Thanks to the posts here at CNCZone I have been able to take my Chinese 40W laser cutter from nearly useless to nearly perfect. I purchased this laser cutter: [EBAY LISTING="290763751484"][/EBAY LISTING] and had a very similar experience to most people.
I decided very early on that I was going to change out the control board for something that would work with LinuxCNC or Mach3. But I really wanted to keep all the cabling intact. I couldn't find anything that would be a drop in replacement so I decided to design something up.
Here is a video of my first X,Y motion test:
Chris' Circuits: Converting a Chinese laser cutter to work on Mach3
Here is a video of the first cut:
Chris' Circuits: First Cut!
I have designed and ordered a prototype PCB to test, I'll update when they arrive. Let me know your thoughts or suggestions. My goal is to develop something that will make converting these Chinese laser cutters to use Mach3 or LinuxCNC painless.
I decided very early on that I was going to change out the control board for something that would work with LinuxCNC or Mach3. But I really wanted to keep all the cabling intact. I couldn't find anything that would be a drop in replacement so I decided to design something up.
Here is a video of my first X,Y motion test:
Chris' Circuits: Converting a Chinese laser cutter to work on Mach3
Here is a video of the first cut:
Chris' Circuits: First Cut!
I have designed and ordered a prototype PCB to test, I'll update when they arrive. Let me know your thoughts or suggestions. My goal is to develop something that will make converting these Chinese laser cutters to use Mach3 or LinuxCNC painless.