I have a generic 4axis grbl control board from Amazon. I need to be able to control XYZA and air assist. I can’t find a header on the board that will activate with M7 or M8 but I can get spindle control to work when it starts cutting. Is there a way to tie spindle control to the M7 or M8 commands to turn on the air pump? I’ve verified that the pump works fine off the spindle control as long as I set the spindle speed to full. I can manually enable and disable the spindle by changing the Spindle max speed but this would be much easier if there was a way to connect air assist to the spindle control.
Most of these, the spindle speed it related to the pwm control of the laser… Don’t know your board, but most of the schematics I’ve seen are setup that way…
Ether a laser or a spindle… You should confirm…
Might be smart to post a link to the ‘generic amazon controller’, so we can see what information there is for us…
I can’t find much info about this controller online but if anyone has a better solution for a 4 axis grbl controller with air assist, I’m open to other options.
Thanks for the pointer that the laser also uses the same PWM as the spindle control. I’ve been testing the spindle control with the laser disconnected so I didn’t even realize that they were connected that way. You’re correct, when I had the spindle on full, the laser was also on 100%
If you read the comments on the link, the big complaint it no support or information on it. No way to re-flash the firmware to something known…
When you boot and connect does it give you any information about what it is?
Mine gives me something related to the firmware version…
Grbl 1.1 ['$' for help]
Your Grbl may not support Variable Power mode (M4)
If your laser does not turn off between cuts,
switch to the GRBL-M3 device
[MSG:Local access point MKS_DLC started, 192.168.4.1]
[MSG:Captive Portal Started]
[MSG:HTTP Started]
[MSG:TELNET Started 23]
Grbl 1.1 ['$' for help]
ok
[VER:1.1.2022051001:]
[OPT:PHSW]
[MSG:Using machine:MKS DLC32]
[MSG:Mode=STA:SSID=:Status=Not connected:IP=0.0.0.0:MAC=----------]
[MSG:Mode=AP:SSDI=MKS_DLC:IP=192.168.4.1:MAC=--------]
ok
Unless you can find a schematic or firmware for it, that could be tough …
I believe, if it’s a GNU licensed grbl, they have to provide source… for what it’s worth…
Good luck
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any suggestions on a controller that would support 4 different axis, laser and air assist at 24v?
Why do you need four axes?
Just curious…
Obviously X & Y, A for the rotary control and I’ve also built a stepper controlled bed that operates off the Z axis. Hence the need for a 4 axis controller. I’m really surprised no one else is building setups like this and people simply rely on propping their engravers up on blocks if they want to do something thicker than a coffee cup.
The Ruida is sometimes wired up to a Z or U axes for table control
… so it’s not unusual… I was just wondering if it was for something more exotic.
Many of us just unplug the Y axes and put in the rotary … My China Blue has a hand adjusted Z axes… I thought about motorizing, but it wobbles as it moves, so there wasn’t much point…
Good luck
I’m looking for a solution now where I can use a PWM to analog converter to control the air pump based on the PWM output. Typically I’ll only need the air assist for cutting which is most likely going to be higher output than typical engraving so I can probably make it work with a manual switch for when I need high laser output for engraving without air.
I’d find some useful information on the board or I’d ditch the board… A MKS DLC32 isn’t much money and may handle all of this…
Good luck
I already have a Mks DLC32 V2.0 on the way for another project and I was going to try that however it only supports 3 axis and also doesn’t look to have a dedicated output for air assist. The only benefit of that one is the open source firmware and schematics.
That may be what makes it. You’re guessing now… how many options/pins are there?
I’d be surprised if the MKS board doesn’t do all you want, at least for 3 axes. Better than a board with zero documentation…
Good luck
The MKS 32 does have the two expansion ports for a display so one of those could probably be hacked to run an external stepper driver. It also has a couple of 12/24v outputs, but I don’t know if either are connected to GPIO’s on the processor. I’ll know more about it next week when it shows up.
It also has a spindle control which may not be connected to the laser pwm.
What I’m trying to tell you is, I think these are being used for what you want…
Most of the gcode would probably go through the same software, spindle or laser, so I doubt the output would be different… I have one of these, but haven’t hooked it up to anything.
I’ve seen them running lots of lasers…
Good luck
I was able to find a work around for this. I used a cheap single channel 5v relay controller off Amazon along with a 2k trim pot hooked up between the PWM on the board and the activation pin of the relay board. I was able to dial it in so that at 75% laser output it will activate the relay that the air pump is connected to. i can adjust the on value of the air pump simply by turning the trim pot up or down.
It works well enough for what I do until I can find better firmware for my controller to use another pin to respond to M7 or M8
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