I used the kit that came with the JTech and followed Jay’s directions…everything worked out. I remember having some question as to whether the pins were set in enough and called Jay - he had me look at the back side of the board an confirm that they were fully seated…and all has been good.
I will remind you that there’s a button on the JTech controller that has to be pressed each time power is turned off and then turned on to the laser’s control box. I didn’t know that when I first got it and ended up calling Jay for the simple solution.
I also will warn you (as Jay did me) that next to that reset button is a toggle switch that will turn the laser on full power - make sure you’re wearing your goggles before you throw that switch.
Personally, I power mine off when the laser is not in use (like when I’m using the CNC). So my general process is to connect the laser, put on my glasses, throw the switch that powers my laser box (and sign) and then press the reset button.
If you never turn off the power to the control unit of the laser, you would not need to push the reset button unless you accidentally lost power
Mine is set up the same way as Gary, power is normally off to the laser unless I am about to use it. My system is wired up so I select between power to the router or the laser, you can’t accidentally have both on. I have the reset button wired up to a button on the front of my table. It’s a lighted arcade button, the light is hooked up to the laser fan power so it glows red when the laser has power. There is about a 2 second delay for the power supply/driver to be ready for the reset button to be pressed, I think that is from the power supply charging up. Details of the setup are here:
And to answer the original question, I have my laser driver board mounted under the table my XXL is on. Keeps dust away from it and saves me a couple of inches of clearance on the side. The under table setup would be really inconvenient without the remote power and reset controls. The couple of inches saved on the side were useful to have when I built an enclosure later. The sides get a bit tight. The enclosure is nice for the laser, no more wearing glasses for my wife and I while the laser is doing it’s thing (often for long periods). Still need the glasses when doing the initial aiming but that is just a minute or two, and just for me since the back of the enclosure faces my wife’s side of the basement. A few pictures of my enclosure are here:
First, i didn’t know such a thing existed. i have been wanting a laser, even before i got my XXL. The two together, mind blown… This is a bit off topic, but do any of you laser engrave footballs or basketballs using this setup? I think the height might be troublesome, but just curious.
I do heartily endorse J-Tech’s products. They work really well with the Shapeoko and the customer service is top-notch. Basically, they work.
You’ll also find that Lightburn software (not a JTech Product, but the one they recommend) is very nice and useful. For a $40 investment, you not only have a driver for the laser, but you have a very powerful design tool that I sometimes use even if my goal isn’t the laser. The tools are so much more powerful than CC and you can export the SVG from Lightburn and import it into CC. There are also some tricks to coordinating laser burning with your CNC cuttings - to assure alignment with the two products.
That’s what I was thinking. You just have to be sure it’s very flat. Lasers like a fixed focal length. Otherwise people have lasered leather with good results.
Sounds like great ideas!! sounds like my next purchase, as long as my wife says ok. Also how high above the board can you get the laser, to get stuff under? is there any wiggle room to where it magnets on?
There is no wiggle room. Wiggle room would not be your friend. It’s pretty solid.
The bottom of the shroud of the laser is slightly lower than the collet…and it stays with it - so it has about the same clearance as the CNC itself - probably a little more. You will lower your laser to about 1/8th of an inch from the workpiece when you’re using it. This has caused me a little grief in past projects - because I wanted to burn the cavity in a tray - and I couldn’t get close to the edges because I was making contact with the lip. But that’s a rare problem.
There are several mounting options, depending on what else you have on your CNC (for example, I have a SuckIt and HDZ, so I’m using JTech’s SuckIt mount…but there are others).
And one more comment re: the shroud bumping into a lip of the piece:
One of the nice features of Lightburn (which I WISH CMotion had) is “FRAME”, which moves the CNC head around the perimeter of the job to be cut without the laser being on. This gives you the ability to see the boundaries of the job on the piece and be assured there’ll be no contact with any supports, lips, etc.
I bought the JTech laser option that mounts directly to the spindle. One thing I did notice, JTech gives you a piece of acrylic that is 1/8’’ thick for adjusting the space between the laser and the working surface. I felt that using the hard piece of plastic was risky when adjusting the distance. When jogging, if you went too far you could break something. I replaced the piece of plastic with an 1/8’’ piece of foam. Now I feel safer.
I use the plastic. Once I get in the vicinity of the piece, I change the travel to .02" or something like that and then wiggle the plastic as I lower the Z until I can’t move it. Basically, the same technique as the paper zeroing technique for CNC-ing.
In general, the need to set the distance by typing in Lightburn is a bit of a drag. I often worry I’ll lose a decimal point or something. It would be great to have a shortcut (like the 1-4 keys in CM) that you could customize to specific distances. That would make it much easier to work. I think I’ll put that request in on their forum, now that I’m thinking about it.
<= those are not sunglasses, they’re safety goggles for whenever you’ll be using your laser. Yes, I like to state the obvious sometimes
Oh, also, welcome to the shapeoko laser club and happy burning!
<= those are not sunglasses, they’re safety goggles for whenever you’ll be using your laser. Yes, I like to state the obvious sometimes 