AlgoLaser air assist. How to use m16/m17 effectively?

[cggorman (Chris)]

LB 1.4.05 currently. Nothing compelling is keeping me from 1.5, but I’m also in no rush to introduce potential bugs since 1.4 is working fine for me.

Just setting up a new AlgoLaser DIY 5W with their new air assist and finding a quirk I’d like advice about, to see if I can tweak its behavior some.

I feel like this is a mix of Algo firmware quirks and LB quirks. Not sure if/how I can change either.

M16 powers on pump at 100% speed.
M16Sxxxx powers on and/or adjusts speed, where S100=10%, S1000=100%
M17 powers off pump
M7 generates “unsupported g-code” error
M8 does nothing.
M9 powers pump @ 30%

The pump powers on at 30% at connection and remains on unless issued an m17.

I figured I could work around all that with start/end gcode and macros, issuing m16s500 at start and m17 at end. And a macro for turning it off if I connect and don’t immediately run a job. So, that’s what I did. I only intend this machine for engraving, so a low/moderate flow of air during any/every job is adequate. A single start GCode can manage that.

I also created macros for M16S250, M16S500, M16S1000, & M17. These work as expected.

This is where it gets a bit funky…

With LB air toggle OFF (+start/end gcodes):
Upon start, the pump powers on at expected 50% then almost immediately switches to 30% (like an M9 was issued), runs job, shuts off air, moves to finish position, and turns on air again to 30% (M9 again?)

With LB air toggle ON (+start/end gcodes):
Upon start, the pump powers on at expected 50%, runs job, shuts off air, moves to finish position, and turns on air again to 30% (M9 again?) It then remains on until I issue an m17 manually.

So…enabling air toggle partially works. Disabling air toggle fails miserably.

Any thoughts on how I can make this pump behave?
TIA!

[cggorman (Chris)]

In case it’s helpful, here’s the $$ dump:

$$
$0=5.0
$1=100
$2=0
$3=2
$4=7
$5=3
$7=0
$10=2047
$11=0.050
$12=0.002
$13=0
$14=0
$15=3
$16=0
$17=4
$18=0
$20=1
$21=1
$22=1
$23=7
$24=200.0
$25=5000.0
$26=150
$27=3.000
$28=0.100
$29=0.0
$30=1000.000
$31=0.000
$32=1
$33=2000.0
$34=0.0
$35=0.0
$36=100.0
$37=0
$39=1
$40=1
$43=1
$44=3
$45=0
$46=0
$62=0
$63=3
$64=0
$70=27
$73=1
$74=My_SSID
$75=***********
$76=ALDK_AP_96D4
$77=12345678
$100=100.000
$101=100.000
$102=100.000
$110=20040.000
$111=20040.000
$112=600.000
$120=900.000
$121=800.000
$122=200.000
$130=400.000
$131=400.000
$132=100.000
$140=1200
$141=1200
$142=0
$141=1200
$160=0.000
$161=0.000
$162=0.000
$180=20040.000
$181=14028.000
$182=600.000
$270=115200
$271=115200
$272=115200
$300=ALDK_STA_96D4
$301=1
$302=192.168.5.1
$303=192.168.5.1
$304=255.255.255.0
$305=23
$307=81
$308=21
$310=ALDK_AP_96D4
$312=192.168.5.1
$313=192.168.5.1
$314=255.255.255.0
$332=255
$341=0
$342=30.0
$343=30.0
$344=180.0
$345=200.0
$384=0
$600=0
$601=5
$602=0
$603=5.0
$604=6.0
$605=1
$606=1
$607=0
$608=1
$609=10.000
$610=0
$611=0
$612=1
$613=4294967295
$614=0
$615=firmware.algolaser.com
$616=0
$617=0
$622=111
ok

[gilaraujo (Gil Araújo)]

@cggorman

M9 powers pump @ 30%

This is expected
The pump - is not suposed to be 0%/OFF all the time
So off state is 30% as the pump is - for the high power lasers an complenetary cooling method.

This is being revised so users can - via firmware $xx settings - change the off behaviour.
However as per now is expected behaviour