a list of G codes on the net so that's just a lookup table. It presents itself "G code turn on beam" at the USB connector (or parallel, we get that I bet. Where does it go next ? Ramps, shield (isn't that just an interface board? could be wires and connectors?), Arduino? something else?



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    Default Re: $32 CO2 Laser Controller

    Quote Originally Posted by Rolf_K View Post
    Obviously there are 3-D printer controllers used as CO2 controllers, check the link below:

    GCODE M104 processed with delay?

    However any further information I have not been able to find.

    Yes, of course. The RAMPS board I am using is a 3D printer controller. In a laser cutter, you need to take the G-Code, translate that to stepper movements and turn the laser on and off when appropriate. So a 3D printer controller is fully capable of running your laser. Just about any 3D printer controller will work hardware-wise. Even the cheaper GRBL CNC shield. The secret sauce is, once again, the code running on that controller.

    The reason it needs to be customized is because the controller doesn't know the size of your movement stage. It doesn't know the steps/mm the steppers require. It doesn't know which pins you have the laser on/off attached to. It doesn't know if that signal needs to be HIGH or LOW Etc... These are all things you need to change in the config.h before uploading the code to the controller. That's the hardest part to it.

    It just not plug and play. With commercial controllers, you pay for that plug and play. But you also are stuck with whatever evil limitations the vendor forces upon you like requiring a software key tied to your computer that doesn't work anymore when you change a hard drive.

    So your options are:

    1. Commercial solution: Plug and play. Easy to install. Get support. But you are at their mercy
    2. Open-source: Not plug and play. A little harder to install. Has a sometimes steep learning curve to set it up for your machine. You are at nobody's mercy and once you get this far, you know enough to customize things how you like.



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