T2Laser setup tutorial

[micky]

Just assembled my Banggood A3 2500 laser engraver, but I'm having problems getting it to work properly. Tried Elekslaser software but it wouldn't install properly on my Win7 laptop. Then tried Benbox but couldn't get the laser head to move more than around a square cm.

Now trying T2Laser. The UI is great, easily superior to the other two. I've done the firmware, but now I'm stuck. The belts seem to be nice and tight, and when I move both axis slowly by hand, they are smooth. But when I use the directional arrows via T2Laser, the laser head moves in a very jerky way. Even if I just try to move the laser head axis on its own, the other axis moves slightly too, producing a small zig zag pattern. I can't see a 'start' or 'burn' etc button anywhere, and I seem to be a long way away from actually engraving images. 

Can anyone give me a point by point beginner's guide, or some tips on how to test that everything is working properly. I eventually want to be able to engrave text onto leather patches. Thanks very much.   

[micky]

Sorry everyone, I just checked out the setup tutorial by nottingahm82. Thanks so much, this is brilliant. My laser carriages still feel a bit jerky, and in fact the entire setup moves during the engraving process, and only works well if I hold on to the frame. Anyone got any tips on what  need to do to stop this happening?

[Zax]

It sounds like you have some fairly typical mechanical issues to resolve, but if you post how it looks doing the basic sample jobs or some Sketch shapes we can point you in the right direction.

I have official videos for using T2Laser but nottingham82 has a lot more helpful stuff out there too.

[micky]

Hi Zax. Ive attached a pic of the circle shown in Nottinghams tutorial. It's not round, and it's sort of zig zaggy. So I'm guessing this is more to do with the way I've assembled the hardware, rather than something which can be smoothed out via your software. Any suggestions about where I should start looking for mechanical fixes? Thanks again

[wild.bill]

That is all mechnical, so triple check belts, tracks, wheels ...

But also check the voltage on the stepper drivers - I can see that there were missed steps which is why it didn't make a closed circle.

[micky]

Ok, I'll do those checks. Can you tell me do the wheels need to be super tight? If I tighten them up hard, using an allen key and pliers, they don't rotate easily, so I've slacked them off ever so slightly. Also, the belts are as tight as I can get them. Should they also be slacked off slightly? And when you advise me to check the tracks, do you mean the 90 degree alignment, or is there another check I need to make on the tracks?

Checking the voltage on the stepper drive is beyond my technical knowhow - do you have a guide on how I do this.

Thanks very much for your reply, it's really appreciated.

[micky]

ok, belts checked and wheels tightened up slightly. Attached is the sample 50mm square, etched twice at different speeds. Again neither are even close to being square. The Y axis seems to be working reasonably well. The issues are with the X, which remains jerky (better at slower speeds).

[Zax]

If you eliminate as much friction as possible (no tight wheels but also no free play "wobble") and the belts are set correctly then it may be the motor driver current.

If you have a volt meter you can easily check the drivers.

[micky]

Ok, I'm so happy, it's working properly! I just needed to swap the power feeds around a few times, and eventually bingo! No more jerky movements, everything is smooth and quiet, and my engraver draws perfect squares and circles.

Thanks very much Zax and Wild Bill, I wouldn't have thought to do this if you hadn't mentioned voltage settings.

Zax, your software is brilliant, thanks so much. I wonder if you could tell me why I'm getting a 'G-Code exceeds 1000 lines' error. Is this because I'm using your trial version?

[Zax]

Yes, the trial is limited to 1,000 lines of vector and 10,000 lines of raster G-code.

[nottingham82]

glad you got it sorted out!