Does anyone know the pinouts for the AtomStack version of the LaserBox V1.0 board that can be used to control a relay for air assist using the M8 command from Lightburn?
Thanks for any assistance.
Hi Gary, I recently purchased an Atomstack laser and I’m also interested in controlling air assist over 12vdc output. Have you figure out how to connect your relay to the laserbox v1.0?
I reached Atomstack support team, but so far no reply.
Best regards, Nicolas
Sorry but I have not looked into it. Am moving into a new house an currently building a new shop so am doing nothing productive at this time. Booooo Withdrawal!
If you hear of anything from the Atomstack positive, please let me know as it would be nice to add this next spring.
As soon as I’ve got news or my setup works, I’ll let you know.
Hi,
Hereafter the answer of AtomStack.
The P9M50 laser is controlled by a 4-wire pin (VDC, GND and Signal). I measured the signal with an oscilloscope and it appeared to be PWM. I did try to use the signal to control a NPN transistor, but the signal is too low (below 0.7V it stays OFF).
Finally, I did use an Adafruit Trinket M0 that I got on hand. The Trinket reads the signal and output a HIGH or LOW signal to the a-m transistor, based on a trigger level that I set. When HIGH, it closes the 12VDC circuit with the soleinoid valve. That latter one is powered by the LaserBox board 12VDC. The Trinket is powered by the board too, but with 5VDC. I also added a flyback diode to prevent any EMF back surge to the transistor or the Trinket.
As far as the code is concerned, it is quite simple and use the pulseIn() function to read the signal. If you’re interested by that solution, I will share the code with you (schematic and pictures too).
I tested the setup and it works well. For the moment, I use air-assist all the time. So I set a trigger level a 15% (laser power). The laser is useless below 20% and I don’t use it below that level. As a result, the air-assist turns ON as soon as the work begins. It turns OFF a couple of seconds after the job is done.
One could easily add a potentiometer to set the trigger level on the fly. Perhaps I’ll do it later, but not my priority yet.
Hope this will help and Happy New Year:-)
Nicolas