A5 sizing with T2

[sapling]

So I have the A5 the smaller surface area. When I turn on the laser and try and engrave I have to have it in the lower right corner for it to be ok. Then it tries to go larger then my surface area. So the belt is slipping like crazy and I hit emergency stop...
How do I tell it I have a smaller surface area so that it wont do this and is something else wrong with the way I have it for it to be needing to start in the lowest corner?

[kn4ud]

When you are in the Laser control (T2Laser Controller) Will display at the top of the screen. Look at your Home and direction arrows. Make sure the arrows and the direction of the X & Y axis are correct. Right  goes right and back goes back. You can change them if need be by putting the cursor on the direction arrow  hold the Ctrl key down and click it. I am new to this too but my home is LEFT/FRONT. You can set the home by putting the Gantry where you want home , put cursor on home and Right click it.

[Zax]

Are you using J-Tech firmware and T2Laser default settings?

If so, kn4ud is correct, the origin is front left but you can set home anywhere.

Are you doing images, DXF import or a Sketch?

[sapling]

Doing Images and what do you consider front left.
So lets say this is my machine is it at 1 2 3 or 4?
===Controller board ===
1                                  2






3                                    4
=================

[Zax]

3 (see attached for axis directions) but keep in mind you can set the origin/home anywhere, however, the axis directions should still be like this.

[sapling]

Thanks I will give it a shot so it looks like it should start up at # 3 then based on your image.

[Zax]

The lower left of the image will be the start, where you set "home" on your machine will match this 0,0 and it goes from there.

The output size depends on what you set in the design window, click the view button on the controller screen to see what it is going to do before you run it.

[sapling]

So ctrl click worked for the home centering but I just figured that my up and down is what is screwed up and I tried to ctrl click it but no messages and it doesnt seem to make any difference.

[kn4ud]

First , make sure your usb is connected. the arrow pointing up and the one pointing to the right are for normal direction, put the cursor on the arrow Hold the Ctrl and click it and the menu will pop up and you can choose yes or no. The Down arrow and the Left arrow will reverse the direction if you need to change the direction of that travel just click Yes and check the movement by jogging to make sure it is correct. For this to work you have to be connected . It will tell you at the lower window, grbl Ready.

[Zax]

You must be using Grbl and not the Benbox firmware to change settings, another option is to swap the 2 Y-axis motor cables.

[kn4ud]

Did you follow Zax, conversion procedures??

[sapling]

So I figured it out and manually did it in the GRBL firmware I connected up to the GRBL and of course it was set to reverse. $3=2 so I changed it to $3=0 that fixed the issue. I then was facing sizing issues but I found the post with the settings being incorrect and looks like I needed my motors to be set for 60.000 for $100 and $101 so I did that. When I had it set for 80 like another post suggested it was still off in size.
The only thing I am facing now is it seems like the laser power is not adjusting as I have set it to really low settings and it doesnt seem to be making a difference. Tried to do a grey scale image and the light areas are pure black.
I have it set for 100 laser 100 PWM when i tried but no luck. So going to see if I can find the answer to how to get the grey scale stuff working.

[Zax]

If you load the T2Laser default parameters it changes those values to be correct, which you have now done manually.

Are you perhaps changing the manual laser value to 100 in the controller screen? That doesn't change the G-Code unless you specifically force override. The correct way is to change the values in the design screen.

It's also possible you didn't follow the conversion document and move the jumper to 0.9?

[sapling]

Jumpers was already moved my issue was I was in the control screen so I had to right click and do the override which I didnt RTFM to see it.
Good to go now but I really would like a very light image burnt in. I dont want it to be black I would like it to be a just a slightly tinted burn in.
Any suggestions on how I can achieve this with T2?
tried lowering the laser setting heavily and it was obviously too much cant find a happy medium to get a good light burn in.
Infact doing a test next to me here and the laser us turning off for half of the image even with it just turned down to 170 on my 2.5W laser.

[Zax]

It is always better to set power from the design screen as it has more resolution vs the override which is scaling from current (not ideal, but it works). The override is really for when you load an existing G-Code file and need to change it.

So anyway, to answer your question. Increase the speed?

Some of the laser modules don't like running at lower levels, the current regulator isn't capable of switching on fast enough (or the diode doesn't reach the necessary junction voltage) so you get no output. One trick is to increase the minimum power to 50 so the laser is always getting some voltage/current and then it responds faster and perhaps more linear. It will reduce the life of the diode though, so keep that in mind.