X7 DSP wiring to the K40 power module- Not firing

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robpardee
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X7 DSP wiring to the K40 power module- Not firing

Post by robpardee »

I was posting in another thread but I figured I should start my own dedicated thread to this problem. I cannot seem to get my X7 DSP to fire my laser. I have everything else working so far except this. Basically, if I have nothing connected to the K40 power module besides the power in and red and blue wires going to the laser tube I can press the test button on the power source and it will fire everytime. But as soon as I have any wires connected to the X7 DSP I cannot get the test fire button on the power source or on the LCD screen to fire the laser.
My power module looks like the 1st one pictured in this link:
http://www.everythinglasers.com/forums/ ... pply-info/

The way I have it currently connected is:
Ground on the DSP to the G (5th port from the left counting from the test button)
PWM on the DSP to the IN (6th port from the left counting from the test button)
TTL on the DSP to the P (1st port from the left counting from the test button)

As far as the TTL I have been unsure about the wiring for this and have also tried the K+ in place of the P when P didn't work and that didn't work either. Currently the K+ and K- is left unused and the P is hooked up but again nothing works. I've even tried crossing K+ and K- while having P hooked to the TTL without luck. It's like this power source won't work with the DSP and I was under the impression it would. I've considered purchasing a replacement power source that looks like the 2nd one picture in the link above as I've heard this is a newer one but I'd hate to spend about $100 only to find out it was something else. If it makes a difference I am using the laser 1 phoenix connector for all these connections.

Please help!
Tech_Marco
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Re: X7 DSP wiring to the K40 power module- Not firing

Post by Tech_Marco »

May be you should post pictures of your connection to the DSP and the LPSU. Based on link the LPSU shown, you should connect P to G, and TTL to the K+ while K- is connected to the Gnd of the DSP. I'm not sure the K- and Gnd on your LPSU are shared or in common. If not, just tied up K- to the Gnd (or G) and then split a wire to the DSP's Gnd.

BTW, you have to connect both CN1 and CN2 from the LCD control to the DSP interface box. A lot of folks assume CN1 is necessary when first time using the X7 but it is wrong. Both CN1 and CN2 need to be connected. Not sure if that is the case happened to your

Marco
robpardee
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Re: X7 DSP wiring to the K40 power module- Not firing

Post by robpardee »

Marco, seriously I don't know what I'd of done if you hadn't chimed in! I have p and G connected, K + is connected to the TTL and of course IN to PWM as you suggested and this is definitely correct. It turns out I did not have CH2 connected, apparently I did exactly what others have done and assumed it wasn't needed. As soon as I plugged in CH2 I can now test fire from the LCD and I'll bet this will fix everything

Man you are my savior!

I have two more questions if you have a minute:
1) What is the password to send settings to the DSP from the Raycam app? I tried to push settings to the controller while connected to my computer and it asked for a password that I couldn't find documented anywhere.

2) The last thing is the motor controlling the X axis gets really hot, too hot to touch infact and it's the only motor that does for some reason. I turned down the max power on the driver to 0.3A which is the lowest it can go and it still gets very hot. I don't know what else I can do to stop this, I'm afraid this will melt the printed part that my motor is attached to. I know I mentioned this somewhere but I don't remember if it was here, anyway I just don't want it to get damaged if there is something I can change to stop this.

Thanks allot!!
Tech_Marco
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Re: X7 DSP wiring to the K40 power module- Not firing

Post by Tech_Marco »

Wow, you made me feeling proud of myself :lol:

The password is "608"

It is so odd that the motor could get that hot with 0.3A.
A stepping motor can sustain up to 80'C without worrying demagnetized. A motor is OK being hot but shouldn't be too hot. I always use this " rules of thumb" that if you can touch the motor for over 3sec, then it should be fine. If you can hole on for more than 2sec, something must be wrong.

Then worst scenario is that the motors came with your machine maybe low quality made. Maybe you should change it


-Marco
robpardee
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Re: X7 DSP wiring to the K40 power module- Not firing

Post by robpardee »

Hey Marco,
Thank you for the help. I've gotten really close to being able to start using this machine and I'm excited but I'm a bit stuck on the calibration process. I made a 50mm square box and sent it to the printer in order to set the um but the Y axis won't calibrate. When cut, I am getting a 50mm x 20mm rectangle. So I go to the um calculator and when I put the expected as 50mm and actual as 20mm I get, I think it was 0.4. The problem is as soon as I save it to the machine then select read to check and see if it saved, the um jumps back to 1.00000. I can't seem to get it to keep the Y um value that presumably would fix my calibration issue.
Tech_Marco
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Re: X7 DSP wiring to the K40 power module- Not firing

Post by Tech_Marco »

You can't have UM smaer than 1.0. I think you may have micro stepping being set too large. For laser machinr, it may set it to 3200 to 5000 and I usually set it to 4000. It will end up that the UM roughly in 4 for gantry with 2:1 reduction gear.

Marco
robpardee
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Re: X7 DSP wiring to the K40 power module- Not firing

Post by robpardee »

Thank you again Marco. I turned it to 3200 and that allowed me to fix the calibration issue now it cuts a 50mm square at 50mm! I've attached a picture that I engraved and for some reason it looks like it engraved the image twice so it's blurry. What would cause this?
Attachments
IMG_20180609_104538.jpg
Tech_Marco
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Re: X7 DSP wiring to the K40 power module- Not firing

Post by Tech_Marco »

Either you may have double image or the number count was set to 2. BTW, check your focus because even with two engraving, the result shouldn't be blurry at all

Marco
robpardee
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Re: X7 DSP wiring to the K40 power module- Not firing

Post by robpardee »

I placed a piece of cardboard at an angle and cut a straight line over around 300 mm and found where it was sharpest then measured that distance. Hopefully I didn't mess it up but I'll try it again just to verify. I will check that I didn't somehow have two images either and that the number was 1 but I'm fairly certain these aren't the issue. If they aren't is there anything else that could cause this? I may try on wood instead of cardboard though to see what happens.
Tech_Marco
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Re: X7 DSP wiring to the K40 power module- Not firing

Post by Tech_Marco »

Never heard that it could do engraving twice without the fulfillment I mentioned

Marco
robpardee
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Re: X7 DSP wiring to the K40 power module- Not firing

Post by robpardee »

I figured out the double engraving issue. Seems like the issue was backlash causing the engraving when the head was moving left vs right to not line up. I switched the engrave mode under laser parameters to Unilateral so now it only engraves when moving right and it fixed the issue completely.

I have gotten some really good progress so far with this machine and the LO X7. I have done wood, glass, anodized aluminum and they have all worked great. Now, I am having one other really odd issue though and I can't seem to even guess what would cause this issue.

Basically, after fixing the uM of the Y axis that we had previously discussed by turning the microstepping to 3200 my uM ended up at 6.25. However, everytime I turn the laser on or press the reset button and start to engrave it acts like the uM is set to 1 again and engraves the Y axis extremely squished. In order for it to engrave at the right Y high I have to go retype in the uM as 6.25 and save it. I have to do this everytime I turn the machine on from being off. What makes it weird is that when I select "Read" in lasercad it reads the uM as 6.25 which is correct. I can keep manually refreshing the 6.25 um each time I turn it on but it gets annoying especially if I forget and try to engrave something.

Than you for taking the time to help me, so far the X7 has been a good investment. The next step for me is to start figuring out how to run a rotary on this!
Tech_Marco
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Re: X7 DSP wiring to the K40 power module- Not firing

Post by Tech_Marco »

You need to 'Save' the new um after change. I believed that you missed one step and end up the um wasn't saved.
If you're talking about double image that was caused by backslash, then I'll consider of losing focus lens. Unscrew the laser head out and shake it see if you hear noise. If you did, then the lens must gotten loosen. Also, double check other mirrors and make sure that all mirrors are secured.

Marco
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