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Do you mean vector work? The rastering only has a couple of the G4 commands in the Gcode so it doesn't really affect it. The G4 P2 that I have in the post processors is only 2 mS, so it shouldn't make much of an addition to execution time. I haven't tried removing that for over a year. It's very possible with the latest Mach4 and ESS plugin versions it may not be needed anymore.

@@JNWoodworks yes that is what I meant. Thanksnfor the reply, I need to try again as well with the latest versions. It is slowed down due to accelerations when it has to go to full stop and start, so when I do many engravings like 20-30 coasters the time adds up to hours..

Thanks!

All the line between the compressor and tank are 1/2" lines (just like the stock ones). There isn't that much flow from the compressor to need 3/4" lines. I just did 3/4" lines from the tank output to all locations in my shop so I would not have large pressure drops when pulling a lot of air. I think I got all the fittings at Lowes and Home Depot. I just used 1/2 soft copper tubing and flared the ends and used a regular flare nut on the cooler fittings. I have used those link belts on previous table saws, they make a huge difference in noise and vibration. I don't recall hearing much/any belt noise on the compressor (both of the pullies on that are pretty big diameter, so less of a memory effect for the small pully) though, but something to think about. Most of noise left is just the compressor and motor from what I can tell.

Unfortunately almost none of my bits have enough shank to stick above the top of the collet to get an oring on them. Many of the smaller ones are actually below the surface of the collet top.

Ya, it's nicer if it's aligned with the spindle. I did that before with two line generators that were mounted in my dust shoe 90 degrees apart. Then you just turn them until the two lines converge under the spindle. However, it is hard to keep it aligned well, if anything gets bumped you have to realign them.

Hi Pete, hows retirement? I'm not sure if this crosshair will work for a drill press. Those usually are a pair of line generators that you adjust to get them to cross over right on the axis of the chuck (that is the type if thing I originally did on my CNC). So you would want to look for a "laser line generator" instead, and you'd need two of them. They come in the same formfactor though and are on Amazon.

@@JNWoodworks Hi Jim, retirement is good. I'm still too busy with property maintenance, family issues and such, but overall it's good. I'm finally getting more time to spend in my shop. How is retirement going for you? I thought about what you said regarding the cross hair and it made good sense. Amazon had a 2 LED clamp-on device that I bought instead the single LED device. I just did a quick and dirty setup and test and so far I'm pleased. It works better than the original laser assembly that is build in to the Jet drill press. I may try to adopt the lasers from the clamp on unit to the obsolete Jet unit. We'll see. Just a note, I enjoy your channel, good info and tips. And, it's nice to see a familiar face🙂

@@pgoessnitzer Yes, retirement is busy, I don't know how I ever got much done and still worked. If the JET drill press laser is like the one on my powermatic, then they are probably junk. Now you have me thinking I need to look for the aftermarket one too :-)

Ok, just for you ;-). Just added a link to a document in the details secion above.

​@@JNWoodworksThank you Jim

You are correct, the dust shoe compatibility is the biggest issue that I mentioned. It is possible to design an undockable dust shoe, but I have not had time to do that.

Its a wedding seating chart, so they are hanging name tags with table numbers on them.

Yes, there are a lot of people who laser in enclosed rooms in their houses, and enclosed workshops. At best most of them only have the lousy fan in the laser housing blowing out a window through a tube. In fact, I'm guessing 90% of the people doing laser work have lousy smoke extraction for their lasers. I gave a warning in this video, and did a seperate video on laser safety about it too, that if you don't have very good smoke extraction, definitely don't do this. I have a 2hp dust collector that I use on my laser table (the same thing that removes the dust from my spindle), and a 30" fan that I blow through my shop with 2 16' doors wide open. I have no worries about it in this way (I can barely even smell any smoke from this when doing it). Its like anything else, it will be dangerous when you reach some concentration level, and every material is different in that way. Wood smoke can be hazzardous too if you don't deal with it correctly. I think most of those channels just don't want anyone trying it because they are afraid some won't do it safely, and in fact a lot of those guys don't have the smoke extraction to do it well either.

Thanks. So how do you like Centroid? AVID is now switching over to that from Mach4 and the ESS board (for stability reasons mostly). I've ordered an upgrade kit so I will be trying it out soon. I haven't had much time to put the RC ATC to use after I did the testing, but Centroid seems to have some good ATC support built in so I think it should be easy to use once I get my new controller on line.

@@JNWoodworks I do like Centroid it seems very stable and capable. Having been in Shobpot land for 20 years its a bit like learning a new language, but I'm wrapping my brain around it. For me it involved getting a spindle and VFD and setting up water cooling, building a control box etc. So a lot to juggle all at once. I ran into a glitch on the ATC install (due to a 2nd party probe app I had installed) but Don and James helped me track it down. Their customer support is amazing. Waiting on a longer cable so still haven't hooked up the dust cover and infrared. A friend asked if I was "in production" yet. I told him, heck no, it's a kinetic sculpture, I just watch it change bits! LOL Thanks again for the great info on your channel.

Funny, I almost did that too. In fact, I think next time I will go that route because it won't be visible and doesn't require cutting and aligning any template material. Did you etch it the same exact size so that the etch was basically hidden by the lettering, or make it slightly bigger to be able to see it better when aligning?

@@JNWoodworks For my use I just did the same size, I didn't need it to be 100% exact. If you did it light enough you wouldn't see if on that dark stain if you did it a bit bigger.

@@christallman14 Thats what I figured, but I didn't have the guts to try it out the first time on that big peice that I put a lot of work into :-)

Hi Josh, glad you like it. Have a a great wedding!

Thats funny. I do the same exact thing when I remove a collet. A couple taps and blow on it. Mostly its because I don't want that debris to get into the bore where the next tool will go, because I doubt that the dust is dense enough to prevent it from tightening again, since its really fine, and was the size to fill the gap when it was already tightened. However, to answer your question, I did not have any issues with this, but I also did not do extensive run time testing with longer jobs that would pack the collet like that, and then do multiple tool changes. I think if I had problems with this, I would just open the lid of the magazine every once in a while and go up and down the row of collets with an air gun and that would probably clean it out. I have not heard of anyone else having a problem with this either.

@@JNWoodworks Awesome! Thanks for the reply! I think I’ll give it a shot and see. I appreciate your other videos as well. Keep up the good work

I thought about a real muffler too, but that was a bit of overkill for mine 🙂 I did have to fix the unloader valve too, but mine just has a port with no way to hook a hose to it, so I just zip tied a wad of Tshirt over the hole and that did it. I still have a lot of noise just from the compressor, but not much I can do about that (at least not anything I'm willing to do).

Yep, I've been meaning to go back and drill some more holes in the stock silencer. The intake port on that is actually a little smaller than the 3/4" pipe I think.

Ya, I know its a union. 🙂 I thought about putting the intake on the outside of the wall too, but thats the front of my house. The other choice could have been up in the ceiling trusses. It would be cleaner air up there too. But then I would have had the air filter up there, which isn't convenint either because I have tall ceilings.

The compressor needs a lot of air, so you couldn't just wrap it or it would definitely overheat. The best overall solution is to box it in with a wall of its own (with fiberglass insulation as you mentioned), or put it in a back room. A lot of people put them in a tiny little room on the outside of the garage or shop as well. Unfortunately I don't have enough ambition for any of those options 🙂

Hi Mike, Send me an email at jnwdwks@gmail.com and we can figure it out. For the tool designation, you mean you want a tool change? I took that out, so I can put it back in for you if you like. I'm not sure about the power, that is working fine for me, so we'll just have to dig into how you are using it.

@@JNWoodworks Hey Jim, Thanks for the reply. Perhaps it’s because I’m doing the gcode laser conversion in Mach 4 that it’s bringing up the errors?

​@@mikehammond2630 Oh ya, that conversion script that AVID has in their screen set assumes that it is converting a Gcode file for end mills. When you use my pp, you already have it converted to laser format, so you can't use that script with this Gcode.

@@JNWoodworks Thanks. Our non-profit is new to CNC so still learning :)

@@mikehammond2630 We're all still learning 🙂

hey, thats a really good tip. I never actually looked into it, but you're right, a lot of the noise comes from the air pulses on the intake port (I just put a towel over the hole and it was much quieter). Then I did a search for "air compressor intake silencers" and see there are a lot of after market products. I don't have the space for a bucket near mine, but I could connect it via a hose up into my attic (the air is cleaner up there too. I may also just build (or buy) a better intake than what comes on this thing. Thanks for the tip!

@@JNWoodworks I think or air compressor at the shop is 120 gallons and it's pretty big and what I did there because it was so noisy is I took a pipe fitting and screwed it into where the filter went into and then took a hose that was 1 in round because that's the size of the inlet in about 4 ft of rubber hose and then I put the filter on the opposite end of the river hose then I put the filter in a bucket but I drilled some holes and put some towels down there to keep the dust and dirt out of it and the filter actually stays really clean and it quite it down about half of the noise level that it is or maybe just a little bit more I was kind of shocked on how well it worked but good luck I'm glad I give you a good idea

@@sjettj7608 I made a nice muffler today similar to what you did. I just used PVC though. It totally eliminated the intake air noise. I took some video and was about to create a TH-cam video and my main PC died on me, so now I have to go computer shopping before I can finish it.

Here is a video I did based on your idea. th-cam.com/video/NvVpTBSVVTc/w-d-xo.html Thank you!

Great question. A while after I did this video I realized I didn't really cover that. Since each motor on Y axis can have its own linearitty errors and backlash, you need to do it twice, once for each Y motor. You should do it with the measurement point as close to each motor as possible so the measurements are mostly due to the motor you are adjusting. So if you are using part of the Z stage it should be moved all the way to the end of the gantry closest to the motor. Better yet is to make the measurements right off the end of the gantry in line with the motor if you have a way to attach the measurement device there.

I will keep that in mind, thanks

Those are Kreg KBCIC in line clamps.

@@BeaulieuTodd If you just have the hose open at the end dumping into the air, then there isn't a pressure increase with a larger diameter hose at the end, but if you have anything useful that has some kind of restriction, then it will increase the pressure there for sure.

Ya, its the one right next to the label "SIG"

Thanks 😀

The other thing about the AVID plate is you really don't want to use it with the very sharp tip bits because it can chip the ends off. But thats probably true of any hard topped touch off or plate. On yours, does the beam get broken by the bit, or is the opto device inside the touch off and you are breaking the beam by pushing down a top plate?

@@JNWoodworks My design presses on surface and under stat surface there is a flag that brakes a beam. Still the same issue with pointy bits and plates. When I tried breaking a beam with the actual bit I had too much variability because enough of the point end of a V bit is needed to break the beam which means you are actually below the true tip of the bit. So the plate/plunger is the most predictable. The opto or Ir sensor broken by a flag is the most consistent I have found if you cannot do a continuity loop. All that said I use the tool table so I am also not touching off every time and change tools with my ATC, I measure it once and then the length offset is applied when I use the M6 macro to change tools. Hope this makes sense.

Hi Steve, If you go to the AVID schematics pages: www.avidcnc.com/support/instructions/electronics/pnp/manual/17.4/schematics/ you can see a board outline for the CRP850 board. The one I have, 17.4, is pretty different. It has 3 connector blocks in the upper right corner, whereas the newer ones only have 2.

@@JNWoodworks Thanks for the clarification. I have just Port 1 and 2 spaced apart in the top right of the board, and with your link I see the other revisions listed on the support page. I guess my board is a 20.1 or 21.2.

@@stevehunt4440 Yep, so then I would go the splitter route.

My AVID laser hardware is all prototype stuff they gave me for early testing, so it required a little extra mechanical work anyway. So to mount the laser on the air deploy unit, I had to mount an aluminum plate on front that is my adapter plate. I had my own magnetic dock mounted to the front of that plate. So when I got the LaserDock Pro and XT8, I just took my mag dock off and drilled new holes for the universal mounting plate that comes with the CNC kits and bolted that on, and then the LaserDock Pro base bolts to that. So I can't say for sure if it would bolt right on to the production version, but worst case you might have to drill and tap 4 holes in it for the universal adapter. The second thing is the weight. The current AVID deploy mechanism's retract spring is made for the weight of the 15W laser. When I added the 30W laser that I had (it is a little havier than the XT8), I had to add a second spring to boost its lift strenght. I just made a couple brackets on the back to hold the ends of a spring.

I haven't done any marking yet. I have tried a few power gradients trying to get multiple colors, but that is difficult with a blue laser to get consistent results. At the higher power levels, it will make a very black patch on stainless, so I know it iwill mark text nicely. One thing Opt told me was with this much power you should angle the laser a few degrees so the reflections don't hurt the laser.

@@JNWoodworks with the xt8 I think I might be able to produce different colours if I can accurately control the temp of the steel

@@alexchopek1385 Correct. Its just tricky to get the power and speed just right, and the pattern of the fill. Also, I started with thinner peices of SS sheets and warped them badly.

They are all imperial, however, they are easy to change. Just open them up with a text editor, and change the g20 to g21, and the g70 to g71, the the UNITS to mm. Keep in mind my post processors are specific to the ESS controller (thats what the AVID machines use).

@@JNWoodworks Thanks Jim. I have an AVID machine. I had an old OPT laser that I never could get working well, but inspired by the great work you have done with Warp9 I have an XT8 being delivered today.

I put the cutting focus and cut speed files for Vcarve here: drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bFFuwe7_nSRBT_EkUmhy22EmvVILATkX?usp=sharing I also put some Gcode files in there that will work for an AVID machine, or anything that uses and ESS controller.

I'm not too familiar with the software thats typcially used on the CO2 lasers. How do you normally burn vector files with that? Vectric can export as DXF, SVG, or PDF.

@@JNWoodworks Question is if when I use this sketch feature, can I then export as a .dxf or SVG. Not sure if VCARVE simulates these vectors for use ONLY in the tool path creation or if it indeed creates the vectors and can be exported for use or editing. Any help would be appreciated and thanks for the quick reply.

@@dankinsky9543 Ah, I got you. I loaded up that file and took a closer look. It does not seem to ever create a vector file, just some kind of internal format that it temporarity displays. You can run a simulation on it and save that as a bmp, jpeg, etc., but I don't see a way to save it as a vector format in any way. That would be a good feature to ask for. You could load the jpeg or bmp and raster burn it I'm sure, but that may not have as good of resolution. I personally like to burn vectors unless I'm doing detailed pictures. That makes me ask (because I have no idea), does the software on most CO2 lasers allow you to load in some kind of Gcode files? If so, then a Vectric post processor could be made that would work for this.

@@jimneeb2362 Thanbks for confirming that part! Would have been ideal if it could export the vectors though!

@@dankinsky9543 I agree. That would be a good thing to ask Vectric for on the next release. Does your machine allow loading any kind of Gcode files? If so, I could help you make a post processor that might work.

Thats a good question. I went back and looked at all my carves and the biggest file was 28MB, so you are doing some really large ones :-) However, I know people that have done some really big ones and I haven't heard of a file size limit. A great place to ask that question would be in the AVID User Group on FB page (I'm assuming you are using Mach4?). That seems to be plenty of computer. I just checked on the Artsoft forum and there was a coment that the screen toolpath display is very resource intensive so for very large files you may need to turn off the toolpath display to handle that large of a file.