Need help building my new laser engraver

Community Laser Talk
1

First time here and I am super new so excuse me if I am unsure of what the etiquette is here. I am building my own engraver with a 12v 10w diode laser. I am using a MKS DLC32 main board. Nema 7 steppers motors with 2209 stepper drivers. I am using a 12v 3amp power supply.

The issue I am having is that the laser will not turn on. I tested the laser with a direct 12v power supply and the cooling fan comes on, which it does not when I start an engraving. So I know the laser works. I tested the board and the three pin connector from the board to the laser is supplying a steady 11.68v, so I know the board is working.

I am assuming at this point that it is either a PWM issue, which I do not know how to address or resolve, or that I m using the software wrong and the laser is not engaging due to some software setting issue. I am looking for ANY information that could help me isolate the issue. Appreciate the help in advice. You can see an exact diagram of my setup at the link below.

2

gcode would help a lot it could be a lot of things to be honest! A bunch more detail will help the more experienced folk dig into your issue.

3

If you press the fire button in move window, does it come on?
Also in console window can you enter $$ and copy/paste the output from console?
I don’t think that power supply is enough to run everything.

4

This is way too low for a 10W laser system. A 10W laser diode needs about 40W of electrical power, if you want to use the motors in parallel, your system will consume about 50-80W of electrical power. 12V 7A should be fine.

The first question is, which firmware you used. There are many versions available, some are not made for lasers.

You can test the laser module by wiring the PWM signal wire to a 5V port of the mainboard (e.g. a limit switch connector should provide one). Then the laser should fire with 100%. Ok, in your case, it won’t fire with 100% because the power supply is too weak :slight_smile: But it should turn on at least.