I am looking at using this controller GRBL 12v 2 Axis Control Board DIY laser Engraving Machine accessories|CNC Controller| - AliExpress with a dedicated rotary axis laser engraver I designed & built. This controller has the features I am looking for and at a reasonable price, but not sure how good it is. Here is a short video of my this machine engraving a bamboo pen. First Burn Test using Dedicated Rotary Axis Laser Engraver - YouTube
I’m not familiar with this particular board but some observations from looking at the listing:
- The version of GRBL supported is not mentioned. You really want something that is 1.1f or higher as that version provides for variable power control that’s very useful for burn quality.
- There are no connectors for limit switches so homing would be out of the picture.
- Don’t know if Z axis is in your future. I know you’ve specified 2-axis in the title but your video shows a vertical orientation so wasn’t sure if a 3rd axis would ever be important.
If you were thinking of this strictly for the purpose of your current solution with your dedicated rotary I suspect this would work since you wouldn’t need homing. Not sure how the 2 Y-axis connectors would play in if you only need one. There is probably an even cheaper solution that is strictly 2-motor 2-axis.
Here’s a Two Trees controller. It doesn’t say it but I think it supports arduino based firmware as it has an Atmel chip.
Laser engraving machine cutting machine control board XY axis main board with A4988 motor drive for 2.5W/5.5W laser module|3D Printer Parts & Accessories| - AliExpress
Looks like the same board used in this system:
Twotrees TT-5.5S Powerful Desktop Laser Engraving Machine with LKS Mot (twotrees3dofficial.com)
I suspect the one you’ve linked is likely also arduino compatible but not sure.
How are you controlling your system today?
I am currently using this board with DRV8825 drivers EleksMaker Mana 3 Axis Stepper Motor Driver Controller Board For DIY Laser Engraver|Woodworking Machinery Parts| - AliExpress , but eventually want a dedicated controller for this machine as I will put that eleksmaker on a x,y engraver. I don’t really need limit switches on the rotary axis & if I did, probably would have to wire just the X limit switch to both the x & y on the controller board as I don’t know of a way to home rotary axis with a limit switch and am not sure how well that would work. Since the two trees board is arduino firmware, what firmware would work for that? I thought GRBL firmware handled laser engraving the best with these diode lasers? The Eleksmaker board has a Y1 & Y2 connector. Don’t think that is a problem, but I am currently using the Z-axis for the rotary. Think I tested it on the Y-axis a while back, but am not positive. I will have to verify that is not a problem. I did not think about the version of GRBL that board supported. I thought it would be able to use the latest GRBL, but maybe that is not the case. I could use a 3-axis GRBL controller board if there are some in the sub $20 range. I don’t really want to use a UNO board though.
You’d actually use an arduino targeted version of GRBL. Essentially the same firmware that you’re using on the EleksMaker board. So you would be using GRBL. The Atmel chip used in Arduino is the “native” chip for GRBL.
This is fine as long as you have access to the firmware. Eleksmaker uses GRBL as targeted to arduino so you could change the behavior of Y1,2 as required. I’m just not certain what the microcontroller on the board you linked is. For some reason they’ve blanked out the chip. Again, I suspect it’s probably a compatible Atmel chip but just can’t tell for sure. You could ask them to verify. My only concern is that it’s possible that it’s configured in way that it won’t work without detecting both steppers. Thinking about it now I’m guess that’s not the case since the board doesn’t support limit switches. It likely wouldn’t have any means of detecting stepper presence so probably wouldn’t care.
If it’s arduino compatible for sure it won’t be a problem. Only an issue if it’s some obscure chip that’s not already supported by some project.
Thanks for the additional info.
I just found this board that supports GRBL and made by Makerbase & they have a nice informative video on it. Looks like it might be a good choice & has X, Y & Z for less than other board as well as having an ESP32 wifi & able to attach a screen (I probably don’t need a screen for though) and all for $14 less drivers. grbl 32 bit CNC shield controller ESP32 WIFI MKS DLC32 V2.1 offline control board TS24 touchscreen for CNC engraving machine|3D Printer Parts & Accessories| - AliExpress
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MKS DLC32 is a fairly commonly used board on this forum. It has the benefit of being 32-bit as well. But guess you’ve got the additional cost of the drivers in this scenario.
It’s a more flexible board for sure.
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