CNC software, which would use TinyG

[mucek]

Hi all!

I am using Liteplacer, but came across a cheap offer (100 EUR) for 5,5 W laser cutter (like http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-5W-30cm-23cm- ... Swu4BVn7lO) which is fine in terms of laser power (well, doesn't cut wood really well (slow ...), but I need it more for engraving texts to plastic casings etc.), but horrible in its software as well as hardware (does its job, but it's so ... chinese ...)

I was thinking of putting a laser on the LitePlacer (which would also be great because of adjustable Z-axis - no need for focus adjustment with different material thicknesses) and I am looking for a appropriate software, which could use TinyG controller and accept G code. Additionally laser needs one PWM output (TTL 5V, up to 250 kHz) in order to adjust laser power, but I think one is surely avalible on TinyG extension connectors.

I'll be glad to get some recommendations. (I am not really sure about the tinyG settings: are they loaded each time, Liteplacer is turned on? Otherwise I'd need such software, that wouldn't ruin everything for using liteplacer )

Regards,
Gregor

[Mark Harris]

For the price of those on ebay.. not worth it. The x/y stage on that is right out of a K40 laser cutter (about US$500) - the controller in them is awful, but you'd better off switching a K40 out with a better controller than a 5.5W laser. 5.5W is a miniscule amount of power... even the 40W laser tube is pretty small in my opinion

[mucek]

Hehe, I know, but I got it for a fairly good price (100 EUR) and I guess for what I need will be just fine (have a CNC for cutting, I need something to engrave texts etc. to plastic front panels).
In the midtime I found http://chilipeppr.com/tinyg - will try, when I come to the office

Regards,
Gregor

[Picky]

The topic reminds me of the days when I was running Madell's PnP software on a $100k gantry and also wanted to use it as a precision milling machine from time to time. Madell was using some archaic and stupid DeskCNC 4-axis motion controller which was originally developed for cheap CNC. I managed to live with it for a while and had a lot of fun with it. Here's a pickup head with a heavy 3KW water cooled spindle on it. [just bragging haha] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYfD0UUKyek

In my opinion, combining PnP with anything else is not worth a hassle. Dust and shavings is just one thing to consider...

[Picky]

... 5.5W is a miniscule amount of power... even the 40W laser tube is pretty small in my opinion

Mark, allow me to be a smartass and argue with the statement. CO2 laser tube produces IR light with ~10um wavelength. That blue/violet laser diode has a 445nm wavelength. Over 20x difference in energy of photons (in joules), so it can be shown that a 5.5W blue diode can outpower a 100W CO2 tube in certain conditions. In reality it all comes down to the beam quality, ability to focus to a small dot and material absorbance at particular wavelength.

A few years back I had a 500mW 405nm diode attached to my machine just to be able to engrave tiny marks on anodized aluminum to produce calibration targets for alignment experiments since the machine had 3um accuracy end-to-end. Didn't leave a mark (literally) lol. Had to spray paint it and even then the diode had troubles burning it. Was able to burn electric tape with millisecond pulses but chlorine gas isn't good for your health Don't burn your PVC guys!

Hmmm... now I wonder if I should give a 5.5W diode a try
BTW, half the cost of that machine in the original post is in the diode laser itself.

[Mark Harris]

Yup, its all about the optics and spot size. The 10600nm is also a much better wavelength for organics (like plastics/wood). 10600nm dents aluminium foil.. it doenst cut it unless there is a coating like spray paint to turn to plasma... then you have a laser powered plasma cutter haha. Different lasers for different applications