This is to document my settings and additions for my Elekslaser A3. It was later modified with an additional Z-Axis and a spindle.
They are currently more my personal notes, but might be useful to others too.
Get the latest grbl version at https://github.com/gnea/grbl/releases
The boards are shipped with grbl 0.9. Upgrading to 1.1 brings several improvements.
Install avrdude
sudo apt install avrdudeBackup the firmware
sudo avrdude -c arduino -b 57600 -P /dev/ttyUSB0 -p atmega328p -vv -U flash:r:grbl_v0.9-eleksmana5.2.hexFlash the new firmware
sudo avrdude -c arduino -b 57600 -P /dev/ttyUSB0 -p atmega328p -vv -U flash:w:grbl_v1.1h.20190825.hexMy grbl config is stored in the grbl-config folder. The ones with a ´-default´ suffix are the one as shipped. They are just stored for reference.
Make sure to enable laser mode. But also disable it when using the spindle.
The steps per mm is different than for the other steppers. ´400´ worked well for me
I also had to set several bitmasks to invert directions. But that might be related to how i positioned the end-switches.
I started with a basic EleksLaser A3, but soon decided i wanted to add a Z-Axis and endswitches.
The links are just examples, and not necessarily exactly what I ordered.
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Important! proper laser safety googles - at least OD4+ is needed.
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External Control Board for Endswitches In my case this unexpectedly included the endwitches even.
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several cables to extend the original ones, as they are sometimes short
- Laser grbl is a great software for almost everything laser related. I can really recommend.
- AutoDesk Fusion 360 - its free for personal use. I had to customize the post processor for the laser part to make it work. My custom version is here
- cncjs - i use cncjs on a raspberry to actually run the generated gcode and to operate the machine
- ser2net - running on the raspberry. to directly connect from Laser GRBL to the machine over wifi.
Other documents from others that helped me a lot