This Repair Is About A CNC laser Engraver
The customer had other people look at this CNC laser engraver and no one could get it the laser working.
First thing to do was test to see the fault. So I loaded laser GRBL program from the laptop provided to me.
I configured the com port to com 6 as that is what the USB com port is under winnows use’s.
The program defaults to Com 3, so you have to change it every time you start the program
The baud rate was set to 9600 but should have been 115200.
I determined the laser wasn’t firing so did some research and discovered that the cable going from the control board and the laser wasn’t configured properly.
He told me that it bought the CNC with laser with the cable all together.
This is the CNC controller pinout
This is the laser pinout
I forgot to take a picture of the unmodified cable.
The next step was to load the software again and test it. He was using a 19v laptop power supply and the book recommends 24v. I did try it with his power supply but found that the servo motors didn’t travel properly so I hooked up my bench power supply.
Once I did the servo motor traversed correctly.
Once the software is loaded we need to get the machine info by typing $$ into the console. These $ things are G-code commands that tell the CNC how to engrave your designs onto wood etc. G-code is also used on 3d printers and hole rang of industrial machines.
We are looking for $32 maximum rpm and need to set this in the S-max setting when outputting to the laser.
This was set to 8000 and i tried it and i didn’t fire the laser but as soon as set s-max to 12000 it worked.
I advised him to get 24 v power supply for reliable operation.
This article was contributed by Lee Davey from Hobart Tasmania Australia. He has been doing repairs on electronics and PC’s for around 30 years.
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Parasuraman S
February 15, 2025 at 10:27 am
Hightech servicing, handling both hardware and software! Many of these went above my head! I am also not familiar with the device! Many thanks for sharing the article, which I hope I would be able to understand fully one day!
Imoudu
February 16, 2025 at 4:56 am
Not a pinch of idea,all the same,thanks for sharing.
Lee
February 16, 2025 at 6:22 am
Some of the things you do to repair things is over my head. This sort of repair isn't that hard. I do have a computer background. Started off back 40 years ago on Tandy MC-10.
Waleed Rishmawi
February 15, 2025 at 2:51 pm
way over my head technology...I get board like that for repair and i had to decline working on them simply I do not understand them and even I find the fault no replacement parts for it unless the whole board is replaced. thanks for sharing. have a blessed day
Lee
February 16, 2025 at 6:23 am
Thanks Waleed
Yogesh Panchal
February 15, 2025 at 3:33 pm
Lee Davey, Thanks! for sharing the Article.
Lee
February 16, 2025 at 6:25 am
Thanks Yogesh
Albert van Bemmelen
February 15, 2025 at 6:39 pm
Interesting repair about one of those online available cnc laser engravers. And good job on the fix and successfully testing of the device.
I think cnc milling machines are more useful when they produce pcb boards or cut metal or other parts.
Stand-alone 3d printers also use gcode commands that are sliced object instructions read from sd-cards, after the object in stl format is compiled to gcode in a slicer program on a computer and saved to the micro sd card. That then is inserted into the 3d printer to boot and work stand-alone from this sd card without the need of any computer attached.
This way we also save money on the electric bill.
Parasuraman S
February 15, 2025 at 7:52 pm
My head continues to reel! (LOL)
Francisco Maciel
February 15, 2025 at 10:36 pm
Tks for sharing
Lee
February 16, 2025 at 6:26 am
Thanks Albert
Mark J
February 16, 2025 at 4:58 am
Good job on the repair Lee. I do not know much about those.
MUYKIT
February 19, 2025 at 4:46 am
I'm absolutely green with regard to your great repair manouver, it leaves me at sea though.