Duet Laser Software

omni

Hi guys,

I have just finished setting up the laser head on my Duet 2 ethernet based 3D printer. I used a Chinese 15W diode laser and with this particular one - it works without the 74HCT02D described on the Duet Laser page (it works with 3.3V PWM and non-inverted signal).

That gets me to my question - I've gone through all the threads mentioning the laser software to be used with Duet but I could not find a definitive answer to what works well and how to set it up - so if anyone of you has recommendations and/or instructions on how to set up the laser cutting/engraving software - it would be highly appreciated.

Thanks!

sungod3k

@omni hi, check out jtech photonics. they use the fan output to regulate the laser. not sure if this fits you laser, but if you manage that, there should be no need to reconfigure your machine.

im working with a pen plotter toolhead at the momement and i only need two extra gcode commands to run my plotter gcode succesfully.

dc42

The recommended approach is to use M452 to put the machine in laser mode and declare the laser control pin, and have the laser engraver software use S parameters on G1 commands to control the laser power.

omni

@dc42 Thanks for the reply and for your time. I've already read that in the previous threads about the lasers and I set it up. My question was more directed towards particular software solutions that are tried out and proven to work well with the Duet, so I can start from there.

omni

@sungod3k
Thanks for you reply. I've set up the laser to work with the Heater3 pin on the expansion header. I'll check out jtech photonics. There are many paid and free options for the laser engraving/cutting software, but I wanted to start from something that other users may have found works well, just to save some time...

arhi

@omni http://visicut.org/ is pretty well ranked, have not tried it with duet but should work ok

arhi

visicut creates code that expect that G1 S value is sticky. @dc42 is it?

code is e.g.

G21
G90
G0 X21.539200 Y11.226800 F3600
G1 X21.488400 Y12.242800 S255.000000 F1200
G1 X21.336000 Y13.258800
G1 X21.082000 Y14.173200
G1 X20.777200 Y15.138400
G1 X20.320000 Y16.002000
G1 X19.862800 Y16.814800
G1 X19.253200 Y17.576800
G1 X18.643600 Y18.288000
...
G1 X21.488400 Y10.210800
G1 X21.539200 Y11.226800
G1 X21.539200 Y11.226800
G0 X0 Y0

So it will expect G0 runs with laser off but for G1 it will add S value only first time it changes the laser power. Will this work ok, or RRF expect S value for every G1 move?

Also, will G0 run default with laser off?

If S is sticky, is it remembering separate values for G0 and G1, e.g. visicut will do (if set to forse off on G0) something like

G0 ... S0
G1 ... S255
...
G0 XY
G1 XY
...

and here it will expect G1 to use 255 (as previously set) and G0 to use S0 (as previously set)
will that work with duet?

A Former User

https://duet3d.dozuki.com/Wiki/Gcode#Section_M452_Select_Laser_Printer_Mode

M452 S1 takes care of sticky mode in recent firmwares.

arhi

@bearer ah, seen that, did not link it to this issue

how bout G1 vs G0? each have their own sticky value or?

A Former User

it said G0 means no laser, which was part of the discussion a while back; i fell off when you started talking of stick for G0, but there is a description in the wiki

jay_s_uk

Lightburn can be coaxed into working with RRF

arhi

@bearer said in Duet Laser Software:

it said G0 means no laser, which was part of the discussion a while back; i fell off when you started talking of stick for G0, but there is a description in the wiki

I missed it on the wiki, I asked only 'cause in 3dprint mode G0 and G1 are handled same, and this app can "force G0 laser off" by adding S0 but it does it only on the first G0..

anyhow all that is easily tested when you have laser hooked on so it's up to @omni now ... visicut itself looks decent, the visicam addition seems very interesting, will be cool to see how it will deal with moving bed or if the camera for visicam will have to be mounted to bed and not to frame (or to enclosure like in @omni's case) ... I only tried visicut with smoothieboard and it support smoothie out of the box

@jay_s_uk said in Duet Laser Software:

Lightburn can be coaxed into working with RRF

https://lightburnsoftware.com/ looks rather nice but for 40$ I'd expect some of the features visicut comes with .. e.g.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VaI8r-8oNw

jay_s_uk

@arhi lightburn supports cameras so I believe that can be achieved. Not tried it though

omni

Thanks for all the info guys. It's been hectic with work the past couple of days, so I could not be very active on this front. I will try out the solutions suggested here and let you know the results....

oozeBot

I am just now dipping my toes into this as well as an option for our machines. I think there are various ways to accomplish the same thing here and do remember reading how important the S parameter is for any and all commands when running a laser - so my assumption is adding the S parameter on the G1 moves will work, but I haven't yet tried it..

We have a copy of Vectric VCarve Pro that I recently upgraded with their laser plugin. One of the defaults is for the OozNest Duet (I know right? OozNest and oozeBot.. small world). They are using the Duet 2 as the controller for their hobby CNC machines and have instructions to add a laser on their website. Here is a sample of the code their Vectric post-processor generates:

T1
G17
G21
G90
G0Z20.320
G0X0.000Y0.000
G0X34.827Y38.358Z5.080
G1Z0.000S0F762.0
M3
M3S1000
G1Y62.302
G1X56.947Y53.139
G1Y29.196
G1X34.827Y38.358
G0Z5.080
G0X56.946Y60.322
G1Z0.000S0F762.0
M3
M3S1000
G1X33.370Y67.705
G1X56.946Y55.533
G1Y60.322
G0Z5.080
G0Y62.716
G1Z0.000S0F762.0
M3
M3S1000
G1Y67.505
G1X31.194Y75.779
G1X56.946Y62.716
G0Z5.080
G0Y74.688
G1Z0.000S0F762.0
M3
M3S1000
G1X29.013Y83.873
G1X56.946Y69.899
G1Y74.688
G0Z5.080
G0X81.279Y69.398
G1Z0.000S0F762.0

This is very similar to the gCode produced for our other laser engraver.. but again, I have not yet tested any of this.

And FYI, while I wait on our new Opt Laser head to arrive, I'm working on our own post-processor for Vectric we'll be releasing. I'll pick up a copy of Lightburn here soon to do the same as we understand most people won't be able justify the cost of Vectric's solution.