targeting laser
Has anyone attempted to add a targetting/sighting laser to their K40?
I've wired one up with. a manual switch driven off the 5v and GND signals from the alternative limit switched, but I'd love to know a way to control it from a command code
The one I have is driven by 5V 1mA so it's not going to burn anything out as far as I can see.
Is there an output pin that is switchable with an M command?
- Yes there is an output pin that can use the gcode command M7 or M8. Current the output pin is set to M7 but you can switch that to M8 on the back of the pcb via a solder jumper. See picture, scratch thru M7 and solder M8 or leave as is and use M7. The header controls has the output pin closest to the pcb edge. That pin can drive 10mA from memory. Use an external solid state relay or transistor to drive the targeting laser or some targeting lasers do have a power driver with an enable pin to switch it on and off. In that case you should be able to use the air assist pin M7 directly.
Thanks Paul,
I was misunderstanding the instructions - I thought from my reading I could have M7 control one pin and M8 control another. I'm using M7 for the Air Pump control, so unless I can have M8 as well (i.e. as a separate channel) then that's not going to work for me.
For now I've just wired it on a button, as really, targeting is mostly done at the machine, not at the PC.
General suggestion for future MGB4 design - include an extra few pins switchable from code to allow additional controls.