#Grbl controller laser how to#
#Grbl controller laser upgrade#
#Grbl controller laser full#

Apart from these 31 new lines of code (and an additional SPINDLE_TCCRB_INIT_MASK in вЂcpu_map.hвЂ™), the rest of the grbl 1.1g source is unchanged. All lines of code that have been added to вЂspindle_control.cвЂ™ are marked with a comment in column 100 of their respective lines. all other required #define(s) are contained with the modified вЂspindle_control.cвЂ™.

You will also need to select/modify SPINDLE_TCCRB_INIT_MASK in вЂcpu_map.hвЂ™ to select the appropriate (61Hz) servo frequency rate and, of course, select/modify VARIABLE_SPINDLE in вЂconfig.hвЂ™ (not forgetting to set coreXY if you have an EleksDraw). To use this, download the latest version of grbl (1.1g) from github and replace вЂspindle_control.cвЂ™ with the version provided in the above link.

#Grbl controller laser full#

Accordingly, I have created a modified вЂspindle_control.cвЂ™ for grbl 1.1 based on the current grbl 1.1g version, which provides full support for an RC Servo on Arduino Pin D11 ( ).

However, the standard version of grbl 1.1g does not support RC Servo functionality required for EleksDraw to support PEN UP/DOWN. This will significantly improve the quality of laser engraving and get rid of the dark areas/lines at the end of each move.

#Grbl controller laser upgrade#

There are many reasons to upgrade to the latest version of grbl (compatibility with other software, performance, removed bugs etc), but for laser users the most relevant will be dynamic Laser Power / CNC Head Speed compensation (provided you have a laser with PWM/TTL control capability).

gone are the days of struggling with converting objects or text to paths in InkScape (and no longer being able to edit them), multiple crashes in EleksCAM, exporting things to G-Code files and then transferring them with G-Code senders.

#Grbl controller laser how to#

This means that you can design with vectors, add text, import SVG and/or images (converted to vectors, if required) and burn or draw them on your EleksMaker machine all from within a single piece of software (and there are lots of tutorials on YouTube to help you learn how to use it). but most important is the seamless integration of CAD/CAM with direct control of your CNC/Laser machine which makes it very efficient and easy to use. There are many benefits of using LightBurn software. You might also benefit from using better software and I would heartily recommend LightBurn ( ) which provides a fully functional 30 day trial, and is very reasonably priced if you choose to buy. There are lots of instructional videos and on-line articles on how to reflash the bootloader on the supplied Arduino Nano clone that is part of the Mana SE (using another Nano or Uno) and on how to upload the latest version of grbl using the Arduino IDE (HINT: google is your friend). The Mana SE is simply an ATmega 328p based CNC/Laser control board with Stepper Motor Control (step, direction & enable) on the standard Arduino CNC pins and Servo PWM/Laser PWM driven by D11 (standard hardware PWM pin), which can be easily updated to the latest version of grbl (NOTE: the bootloader will need to be reflashed to optiboot to create sufficient space for the latest grbl version). Many versions of third party software (LightBurn, LaserWeb etc) require a more recent version of grbl to run on your EleksMaker Mana SE, if you want to get full capability (or in some cases use them at all).