Laser cut on CNCRP/Avid

I have been using my CNCRP/Avod machine for the last ~4 years. I added a 10w endurance laser to my machine 1.5 years ago. It was not easy adapting the laser to Mach 3 but with the help of some knowledgeable folks I was able to accomplish it. There are several work arounds to make this happen. I’d be happy to share if anyone is interested.

I have now become quite good at laser cutting wood veneers for what I call laser assisted marquetry for use as the topsheets for the custom skis I build.

This logo was one of the more complex projects I’ve undertaken with the laser.

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Are you using a PWM with the laser, or is it just manual on/off?

Also what a cool use case in marquetry. I’ve always wanted a laser to just label parts… boring :slight_smile:

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I’m using PWM with M10/M11. Setting this up to work right is a chore. It works great for turning the laser on and off without a delay. So for cutting parts and single power level engraving it works well. It does not work, or better said I have not been able to make it work with greyscale. I have recently seen some examples of Mach 3 greyscale using a laser but it sounds like it needs and additional arduino controller.

My Apple scripts to replace M3 and M5 commands with M10/M11 and M9 to M5 at the end of the code. I tried doing all of this in one script but could not figure it out.

set textToFindList to {“M3”, “M5”}

set textToReplaceWithList to {“M11 P2 S100”, “M10 P2”}

if (length of textToFindList) is not equal to ¬

(length of textToReplaceWithList) then return

set theFile to choose file

– tell application “Finder” to duplicate file theFile with exact copy

set theText to read theFile as «class utf8»

repeat with i from 1 to length of textToFindList

set theText to my findAndReplaceInText(theText, ¬

item i of textToFindList, ¬

item i of textToReplaceWithList)

end repeat

my writeToFile(theText, theFile, true)

– # Handlers #

on findAndReplaceInText(theText, theSearchString, theReplacementString)

–considering case

set AppleScript’s text item delimiters to theSearchString

set theTextItems to every text item of theText

set AppleScript’s text item delimiters to theReplacementString

set theText to theTextItems as string

set AppleScript’s text item delimiters to “”

return theText

–end considering

end findAndReplaceInText

on writeToFile(theText, theFile, overwriteExistingContent)

try

set theFile to theFile as string

if theFile contains “/” then

set theOpenedFile to open for access theFile with write permission

else

set theOpenedFile to open for access file theFile with write permission

end if

if overwriteExistingContent is true then set eof of theOpenedFile to 0

write theText to theOpenedFile starting at eof

close access theOpenedFile

return true

on error

try

close access file theFile

end try

return false

end try

end writeToFile

Second script to replace M9 with M5

set textToFindList to {“M9”}

set textToReplaceWithList to {“M5”}

if (length of textToFindList) is not equal to ¬

(length of textToReplaceWithList) then return

set theFile to choose file

– tell application “Finder” to duplicate file theFile with exact copy

set theText to read theFile as «class utf8»

repeat with i from 1 to length of textToFindList

set theText to my findAndReplaceInText(theText, ¬

item i of textToFindList, ¬

item i of textToReplaceWithList)

end repeat

my writeToFile(theText, theFile, true)

– # Handlers #

on findAndReplaceInText(theText, theSearchString, theReplacementString)

–considering case

set AppleScript’s text item delimiters to theSearchString

set theTextItems to every text item of theText

set AppleScript’s text item delimiters to theReplacementString

set theText to theTextItems as string

set AppleScript’s text item delimiters to “”

return theText

–end considering

end findAndReplaceInText

on writeToFile(theText, theFile, overwriteExistingContent)

try

set theFile to theFile as string

if theFile contains “/” then

set theOpenedFile to open for access theFile with write permission

else

set theOpenedFile to open for access file theFile with write permission

end if

if overwriteExistingContent is true then set eof of theOpenedFile to 0

write theText to theOpenedFile starting at eof

close access theOpenedFile

return true

on error

try

close access file theFile

end try

return false

end try

end writeToFile

FYI, if you have the ESS board, then Mach4 is much better supported. Power setting commands (M67) are synchronised to motor movements, and it has rastering capabilities built in to the plugin now.

I run Mach 3 and not looking to move to Mach 4 yet. M10/11 works very well for cutting and single power engraving. They do not have the built in delay like m3/5 do. I’ll see if I can post a video.

These script are for converting code from light burn into something Mach 3 can use with m10/11. I get clean cut with no marks from delays in movements. I’m sure Mach 4 is better sine all of my Mach 3 set up has been workaround to get to where I am.

I’ll post screen shot of my Mach 3 config later.

May I ask you to post your Mach3 config settings? Thank you.

Scott I have the whole thing written up in a PDF. Unfortunately I am not able to upload it to the forum. If you message me and send me your email I will send you my PDF of my entire mach 3 set up. I can send you my scripts for creating usable code for Mach 3 using lightburn also.

Thanks for your help! You may send the .pdf to my email - runthetrails100@gmail.com - maybe I’ll finally get the laser add on figured out. Scott

I updated your profile. You should be able to upload now. We’d love to have that PDF here so other users can see it as well.

Eric, I am still not able to upload the PDF.

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Try now, I forgot to add blinker fluid and adjust the flux capacitor.

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I’ll give it a go later tonight.

Thank you!

Vin

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Mach 3 set up.pdf (372.9 KB)

My laser config for Mach 3. This should be a god starting point for some but there may be some differences based on how your system is set up.