I recently had inspiration to make my JL1 wireless, with self imposed constrain to use no additional hardware, only original board. It had that functionality originally!
Today I’ve succeeded: JL1 firmware recompiled to talk on second UART of STM that is connected to ESP12F.
There is large selection of projects to used ESP as WiFi-to-serial bridge. I use ESP-LINK for that.
Hi. First of all… Thank you for all your work for making the firmware. Secondly I want to apologize in advance for not knowing much about the matters as totally new in this field. I recently got a JL1 engraver and inspired by the work you have done and seeing people having fun with the engraver using GRBL, I have also installed the JL1 v2 firmware using ST-Link V2.
After installation, the machine booted perfectly on Lightburn but I am bit lost after that. I would really be grateful if you could guide me a bit about the following thing.
The machine is homing at the corner where its power switch is present. Previously it used park on the opposite end on starting. Is it normal?
When I move the head through the control buttons, it gives error that I am moving it beyond the limits.
The main blue laser is remains off other than when I start to engrave something. It is not possible to set the focus. How to turn it on in low power mode for setting focus.
The machine becomes unresponsive and needs to be restarted again if I use the frame command 2 or 3 times.
Please guide… I’ll be really grateful.
That’s typically the symptom of a “cracked” LightBurn file downloaded from somewhere other than the Official Site:
You should also consider running a good malware scan, because similar programs generally install a bunch of other stuff you really don’t want on your PC.
Thanks for the guidance. You were right. Circle issue has been solved. Had used an old installer that I found online in a package of software for another engraver while searching for software for JL1. There definitely was something not right about it. I bought my JL1 engraver in used condition from a guy and naturally came it without any pen drive etc.
Upgraded to the latest version from your provided link and it is working like a charm. Will definitely get a license, once I get the hang of this engraver and make up my mind that whether I am going to continue with this new hobby or not. At the moment, I am bit too overwhelmed with everything. Thank you so much for sorting out the things for me. Really obliged.
Regards.
JL1 frame has home switches at bottom right, that is is Y=0 and X=max of the table.
I recall original firmware after homing moves head to upper left, to clear access to the table. That would me X=0 and Y=max. That is by command and not where the home is.
If after hard homing (lower right corner) you give command to go to 0:0, it will move to bottom left.
Laser coordinates are different than some other CNCs or web or windows image coordinates. Laser uses exclusively positive coordinates (where some CNCs run in negative space, because of subtractive nature of CNC milling, for example). But, with wrong settings, machine can be in negative space, with limits disabled and relative zero set - it can be operational and usable, tough ptobably not preferred way to run it.
There are HARD coordinates, and LOCAL or RELATIVE coordinate space. Later one is where you work begins. Before you run your work you must set your local zero reference, that is usually different than global/hard coordinates.
You may add startup code to park head wherever you prefer. Executed after GRBL board power-up. You may add it to the software you are using. Optionally you may add it as a startup command to the GRBL controller itself. BUT, many folks who add it into the controller board, often later got confused why machine doing something on power-up they do not expect. Educate yourself on optional power-up command sequence, how to program it, check it, and erase/reset it.
Probably your settings got changed. Bunch of variables must be set in the controller. My firmware do set it for JL1 frame after flashing, as factory configured hardware, no mods. If your settings changed somehow - you may reset it to defaults (with command), or set it (each) manually. Some applications may overwrite defaults. With proper settings you should not get that warning if you are within physical range of the table. You will get that warning if you manually or G_code trying to go beyond physical limits of your table. Just make sure settings are correct and your work file is within your coordinates limits.
There is a G-code command to turn laser on with whatever arbitrary power you prefer. I usually focus my 4W laser at 2% power. To achieve perfect focus - I use microscope camera, my eyes just not sharp enough. Better alternative is to add z-slide to your machine, optimize that focus once, create spacer reference and then just use spacer to set focal distance with slide, no need to turn laser on. But, I find myself to do it more often by eye, for quick cuts of vinyl stickers, or with camera for finer engraving on irregular surfaces. For everything else - spacer and slide.
“Unresponsive” I guess it is not moving, but probably still responding to serial commands. Only thing I can think of is improper limits in settings and work file is larger than limits. Once you touch any limit - GRBL supposed to latch the error and block any further motion. You may reset it with command or power cycle. To resolve: make sure GRBL settings are correct, you work file is fitting properly on your table, hard homing is performed, relative home for your work file is set. If everything matching - JL1 unlikely to be unresponsive. Keep serial terminal communication visible all the time. There are some messages that you may find helpful to understand what is going on.
Try LaserGRBL. it is lower level tool for lasering, but maybe beneficial for you to use and learn laser GRBL. It has serial terminal shown all the time and you can easily run arbitrary low level command at any time.
Thank you Sir for the detailed guidance. Really helpful as I am totally new to this G-code and GRBL stuff. I have installed LaserGRBL software trying it out to understand how things work. Solved the focusing issue as the laser can be easily turned on in that software. I have also found that the JL1 now works perfectly with the CutLabX software as well, that comes with most of the engravers… Definitely not feature rich and powerful as Lightburn, but a good option for novices like me who have just started the journey.
