3018 PRO - Setting up your laser
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 มิ.ย. 2024
- A guide on how to set up your laser, tests speeds and power to get it ready before outputting designs.
Laser GRBL download:
lasergrbl.com/download/
A link to the files used and Graham Blands full guide:
1drv.ms/u/s!AuoE9S3Cr4VZgpcOi...
5.5w Blue laser from Sainsmart:
shrsl.com/2p1s5
Link to the Sainsmart 3018PRO :
shrsl.com/2i8nz
I have recently set up a Patreon page to help keep making tutorials and keep my TH-cam channel moving forward.
/ jamesdeandesigns
If you want to help but do not want to become a Patreon, you con contribute directly:
www.paypal.me/jamesdeandesigns
Check out my channel for other videos on the 3018PRO
Instagram @JamesDeanDesigns
Some product links I use are affiliate links. This means they do not cost you any more but I might make a small commission in return which helps towards making these videos.
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Genmitsu 3018 and a laser module just like the one you're showing. it didn't initiate, didn't run the fan or fire the laser... turns out the order of wires in the control board is different from the module. The Genmitsu is 12+, PWM, Gnd and the head is 12+, Gnd, PWM. I found the correct end of the connection wire for the head (color coded), and rewired the other end by pressing down on the terminals in the white terminal block with the tip of a knife and shoving/pulling them out, then ordered them by color coding to match the labels on the terminal receptacle on the board. Now it works.
Sadly this is pretty common. I have another video about top 10 laser issue and I highlight this exact scenario you have gone through. Glad you got it sorted
A perfect post! Very helpful as I add a laser to my home grown DIY CNC machine. The video and the links in the description were a one stop shop for everything I needed. Thanks!
Quite simply the best videos on setting up a 3018. Thanks so much. A lot of great information jammed in these videos. So many headaches and troubles have been put to the wayside.
You are an absolute lifesaver with all these 3018 videos. Need to watch every one of them.
Thanks, i thought before it needs additional accesories for the laser as i've seen from other videos, but this is an eyeopener for me.
Thank you so much! This will save me a lot of time, and save my head from over zealous head scratching.
Plummers tape on the threads does a nice job of keeping it in place...cheers!
Thanks Mr. James, I have been watching your 3018 videos and have gotten a lot of good info. I have the same 3018 pro.
I appreciate you taking the time to explain how to set the laser up. You were easy to follow and also provided the necessary documentation files to calibrate this laser as well! You have conveyed a level of confidence to me! Thanks more that you know!
That good to hear. Thanks 👍
Excellent videos.I really struggled with the supplied manuals but these are brilliant, clear and explain absolutely everything. Nice work!
Thank you. Glad they helped 👍
I have to say you do an excellent job of explaining setting up the 3018 pro. I watched your video in setting up the router portion of 3018, and I learned a lot from it. You’ve managed to instruct others in setting up both machines as simple as possible.
Thank you. That was my aim when I started. A lot of beginner videos were made by experienced people and they were not actually suitable for true beginners. Glad it's helped 👍
as a newby to 3018 s i was so pleased to find your channel please keep em coming . i was sitting on the fence with should i shoudnt i ?? but your videos gave me the confidence to have a go. ended up getting one and now following vids to try and create a photo. well done thank you
Super! Tutorial is great! I have my CNC 3018 Pro-M with laser 7W! I think you are good at setting my laser! I'm from Germany 🇩🇪! Thank you Mr James! 😁😉👍🏻
Superb explanation! Could have done with this from day one. Thanks very much, time to start tinkering!
hi James. Thanx a lot for fine videoes. I am an headteacher at a secondary school in Odda-Norway. We have a makerspace in our school and have recently bought a cnc machine High-Z-s400 . I am just readin myself up on the instructions but your videoes have allready opened my eyes to know where to start. Thanx.
Great video, thanks so much. I was struggling with my variable focus laser and your suggestion to put some teflon tape on the threads was fantastic. Was able to get it focused and it stayed focused. I had given up on getting it to work reliably.
Thats good to hear :)
Thank you for this video!! And that tip at the end about $32= value was a life saver. I just happened to do a job on a painted tile and had those lines. I had no idea why.... until now. Thank you!!!
Glad it helped 👍
I've just spent about 6 hours doing so much of this on my system, only to find you have this channel.... well, I am a believer! Wonderful to find you, and thanks so much for making my life this much easier.
Glad it helped 👍
Huge thanks man! Very awesome video! Already waiting the logo episode.
This video made setting my laser so easy. What started out as itimidating turned out to be quite easy thanks to you!! I have been watching a lot of your videos on cnc machines and you made those easy as well. Thank you so much for making great instructional videos for beginners like me.
Excellent. Glad they have helped 😁
Honestly cant thank u enough m8. I just bought this machine and it is amazing for the price but could have been very confusing to understand without your videos. your links have been more than helpful and I am now ready to do the tests needed to help me produce its best work possible.
Glad its helped 👍
@@JamesDeanDesigns where do I find the custom button download?
I was totally waiting for this video! Thanks so much!
Best help, Best advice, I was able (FINALLY) to use my 3018 . Thank you So much James, you are the best.
Excellent. Glad it helped
Super tutorial Mr. James!
You are amazing, I bought my machine few months ago and since that time I tried to find out how I can use it and I couldn't to be honest. after I saw your videos I was able to use it for the first time :)
Thank you and keep going please, I am your fan :)
Thank you very much 👍
Hi James im setting up a sovol 5W laser on my 3018c cnc yur you tube tutorial is absolutly spot on. when in laser grbl you set up the importation of command from the c drive.my C drive does not display these special commands.
another thing is that my laser is constantly on and obviously burns the plywood by the time i get to set up
As a newbie to Laser Engraving, this video was excellent. Thank You. (As an aside, as an ex-pat from the UK 54 years ago, it was nice to hear your accent again!)
🤣 Good to know
Thank you very very much!!! Your video is great and well exposed. I've just bought a 3018 machine and I will follow your gudes. Ciao Enrico
Followed your tutorial and had no issues at all James. Cheapie 2.5mw laser works well. With your test files, I found that the laser will do what I want at max 60% power with speed at 800 to 900 using MDF.
Glad to hear it went smooth. Enjoy the laser 👍
Thanks for the great explanations and useful hints!
Great video, many things are covered.
Excellent video. I appreciate this and think that running the laser at 70 to 80 percent was one of the most important points.
Thank you very much for great information
What helps a lot for focusing your laser is to focus ur focus on a black copy( comes out completely black. I used this method with a ND: YAG, pulsed lasr. just open the scan platten and leave open. Start a scan of the printer. A copy/scan on the paper will black. Turn laser down, place black paper in lasers path and wala... you can really fine tune the focus.
Thank you so very much, that was informative, simple useful and enjoyable - Thank you once again, James
Glad it helped 👍
A very nice run through of all the important stuff.
I was hoping you'd talk a bit about the adaptive power level (M4 command) that Laser-GRBL uses, because I can't figure out why it makes the G code it does, and I get very inconsistent results with the same power settings in different render modes.
Anyway, I have a variable focus module and I figured it would be sensible to set the distance quite long, mainly so that surface level fluctuations would have less effect, but also for smoke reasons. But seeing that yours is set to 20mm - by people who presumably know more than me, I'm wondering if my reasoning is not so sensible ?
I feel I should say that MDF (that's what you say you are cutting) supposedly gives off particularly bad gasses when burned, I'm lead to believe much worse than normal wood. I think that maybe deserves a bit more of an emphasis.
I do like all those test plots though, very useful resources that are kindly made available - already downloaded them.
A tip for people trying to make their laser come on - if your laser has a separate "power supply" module, there is probably a switch on both the laser module and the power supply module. Make sure the laser is mounted safely pointing at something non-shiny before you start hitting the various ON buttons.
After 4 days of search at google, you got all my ansearws . Thanks for sharing your knowleage
No problem, glad it helped 👍
This tutorial is super useful. Thanks
Glad its helped 👍
A very helpful starter guide. I just go my laser and am ready to switch. $32 here I come.
thank you so much for such a clear and concise video
Glad it helped 👍
and thank you for these videos helping me tons!
Excellent tutorial, thank you.
Cheers 👍
I found this video while troubleshooting my new laser. It was very helpful because everything seemed right but my laser would not fire under software control. I discovered the 3 wire connector was mismatched. 12V wire was correct but Gnd and TTL were crossed. Lesson: just because the connecter plugs in it doesn't guarantee it's wired correctly :/ This is a very clear and concise video. *****
Thanks David, glad it helped. This seems to be quite common about the mismatched wires unfortunately. Good that you were able to work this out
I just had the same issue!!!
What about if the 3018 has 24VDC and my laser head 12V.
All of your videos are so informative and well presented. I've upgraded the bed to 3040, cut my spoilboard, it is surfacing now and just looking at the laser setup that will arrive tomorrow. I have one question that I have not seen addressed. If I have an MDF spoilboard and want to clean cut through my project what can I put between the spoilboard and the workpiece to prevent the laser from setting the spoilboard on fire??
excellent video. very good job!
Thank you!
Great tutorial! Every one that I have watched has helped greatly. On this tutorial where you added the custom buttons I had a slight problem. Following the tutorial I clicked on the 2 second laser fire button and nothing happened..... tried the laser on button and again nothing.... perfect- all this work on the machine getting limit switches and homing function working and I end up with a bad laser! Itried one more thing entering the gcode directly. The laser came on as it should... so not the laser- figured it had to be the gcode in the custom button. Right click on the button and choose edit button- the laser is called out using M3, but has no power indicated- leaving it essentially off.... by making that line of code read M3 S50 and then saving it both buttons work as they should now. Again- Thanks for the great tutorials!
Not heard of that before but thank you for sharing. Its really appreciated 👍
I had this same problem your fix worked great...thank you
Yes, yes, yes! And thanks also to James for all his wisdom and generosity!
Brilliant video.
Thank You!
This is a great and helpful video! Do I need to put anything under the paper in case the laser cuts through the paper so that it's not hitting the table assembly underneath? Also, I'm working with a 7W laser. Any hints on what settings/configuration I need to adjust for my laser? I'm a complete novice and I'm having some issues getting the settings given in Graham's files to work properly with my laser. Thanks!
Well that was Amazing ! Don't know what my wife will say if I buy one though ! Jim
Great video meets my needs Thankyou. One point tho, I am unable to open the link to Graham Blands guide, is it me or is the link broken?
just bought the 40w in 15w out laser and will be arriving tomorrow. my 3018 came with the 500 mw and i couldnt believe i could actually do anything with a half watt laser. from what ive heard and seen you dont want the focal point exactly on the surface you want 1-1.5mm below the surface.
Hi, yes the 500mw are quite low in power. You essentially want the focal point to be where ever you need the hottest place to be. For most people this is on the surface as these lasers are mainly for engraving. Setting it s little lower (or a little higher) can help when doing a fill with the laser. I think also setting it a little lower can sometimes help when cutting but it also depends on the actual focal length. Mine is quite short which means I really need to keep it focused on the surface
my next 3018 PI4 CNC upgrade. know this was coming=]
What a brilliant video thank you
Glad its helped 👍
Hey! Thanks so much for your video, it’s been great. I’ve followed every step and can see the laser but it won’t show up on the wood I’m using. Any suggestions?
1st for the mame... 2nd, yes, I have a CNC, of course! Thanks for the great video!
Hope it helped
Yes! It helps a Lot! Ty!
Awesome Video! Can the 3018 Prover GRBL Controller Board support 20w Laser with no issue or still need connection with extra board?
Thank you for all your hard work. I am new to the lasers and when I run the test. The Laser comes on and moves but nothing burned on wood any suggestions? Please keep the great content coming.
hello James congratulations for the channel. I have a laser bought on bandgood with power supply and TTL cable can I connect it to the 3018?
Great video!
Thanks 👍
Thank you so much! :D
Thank you very much for the very informative video! I just bought one of the most powerfull solid state lasers on the market as I will use it primarily for cutting. ( plywood a few mm thick). My laser is capable of moveing the Z axis as well. When doing multiple passes for cutting, does laserGRBL have an option for lowering the Z per pass? Or does one have to do this inside the GRBL file generator? Thank you very much for your trouble.
Thanx a lot for such a good video. Greetings from Germany :-)
Thanks for the feedback 👍 glad you enjoyed it
Hi, me again. I have followed your Grbl set up video followed by this one and both amazingly easy to follow. thank you.
However, on this laser focus test i have perfect thin lines from left to right, hardly any variation. (no very thick lines) so i followed the speed test files and the one that comes out best so far is 600mms line and fill. Am i doing something wrong or is this normal? I haven't tried the 500mms yet but the higher i go the worse they get. (started at 800, then 1000, then 1400 and were just getting worse).
Does it matter which wood we use?
A thousand thank yous and sorry to pick your brain again. :-)
Can recommend a decent pair of eye protection for the 3018 pro laser thank you
Hi James just got a sainsmart PROVer I think there are 2 types of lazer modules the blue one in the video is for PROVer I ordered the other one just wondered if you know if I could use the other one take a look at the sainsmart web site they told me it wasn’t possible with the PROVEr cnc thanks
Wow Im so glad I found this channel, keep up the great work, so instructive and well put across James, one question, the laser power pack on my newly delivered 3018 Pro has no obvious place to be attached to the machine, any thoughts please?
Thank you, thats really appreciated. Most people just mount it on the back bars where the normal control board goes
Your videos are so good for helping the beginner. Could you (or anyone else) please tell me where to download the tests from. I don't have any in my LaserGRBL programme.
Thank you
Just a little FYI, I did some research and the 15W diode lasers have an optical output of approximately 4.5W - 5W.
4.5W of output power from these diodes is frankly astonishing given how cheap they are.
As I mentioned in the video there is a lot of debate around it. Im a member of quite a few laser groups and everyone seems to repeat the same information but I've really struggled to actually find evidence. More specifically, I'd love to see identical tests done with a 2, 5, 7 and 15w. People say there is no such thing as a 15w laser (which might be true) but if its more powerful than the 7w then its still worth the investment
@@JamesDeanDesigns I went to the companies making the lasers, so no debate. :D
If you look at companies such as NeJe and OPT lasers they list the input and output specs of their products.
4.5W - 5W output power for less than $200(us) is truly astonishing.
Gas tubes still cost a fortune but these diodes are dirt cheap and have power that rivals low end Co2 tubes
for a fraction of the cost.
You used a 15W laser module for this particular video. Up to what watts of the laser module can the control board accept without any modifications or additional parts to the system or set up?
James ,love all your tutorials can you recommend a laser cnc for cutting plywood up to 5mm. The market is a bit confusing. Thanks
Thanks. Ply wood isn't always the easiest because there is different gradings and the glue in the layers. The FoxAlien and Sainsmart 20w (5w output) will cut it but probably takes a good 6 passes to do so. A few brands like Neje I believe do make 40w lasers as well. Alternatively you may be better looking at CO2 lasers
Thanks for the suggestion but i turned on continue power an solved the problem
Awesome stuff.
BTW, SainSmart laser modules are discontinued.
It just happens I'm shopping for a diode laser module for my Vevor 3018 Pro. I haven't been able to see any of those 20W 4-diode setups like on the xTool D1 Pro yet.
Nice!!
hi i have been following this video and found it very helpful. i am a total newby to all of this . I have a vevor 3018 pro and want to do some laser cutting mainly using plywood after many failed attempts i contacted vevor an they told me the laser is not powerful enough and an upgrade would cost £200 so i was wondering if you could recomend a laser that would do the job without breaking the bank
Hello nice video. I just bought a replacement laser head for my “universal laser “ the only problem is that my original laser head has a fix wire set up. 2 for the laser and 2 for fan. The new laser has a four pin connector. How would I go about connecting the new laser head. Can u please help out. Thanks
Thanks Thanks Thanks !!!! Very Very Goood.... !!!! Have you some Advises Regarding the Power of used Lasers/Materials ?
You need to experiment and find the best settings for you laser and material using a power scale grid like in this video th-cam.com/video/0T6BdIoynOE/w-d-xo.html
your vlogs are very useful. Thank you. Can you make a video to compare 3018 max pro laser 5.5W vs sculpfun s9?
Thank you. I dont have a Sculpfun laser yet, but if I get one I'll try and do a comparison
@@JamesDeanDesigns ok. What do you think what will be the best out of these two, as per your sound knowledge? Thanks.
Hi, having some weird results from your laser test files and wondered if you had any ideas. I did the GRBL tuning as per your previous video and it went fine and I did some carving with no problems. I then ran through this laser set up video and again the the focusing section went as planned. When I ran the test filed however this is when things started to go wrong. The lower test 800 and 900 went fine but way to dark so I went up to 1200 and the laser doesn’t do the vertical lines and just burns a series of ‘blobs’ where the fill sections should be and where the darker fills are it just sits there and burns burns burns and then when it does the numbers it just does 12 and not 1200. Any ideas?
Thanks
Malcolm
Same issues and can't resolve this :0(
Its helpful, thnx man
Con que programa puedo editar los *.nc paraponermis propios valores?
GRACIAS
Thanks bro
Thanks!
Thank you for that Jim, really appreciated
Amazing videos tanks you very much, i don’t have the spindle settings in my g code the $30 that you changed does not show in my settings
You will need to update the firmware on your board. Its probably 0.9 but needs to be 1.1. Unfortunately I don't have a video on this but do a quick TH-cam search 👍
Me neither, it jumps from $27 to $100, anyone knows where to find the update?
In your opinion, is it possible to cut a thin fabric with this laser? Thanks
yay lots of good in this vid :)
The best video
Hi James. Thanks for all your videos on the cnc machine, it's really helped me. I have question on the inventables software. The bit moves as it should but does not spin. On the basic software I downloaded from you it does spin. Any ideas what I am doing wrong. Thanks
Thanks. The setting for the spindle is on manual, meaning Easel thinks you're turning it on separately, switch it to automatic an it should fix it 👍
I absolutely love your videos, set up the cnc 3018, and made the spoil board, I’m getting on really well with it thanks to you. It came with the laser and I’m just about to lose my sanity with it 😩. Followed your three laser & lightburn videos 80% of the time it can’t even find my device and when it does I can only get a faint line of burn. Some of the menus etc are in different places to you, I think this is because I’m using Mac iOS? Anyway I’ve come to the point of I’ve had enough! and decided I would be better with a separate laser so I can have both going at the same time. These lasers are 5.5W I want to sell items so what would be the ideal W to get? Any recommendations from anyone would be greatly appreciated, needs to be straight forward to use and work with Mac iOS. Thank you
Sadly for most of the CNC world, Mac is a secondary thought and even some of the most powerful software doesn't come available for Mac. In saying that a lot of people still use Macs without issues and they are all likely to be using GRBL which is the same firmware your curent laser is using. I do agree using a separate laser is better overall and hopefully you may have better luck. In terms of power, 5.5w lasers are quite common now and probably the minimum power I would be looking at. You can do quite a bit with a 5.5w but as with most things, if your budget can stretch to a more powerful one then it might be worth it.
Hello James! Thanks for the great videos. I ran the "laser focus test" I could see that the laser fired however no lines were burnt. Any thoughts?
Hi. If the laser is firing but no lines then its usually one of two things. Either your laser is too far away or two close to begin with. Or you haven't set the $30 setting up correctly.
Hello mate, thank you for doing your vids, I cannot wait to get started on my machine!
I was wondering, you use several different programmes in your vids, is there a one stop shop programme that you would recommend for both milling and laser functions at all?
Thank you in advance
No, not really. Both Carveco and Vectric have tried to add laser modules to their software but generally speaking lightburn is the best for laser without a doubt. Then withe routering there are more choices
Can you provide instructions for how you made your custom wood bed in this 3018?
Great video well explained. My oly problem is my laser not burning... need help. What am i doing wrong...
Hi. Common issues are making sure the spindle wire is disconnected, making sure the wires match up between your laser and board (live to live, neutral to neutral, PWM to PWM). If your laser is firing up but not burning then check the lens is clean, check focal distance, check your Svale and $30 values are the same.
Does the laser runout? Does it last long ? How much work can we use it for?
thanks again...great instructive video.
Thank you i sent you a donation wish it was more I’m trying to get a laser up and running but first going to watch more of your videos you should wright a book...
I hate writing, thats why I do video 😆. Genuinely though, thank you for your contribution. Really appreciated 🙏
Hello James, I am a very newbie in the world of CNC, laser engraving and have thoroughly enjoyed watching your tutorial videos. I am currently making an enclosure for my unit and use 4.5mm acrylic in the doors. Can you please advise which is the best colored acrylic to use for eye protection when the laser is in operation. You may have answered this question previously in which case I apologize for the repeat. thanks again for your tutorials.
You will want clear amber orange. This will off a certain level of protection but if you need to stare at your laser for any reason then definitely still use googles
what kind of sheild do you use on your encasing for the printer
Do you have a video showing how to install the laser head into a masuter pro?