China Laser - Upgrade to TB6560 3 axis - questions

[gsmiata]

Hi,

a couple of weeks ago, I bought the TB6560 for my Standard China 40Watt Laser (Moshidraw).
Did anyone of you convert a similar Laser to the Mach 3 board?

Even if I have the instructions, I still need some help to wire it up.


On the old board, I have the following cables:

Y and X axis both have 4 identical cables
colour / not moving / moving
red / 25V / 0V
blue / 0V / 25V
white / 25V / 12V
yellow / 0V / 12V


the electicity connector has 6 cables
red / ground
blue / 5V (if the laser is working, 0V)
yellow / 5V (going in)
blue / 5V (all the time, even if the laser is working)
black / 24V
green / ground

Does anyone know how to connect it to the new board?
As far as we know, the laser itself gets 2x 5V (blue cables), but what connector do I need to connect it to?

Any help would be great!

Regards

Gavin

[twehr]

Hi,

a couple of weeks ago, I bought the TB6560 for my Standard China 40Watt Laser (Moshidraw).
Did anyone of you convert a similar Laser to the Mach 3 ?

Any help would be great!

Regards

Gavin

Gavin.
I previously got my 40 watt Chinese laser to run on a three axis board from loghtobject. It worked, but there is an issue with getting the laser tube to turn on and off. Has to use p010/11 commands, but timing was still an issue. All in all, the Mach 3 software is not well suited for laser work, especially if you plan to so any engraving. (I like and use mach3 for other cnc projects, but not for lasers.)

Ultimately, I switched to the DSP controller from lightnobject, and could not be happier. This is a true laser controller that is easy to wire up ( see my wiring guide elsewhere on the boards) .

I know this does not answer your specific question, but I have already been through the struggles you are having and realize that 6 months from now, you will likely be ready to switch to DSP anyway. So, maybe this will help you to make the jump and save yourself a lot of frustration.

[gsmiata]

hi Tim,

what doesn't really work?
Actually I trusted the Youtube video!

I would mainly do engraving, such as wooden or aluminum pens.

Thanks and Regards

Gavin

[twehr]

hi Tim,

what doesn't really work?
Actually I trusted the Youtube video!

I would mainly do engraving, such as wooden or aluminum pens.

Gavin

Gavin,

The controller you bought, along with Mach 3 does "work". The problem is with the definition of "work".

While there are a couple of add-ons for Mach 3 that do raster (engraving), none have proven satisfactory for laser work. Turning the laser on and off is not the same as moving the z axis up and down. They just have different requirements.

If you want to do vector work - you may get acceptable results with Mach 3 type boards. Honestly, if you want to do any laser engraving, you will spend a lot of time and effort trying to get any Mach 3 board to do what you want. You will only get frustration on top of extreme frustration. (Been there - done that!)

Lasers need laser controllers, not standard 3-axis cnc controllers. You already know that Moshi is a non-contender. The only one I have found (spent a year looking) that is professional is performance/features and close to hobby pricing/availability is the DSP controller from LightObject. I can't speak for Marco, but if you bought his 3-axis controller, and it is still "new", why not ask him if there is any way he can get you into the DSP and out of the 3-axis? Might be worth an email!

If you insist on working the 3-axis, I can probably find some of my notes from my experience and pass them on - but hate to see you waste your time and energy only to not be able to do the engraving you want.

tim

[gsmiata]

Hi Tim,

thanks for your writing...
Please excuse my english (I´m from/in Germany), I´m pretty good in a standard conversation, but if it gets to technical, there are just to many words I don´t know.

This laser is a pain in the...
Actually I bought it because it should be able to laser vector formats, but it didn´t.
So what should I do with a laser that doesn´t do vectors?!?!

Finally I was happy to find a board that will make it possible to laser vectors, but you are right, all the videos of this board show the "vector cutting feature" (outlines, circles,...) and not the engraving of vector files (logos)

I guess, that is what you mean by the "on/off" problem.

Asking Marco won´t work for me, up to now the 3 axis board is unused, but since I´m in Germany sending back a 75$ board in the USA isn´t really worth it. On the other hand, I´m not really willing to spend another 500$ without knowing, that I will be able to get it work properly.

It would be great, if you would still have some notes for me, than I would try to install the 3 Axis and sell it if it is working.
May be I get a little of the expenses out of it

Thanks

Gavin

[twehr]

Hi Tim,

thanks for your writing...
Please excuse my english (I´m from/in Germany), I´m pretty good in a standard conversation, but if it gets to technical, there are just to many words I don´t know.

This laser is a pain in the...
Actually I bought it because it should be able to laser vector formats, but it didn´t.

It would be great, if you would still have some notes for me, than I would try to install the 3 Axis and sell it if it is working.

Gavin

Gavin,

I understand not wanting to invest the extra money. It was a hard thing for me to decide, as well. But, once I did it, I hated that I had waited so long to do it. Moshi advertises vectors, but they really only do a subset of the hpgl language. Not worth the effort.

Retrofitting a moshi laser to the dsp is pretty straight forward, though for best results, you would want to consider changing outnthe laser power supply as well. Still more money, but you get true pwm control of the laser power. Can be be hooked up to current ps and control power manually, as you do now, but pwm is definitely worth it, when you can go that way.

I will look for my notes and see if I can draw something up for you. It will take me a bit of time, but may be able to get something by next weekend.

Tim

[twehr]

Gavin,

One more thing you should know. If you decide to go with the dsp, you would also need the drivers. Probably possible to use the drivers on the 3-axis, but I would have to work that out. But the board you have will not keep up with the speed of the dsp, anyway.

Remember - there are three main pieces
1 the controller ( the dsp, or in the case of moshi, it is your computer)
2 the drivers ( the card you have or others from light object, or the moshi board)
3 the laser power supply.

I opted for replacing all three parts. Essentially, I changed out all the electronics for items that are proven to work together.

If you are thinking of selling what you have, you might do better just selling with the moshi setup. I think marco sells a complete " Chinese" laser with the dsp already installed and operational. If I were doing it again, I would investigate that path.

I really do feel for you since I went through all of his last year.