I don’t do “imperial” normally… I almost exclusively use “metric” for this stuff.
Yes, you’ve used a linear “in/mm” scale (range 508mm/min to 2540mm/min) and mine is not linear and “mm/min” (range 250mm/min to 3000 min)… multiply your speeds by 25.4 to get mm/min. My inner-most 8 rows pretty much correspond to your tile…
Note that on my tile, I selected 1250 mm/min and 100% to do my ceramic tiles. Your 50 in/min (1270mm/min) and 100% looks similarly the “fastest black” on your tile and I’ll assume you pick 50 in/min and 100% to do your engraving. Any faster and both our test tiles get lighter and nastier looking.
We both might get a slightly blacker black by slowing down slightly… but who wants to do that? So we’ve “compromised” a bit to get the fastest speed for an acceptable black.
Your tile looks good to me… and I think your tile brackets the useful range better.
As OP, I personally think the ceramic tile discussion still belongs to the original topic since we’re using that machine to do the engraving. Even the discussion of reflashing the JL1 board with @LsrSal’s zipfile (upgrade.exe and ROM.bin) and a Windows box is valid since it has been successfully used by a couple of us to put Grbl 1.1f on the machine and make it useful. And now the machine is to the point where we can finally start playing with it and answer the question posed in the thread title, “… any good?”
The discussion went off-topic IMO with the deeper, more complex STM32 programming methods and alternative/custom firmware images. That discussion I would prefer be a thread of its own… if you’re gonna split the thread.
My only reason, is it’s over 200 posts, that in itself should be reason to interrupt it. If you’ve had to go back and re-read stuff, it’s almost impossible.
Don’t know how anyone could tell if the ‘$79 Cenoz…’ is ‘any good’ after wading through the first 100 posts.
Taken a hiatus from the machine. I spent half of my time wading through the thread trying to figure out what is going on… and I have some clue as to what is going on…
I pity someone that just purchased this thing and wants Lightburn, and ends up tangled in up in this thread.
Success!
Flashed JL3 GRBL. I can see where someone might be confused when the flashing program green bar stops at 80ish percent and disappears. No information box appears to say success or not.
Just for kicks, I used UGS to see if it was communicating and to compare settings. I noticed that I was not able to jog using UGS but LB worked great. I also noticed that some settings in LB cause erratic behavior such as alarms and not jogging the laser. This was user origin and homing enable. At one point it would home in the bottom right but then would error. Not sure what is going on but not a deal breaker. Did some quick test line burns and now have to quit to make some dinner. Will not be able to really test it until this weekend. All in all an interesting afternoon with a cheap but well built little laser system.
Yeah, I’ve been following along with you and the others. Frankly, it reaffirms my decision to just go ahead and perform a brain transplant on the little guy. It cost me, what, another 20 bucks for the MakerBase board but I think I avoided a headache or two and some frustration. But then, as you know, I went off on a tangent and loaded FluidNC on the MKS DLC32 board. I’m really enjoying the journey!
If I hadn’t hosed up the upgrade, I might have had different results. I also ordered a mk32 from aliexpress. It’s somewhere in the US according to aliexpress. The estimated date is the 9th of September. It was $20 including shipping, but need to make some kind of mount/box for it.
I would have got two of them if they would have had anymore in stock… I have a 30W Neje, I’d like to mount on it.
Not fussin’… but to all who are frustrated with the length of this thread:
I understand your frustration. But I would also point out that within the first eight posts of this thread, I presented TWO different solutions to making this little engraver into a Lightburn capable, Grbl based, machine.
Post #1 presents a working machine with replacement Grbl-based controller
Post #8 has instructions for successfully flashing the JL1 controller with @LsrSal’s zipfile and a Windows box. Many thanks to @LsrSal for the zipfile and instructions!
I’m genuinely sorry that a few have had trouble flashing the JL1 board with the instructions in post #8. It’s perfectly understandable but mostly that was distrust/misinterpretation of the admittedly minimalist “upgrade.exe” and its sorry lack of status/confirmation messages. But there were also no obvious error indications and the few of us who went on to test the board were mostly rewarded with a working Grbl-based controller board. And now a few of us are trying our hand at putting our little Grbl-based machines to work engraving ceramic tiles and such.
Please note that most of the confusion/frustration arises from the off-topic discussion of more drastic recovery attempts that resort to complex STM32 programming methods, alternative/custom firmware images, etc. I have no clue whether this thread could be split and/or who would need to do it. If it can’t, it’s a shame… because this little $79 Amazon machine is actually relatively quick and easy to turn into a nice, well-built, laser engraving machine.
I have been enjoying this journey and I feel there are a lot of high value ideas and contributions here.
I can’t spend hours curating this but I can see that there could easily be more than several hours worth of future-value in separating out the topics on this wild (free-range) thread. It really is a marvel of enthusiasm, interest and engagement; thank you (all of you) for your contributions here - they are noticed and appreciated at the highest levels.
@dkj4linux You have the first post. The floor is yours. If you’d like me to make adjustments and apply administrative tools to help sort it I’d be happy to do so.
If you’d like it left as is, I will oblige.
If you’d like to workshop this as a group as where you’d like to split it, I’ll delete the workshop messages once the thread is in a preferred form(s).
I’d like to have some consensus around this. The commitment that I have is that I’d like to protect the community (and all the good stuff written by our enthusiastic participants) while carrying out other daily tasks.
A good fallback may be to provide an index with links to help folks find their way.
While I empathize with Jacks situation, I have to agree with David’s comments.
If you do split this thread up, I will certainly follow the new thread. (and others will too)
lsrsal (Sal) has been a tremendous help to all of us, and I will continue to follow all of his input. (And I’m sure others will too)
just my $.02
Thank you, John, for responding. Anything you can do would help.
My fear is that, if left alone, this thread will continue to get longer and more confusing if the off-topic discussion doesn’t find a new home. Or, it dies completely… kinda stranding those of us who are still trying to tame this neat, little machine. We’d have to start over in a new thread and cover a lot of the same ground… but, then again, we may never see this sold-out machine ever offered again.
I’m a tired/retired EE and totally ignorant of how you guys manage forums, threads, etc. The “workshop/group” thing scares me… but only that I might have to participate and make decisions?
The index with links sounds most promising to me. I have no idea how it would work… but, then again, my UNDERSTANDING isn’t a requirement, is it?
I’m happy to go with the consensus. Thank you, John… and all.
The black markings are not as black and distinct as the original ones above. I’m not yet sure whether it’s a paint/coating thing and/or possibly not finding/using optimal speed/power settings (I used the same setttings as for my 2.3W laser) for this laser. The process is still valid however… I need to do a couple of NWT test grids using the Cenoz laser to see if I can get a better result.
Well what can I say. When I posted my first tile in post 114, I was quite pleased with the results.
But from there its been downhill all the way.
Right now I’m seriously considering getting rid of this machine.
I truly like the construction, but I think the laser head is dying and is a piece of s##t.
What doesn’t
wash off with the acetone, I can scrape off with my fingernail.
Very disappointed.
What did it cost you?.. The laser module is a consumable… bummer if they fail early. I’ve found coating thickness to be critical one the ones I’ve done… Haven’t done one with this laser…
I have a Neje 30 watt that I’m going to put on mine. We’ll see how it works out… maybe you should look at an upgrade for the laser… ?
I actually did not buy this for the laser head but for the frame and controller. I will eventually be upgrading my laser to something more substantial.
