New Installation/Issues
Just installed the Mini Gerbil last night and finally was able to do an x/y calibration as I have been wanting to do forever and couldn't figure out how to set the steps/mm in the old controller. I finally got the x/y axis and homing going the right directions, odd issue that I did run into is that if I performed a G0 Y-190, it would move about 3mm and then throw a door open error. Only in the negative Y direction however. I started reading over the forum and have made sure that the machine/power supply are both grounded (getting less than 0.4Ohm to ground) so I'm not sure what that is about yet but will check on it this evening.
One question so far, after reading about tuning the laser PWM frequency, on the website they recommend using 244Hz, however, the default loaded onto my controller was 1Khz. Is there a reason for the change of the default that anyone knows other than the higher definition?
Other than above which will eventually be figured out, I really couldn't be happier with the move.
Hi, getting strange behaviour and non related messages definitely points to grounding issues or power supply noise. 0.4 Ohm can cause noise especially when the laser return current is flowing through it. You can try to set the JP1 bridge jumper to 5vUSB so the controller is being fed via the PC rather the laser PSU. This will help to reduce electrical noise issues.
The PWM set to 244 Hz is working really well but for very slow speeds and high quality engraving (low power makes the laser beam narrower, but as a consequence it needs a move slower to make a burn mark). If you want to use higher speeds than the slow PWM frequency can not keep up and engraving starts to become less clear. So we opted for 1 kHz as a best practical use between convenience and practicality.