Hi, I have just rebuilt the control hardware for my MPCNC machine using a duet3 mini5+ board called the Big Dipper. Firmware is RRF 3.4.4 . I have connected a 'Laser Tree LT-40W-F23' laser module to the designated laser port which uses 'out6' as its PWM control. Everything is working fine except that I cannot find a way to turn the laser on at low power for location. The laser is normally turned on by G1 Sxx commands but only stays on while the G1 movement is in operation. Trying to turn it on with 'G1 S1' has no effect and the macro 'M950 P0 C"out6" Q500
M42 P0 S0.1' suggested elsewhere on this blog just tells me that the port is in use elsewhere. My config.g is below. Your help would be much appreciated as my sanity is at stake......

; Configuration file for Duet 3 Mini 5+ (firmware version 3.3)
; executed by the firmware on start-up
;
; generated by RepRapFirmware Configuration Tool v3.3.15 on Sat Nov 26 2022 15:03:43 GMT+0000 (Greenwich Mean Time)

; General preferences
M575 P1 S1 B57600 ; enable support for PanelDue
G90 ; send absolute coordinates...
M83 ; ...but relative extruder moves
M550 P"CNC - laser" ; set printer name
M918 P1 E4 F2000000 ; configure direct-connect display
M950 J1 C"io6.in" ; set io6.in to work with emergency stop switch
M581 P1 T0 S1 R0 ; emergency stop

; Network
M552 S1 ; enable network
M586 P0 S1 ; enable HTTP
M586 P1 S0 ; disable FTP
M586 P2 S0 ; disable Telnet

; Drives
M569 P0.0 S1 ; physical drive 0.0 'X1' goes forwards
M569 P0.1 S0 ; physical drive 0.1 'X2'goes backwards
M569 P0.2 S0 ; physical drive 0.2 'Y1' goes forwards
M569 P0.3 S1 ; physical drive 0.3 'Y2' goes backwards
M569 P0.4 S0 ; physical drive 0.4 'Z' goes forwards
M584 X0.0:0.1 Y0.2:0.3 Z0.4 ; set drive mapping
M350 X16 Y16 Z16 I1 ; configure microstepping with interpolation
M92 X100.00 Y100.00 Z2560.00 ; set steps per mm
M566 X500.00 Y500.00 Z300.00 ; set maximum instantaneous speed changes (mm/min)
M203 X3500.00 Y3500.00 Z700.00 ; set maximum speeds (mm/min)
M201 X300.00 Y300.00 Z250.00 ; set accelerations (mm/s^2)
M906 X800 Y800 Z800 I30 ; set motor currents (mA) and motor idle factor in per cent
M84 S30 ; Set idle timeout

; Axis Limits
M208 X-650 Y-600 Z-250 S1 ; set axis minima
M208 X650 Y600 Z200 S0 ; set axis maxima

; Endstops
M574 X1 S1 P"io5.in+io1.in" ; configure switch-type (e.g. microswitch) endstop for low end on X via pin ^io0.in
M574 Y1 S1 P"io2.in+io3.in" ; configure switch-type (e.g. microswitch) endstop for low end on Y via pin ^io1.in
M574 Z2 S1 P"io4.in" ; configure switch-type (e.g. microswitch) endstop for high end on Z via pin ^io2.in

; Z-Probe
M558 P5 C"^temp0" H5 F7200 T144000 ; set Z probe type to switch and the dive height + speeds
M558 H30 ;*** Remove this line after delta calibration has been done and new delta parameters have been saved
G31 P500 X0 Y0 Z0.7 ; set Z probe trigger value, offset and trigger height
;M557 X-635:215 Y-585:195 S20 ; define mesh grid

; Heaters
M140 H-1 ; disable heated bed (overrides default heater mapping)

; Fans
;M950 F0 C"out3" Q500 ; create fan 0 on pin out3 and set its frequency
;M106 P0 S0 H-1 ; set fan 0 value. Thermostatic control is turned off

; Tools
M563 P0 S"cnc" F0 ; define tool 0
G10 P0 X0 Y0 Z0 ; set tool 0 axis offsets
G10 P0 R0 S0 ; set initial tool 0 active and standby temperatures to 0C
M563 P1 S"laser" D1 F0 ; define tool 1
G10 P1 X0 Y0 Z0 ; set tool 1 axis offsets
G10 P1 R0 S0 ; set initial tool 1 active and standby temperatures to 0C

; Custom settings are not defined

; Miscellaneous
T0 ; select first tool

; laser
M452 C"out6" R255 F1200 ; Enable Laser mode, on out6, with max intensity being 255, and a PWM frequency of 1200

Hi, I’m using Workbee software on a Duet2 Wifi controlling an MPCNC machine. I have a problem in that for some reason the roughing toolpaths I produce using Artcam 2018 do not cut properly. The finishing toolpaths using the ‘spiral in a box’ setting work fine but all the roughing toolpaths, whether raster or offset, fail. I have attached the toolpaths together with an image of the roughing toolpath run in Camotics simulator and a photo of the actual cutting done on my machine from the same file. The machine runs along each of the two paths it cuts 8 or 9 times... I would be delighted if someone could give me a clue as to what is going wrong here. Thanks.
bee rough 2.pdf
bee finish.pdf

@ian-0 I have now - finally - got it sorted.. I am now using the E6STOP input on the expansion port connector and GND pin with pullup and inversion applied. M558 K0 P8 C"!^exp.E6_STOP" H0.7 F120 T3000 . Thanks for all your help.

@ian-0 That should have been 0v on the Z_PROBE_MOD pin..... dohhh!

@ian-0 I changed the probe file to invert the pin and it did give me 'current reading 0"' - unfortunately it also gave me 0 when the crocodile clip was clipped to the plate! I dabbed a multimeter round the pins of the Z-Probe port and I got 4.65v on the Z_PROBE_IN pin, 4.3v on the GND pin, )v on the Z_PROBE_MOD pin, and 3.3v on the 3.3v pin. I'm beginning to wonder whether the probe port is duff... can I put the probe onto another input - say E6_STOP on the expansion header and then to either 3.3v or GND on the same port? Should that then work as M558 K0 P8 C"!E6_STOP" H10 F120 T3000? Thanks.

@storm Thanks, I'll try that.

A thought I had is, the two probe wires are currently connected to Z_PROBE_IN and 3.3v on the probe port - should they be connected to Z_PROBE_IN and Ground with the pullup resistor activated? I also can't remember where I set the thickness of the touch plate to 0.7mm and I can't see it in any of the system files.... any idea? Thanks.

@storm My Reprap version is 3.3

@storm Thanks, That appears to be finding a probe but whether the touch plate is touched or not gives me the same answer to G31 - g31
Z probe 0: current reading 1000, threshold 500, trigger height 0.700, offsets X0.0 Y0.0
Should that be the case? I assumed I should get a different reading.

@nightowl ```
; Configuration file for Duet
; executed by the firmware on start-up
; WorkBee Firmware Version 1.1

global systemSettingsVersion={1.2}

M575 P1 S1 B57600

; Configuration files
M98 P"config-network.g"
M98 P"config-drives.g"
M98 P"config-axes.g"
M98 P"config-axes-limits.g"
M98 P"config-axes-calibration.g"
M98 P"config-axes-endstops.g"
M98 P"config-probe.g"
M98 P"config-spindle.g"
M98 P"config-laser.g"

; Other Settings
M453 ; Put the machine into CNC Modes
G90 ; Set absolute coordinates
M140 H-1 ; Disable heated bed
M564 S1 H1 ; Disable jog commands when not homed
M911 S21.0 R23 P"G91 G1 Z3 F1000" ; Configure power loss resume

; User Configuration files
M98 P"config-user-settings.g"

I did do a bit more trawling around the net and tried changing the config-probe again to :
M558 K1 P5 C"^zprobe" H5 F500 T500     but this still gives me an error of :
g31
Error: G31: Invalid Z probe index    when I run the G31