This project contains tools to control the xTool M1 laser cutter / blade cutter. The initial aim is to use LightBurn for laser cutting with the M1, so the current focus is on laser cutting only, not blade cutting.
This is an unofficial project. It is not affiliated with xTool or LightBurn. It might break your machine. No warranties, use at your own risk.
This script can send commands and upload G-code files to the xTool M1. Currently supported commands are:
--status:
Get current status,
--stop:
Stop current job,
--gcode GCODE:
DANGER! Immediately execute the given GCODE line on the laser cutter. DANGER!
--upload filename.gcode:
Translate and upload the given G-code file to connected M1
--upload-z filename.gcode thickness:
Translate and upload the given G-code file to connected M1.
Modify the Z height in the file for the given material thickness
(thickness should be set to 0 in LightBurn)
--upload-auto filename.gcode:
Translate and upload the given G-code file to connected M1.
Measure material thickness and modify the Z height in the file accordingly
(thickness should be set to 0 in LightBurn)
--translate filename.gcode:
Translate the given G-code file to connected M1 but do not upload.
--thickness:
Measure the current material thickness using the red laser pinter
--laserpointer on|off:
Turn the red laser pointer on or off (not really useful)
--light:
Set the box light brightness (0-255)
--camera:
Save the current camera view as camera.jpg
--camera-calibration:
Save the camera calibration coefficients (I guess) as camera-calibration.json
This script will open a (virtual) serial port or a TCP port, receive G-code lines from LightBurn, convert them to a format compatible with the M1 firmware, and write them to a file. The file can then be uploaded to a connected M1 machine, where it can be executed by pressing the button (like normal). In order to use this, you probably want to use a virtual serial port like http://com0com.sourceforge.net/ and connect one end to LightBurn and the other to this script.
This is necessary for camera calibration (and framing) because LightBurn will not let you save the G-code file for the camera calibration pattern. LightBurn will only send the G-code directly to a laser cutter connected via serial port, which does not work because the M1 does not provide a serial port (it registers as a USB network interface). This script talks to LightBurn, receives the G-code, and uploads it to the M1.
If you want to listen on a TCP port below 1024 (default in LightBurn is 23) you need root privileges on Linux. Since running python scripts as root is a bad idea, the small C program tcp_bridge does nothing but opening a TCP port and passing data to the python script.
Run make PORT=n to compile the program for listening on a specific port n.
The resulting program tcp_bridge can then be given rights for the specific operation of opening ports by running make setcap.
This library contains the code to communicate with the xTool M1, as well as some machine-specific G-code filters.