I have added a 5.5watt diode laser to my Gatton cnc. I use linuxCNC and am having trouble setting up lightburn. As of right now I am having to output and edit the gcode to make it work. Will there be any upgrades to lightburn to allow the gcode to be output without needing to edit it? I have also used uccnc as controller for my cnc. Would it be better for use with lightburn? I would like to be able to output gcode and run with my control software. Thanks
LightBurn wasn’t written for CNC machines, and I’m not familiar with a Gatton cnc, so I would need more information. What changes do you have to make to the GCode to make it work? I might be able to suggest a built-in device profile that’s closer to what you need.
LinuxCNC lets me use m3 to turn laser on and m5 to turn it off. With S setting laser power from 0-1000. For vcarve I use the J tech post processor for linuxCNC.
For LightBurn, you’d just use the GRBL-M3 device profile to produce GCode like this, and edit the S-value Max setting in the device settings to make the S range 0 to 1000. If those are your only requirements, that should be all you need.
I think that is the 1 that I tried. So far I have figured out that lightburn uses S0 to turn laser off so I have to edit in an M3 before every S command for it to fire laser again. I have yet to have aNy success but I will keep trying. Will definitely be buying if I can get it to work. Many people with hobby cncs are adding the cheap diode lasers. Would be great if somewhere down the road lightburn could output gcode ready to use. Thanks
@Bmann you have the attention of the primary software developer so if you can be sure about what you say, then there is a chance things could change. But if you can only be vague then there’s little hope of him spending time learning LinuxCNC GCode specifics to solve your needs.
FWIW, I’ve used Slic3r to sliced 3D objects and output GCode flavor set to Machinekit to generate LinuxCNC compatible GCode for a 3D printer.
M3 enables the spindle, and M5 disables the spindle. S0 to Sxxxx is to set the spindle RPM, which is also the PWM output to the laser. LightBurn enables the spindle at the start of a cut and disables it at the end of a cut. It will turn it on once at the beginning of an engraving layer, and off at the end, using S values to vary the power output. Once the M3 command is sent, the laser is on. Sending S0 sets the output power to 0, and sending S1000 sets it back to 100% - It shouldn’t be considered “off” again until an M5 command is sent, so there should be no need for you to add extra M3 commands.
You’ve said very little about what your laser setup actually needs for commands, other than vague references to M3, M5, and S, which LightBurn already uses. In order to write code, I need very specific details about how and when those commands are used. Many people with diodes mounted on hobby CNCs already use LightBurn’s gcode directly with their machines, so I would need to know why your setup is different.
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.