Looking to upgrade a 6040 generic chinese 50w laser to a DSP

[itsmillertime]

Hi Guys,

I have recently acquired a used second hand chinese 50W 6040 laser engraver with an orange and grey metal case. I know a lot of these are generic machines.

I am hoping that with some of your advice I can get it working again. It was sold as is "with a broken laser tube" apparently previous owner hadn't filled the laser tube with water.. Hmm.

The machine appears to be a few years old and the USB driver board is a 6C6879-LASER-A firmware is 2010.0.2 with for Winseal XP etched on the board too.

I have a CD that came with it which has a title of :zhongpu with 2 directories and all chinese symbols/ files. Nothing in English unfortunately. No manuals or anything else.. including links to manufacturer etc.

The machine has an air pump, a water pump and very little else. The machine when powered up it's exhaust fan runs and the x and y axis travel to the top left hand corner and the red laser dot is on at this time. As the laser tube is apparently broken I have not turned on the laser power or test fired. My Z axis bed also motors up and down by a toggle switch selection inside the working area.

Can anyone assist with pointing me in the right direction for links to the correct instructions for operating this machine please.

I'm looking at replacing the tube but I'm unsure if the laser PSU is working or damaged.

Is this machines axis controlled directly from a PC plugged in? It's not a DSP as I don't see any LCD or directional controls or menus tc.

I want to upgrade to a DSP and perhaps this may be the time to do it.

I have 3 motor drivers from my old chinese 6040 cnc router wondering if I would need to change the existing stepper motors too.

Basically I want to get this machine up and running with something that is going to be easy to use and reliable.

Your advice would be really appreciated

Thanks Andy

[Tech_Marco]

Hello Andy:

Sorry to reply you late. Busy here and not feeling feel well. Forgive me!

I think you better to upgrade it to DSP. The card it came with your machine wasn't a good system to use. Plus, the power of this machine is 40W only, not 50W because it is using 830mm (or 850mm) laser tube. So, don't expect it can output more than 45W. If it does, then the tube won't last long!

In order to get this machine to work, you better get a upgrade for the K40 machine but with bigger motor drivers. If you already have drivers, then it is great and use it then. The motor of this machine should be running about 3A on X and 4A on Y. So, your motor drivers need to support up to 4A.

When the tube is gone, the laser power supply may be dead also. The reason is that when the tube is broken, it became an open loop and the High voltage output from a Laser PSU will cause arc fire and kill the power supply. If not, then it is a very lucky case


Regards,
Marco

[itsmillertime]

Thanks for your reply Marco

I have just received a dsp from you! I'm wiring it up now. I already have x2 stepper drivers to use M542-05 for the X and Y axis' I have tried to identify the actual motors fitted and all I can find is 17HW 4410N -03-AD- Z and 17HW3448N-15AD I have looked everywhere and cannot find any datasheets for these motors. So would appreciate any suggestions for settings on the stepper driver switch settings please.. Have attached a pic of the driver case.

Also I'm wiring up the laser power supply and would really appreciate a hand with working out which wires are connected. I've attached pics to see if my PSU supports PWM.

The 2 plugs on the laser psu are 6 and 3 pin. With the pin outs as

H L P G IN 5V AC AC FG


The Pin out for the AWC 608 is

1. DC 5V
2. Water Flow Alert
3. PWM
4.TTL
5.GND

I'm thinking that the L Should connect with TTL
Gnd to Gnd

and IN to PWM ?

Please could you let me know if you think this is correct? or is there a link to somewhere with this data?

[Tech_Marco]

Are those two motor drivers coming with the machine originally?
If so, you don't need to do anything. Otherwise, use 2.8A and 3.5A for X and Y motor. Let it on for 1hr in idle and if it is not super hot like 70~80'C, then it is OK

LPSU setup is pretty standard.
L to TTL, In to PWM, and Gnd to Gnd

Marco

[itsmillertime]

Wow Marco thanks for the lightening fast reply!

No the stepper controllers came from another project so going to have to see how they go. Thanks for the info on this.
On and appreciate the info on the laser tubes. I bought an 800mm tube to replace the 80mm broken one that was fitted. I paid for a 50w one so its a bit annoying to be taken for a ride by them. Got it new off eBay a few weeks back.

Thanks again

[itsmillertime]

Hi guys I have set it all up and went for my first power up. No smoke, dsp display powered up and all is looking g good so far. I haven't set up any software settings yet. Are there any walkthroughs for doing this please..?

I powered the machine up after conn checking all my wires and power supplies. Upon powering up The DSP said something like 'starting up' both my x and y axis started motoring to the bottom right hand corner and my y axis motored all the way until it stalls on its end stop. I have turned off the power after this happened. Is there anything I have missed?

It must be a software thing? The DSP never really got a chance to properly boot up as the motor hit its end of travel before completion of boot up.

Please I would be grateful for your advice. Is it likely that the wires on my steppers are the wrong way around? If so which pair do I swap about? Sorry for the silly questions..

Thanks andy

[Tech_Marco]

It is all about software setting. Did you go through the manual by any chance? If you haven't done so, please make sure you did it first

For the first time setup, I'll suggest you to put the XY on the center and make sure that it move toward to the HOME location. If not, press STOP a couple times and stop it. Then go to manufacturer setup and change the Datum to correct it. Remember that you need to hit "RESET" on the LCD control after any parameter change/save.

Same thing to the Key direction. You need to change the "Key Direction" to make it react to your key press.
All these issue have been discussed many times in this forum. Do some study please

I'm going to work out a "FAQ" and tell you guys the top 10 things need to do when setting up the machine.



Marco

[itsmillertime]

Hi Marco

Really appreciate the reply. Sorry for the dumb questions! I've now downloaded and read the manual and I think that as you say I need to complete a setup.

My only question is I need power on the engraver and my laptop plugged in via USB to start the setup. But as soon as I put power on the engraver the X and Y axis both move automatically to limits on the bottom right and not the top left (where HOME should be) Because there are no physical limit switches on the bottom right axis'.

When you say press the STOP button, will pressing the STOP button on the LCD panel whilst the machine displays "System Resetting.." work ?? I haven't tried it as I don't want to damage anything.. If it does it will at least stop my motors from running into the end stops. At least then I can continue with going through the manual set up procedure.

An FAQ would be brilliant. It's a huge learning curve and I'm finding it tough to know exactly what step to follow and exactly when.

So I guess part of the process to get the Axis working in the right direction,,, by changing the datum setting at PARA 3.3.2 from negative to positive or vice versa that should set the axis in the correct direction of travel.

I am reading the manual now and just want to stop the motors from running whilst trying to set this all up.

Thanks

Andy

[Tech_Marco]

Use LaserCad setup to change the direction of Homing (Datum) or the Key direction


Marco

[itsmillertime]

Hi Marco

Could you please confirm that these are your suggestions for current for the X and Y axis motor settings on my stepper drivers.


Quoted from above Marco..."Are those two motor drivers coming with the machine originally?
If so, you don't need to do anything. Otherwise, use 2.8A and 3.5A for X and Y motor. Let it on for 1hr in idle and if it is not super hot like 70~80'C, then it is OK"

I can't see a 2.8A option on the photo of the controller above? Could you please confirm? Do you mean the peak 3.5A and RMS 1.8A instead for the X axis?? and use the 3.5A peak for the Y axis??

I ask this because my machine works fine when engraving but is missing steps in the x axis causing my horizontal lines in some places to not be where they should be..

Look forward to a reply..

Thanks Andy

[itsmillertime]

Was hoping someone could advise me regarding stepper motors and drivers on my generic chinese 6040 50w laser engraver. I upgraded and removed the single corellaser board and fitted a Lightobject AWC608 DSP and fitted stepper motor drivers from a CNC router. I think that the current setting for the motors (especially the X axis) may be wrong?

Perhaps this is the reason behind possible missing steps in the X axis? I have the part numbers of the stepper motors that were/still are fitted and they are 17HW3448N-15AD and 17HW4410N-03AD-Z fitted to the Y axis.

I cannot find any data sheets for these chinese stepper motors so have the following settings on my drivers Tongka microstep drivers M542-05 for both Axis.

Peak 3A
RMS 1.3A
Half current setting on SW7
Decay mode 0%
pulse/rev 1600


Any suggestions for generic values/ settings for this machine please? The laser engraver works fine in raster engrave but doesn't always follow the exact line in the X axis direction. (stopping too short of where it should be cutting occasionally)

Marco or anyone else could you please advise. Thank you

[Tech_Marco]

Sorry I don't know what motors your have. If you don't , then you just need to do "Test and Try" and start with 3A. Let the machine On but without movement (motors will lock up and not movable by hands). About an hr and use your finger to touch the motor feel the heat. If it is warm then it is ok. But if it is very hot like 60~60'C (not 'F), then the current setting is too high and you need to drop to 2.5A or less and do it again

For the micro-stepping, I think you should use 3600 seems better than 1600. But you can do it after proper current is found

Marco