[mark.a]

This may sound like a daft question so please don’t have a go. ( I have searched the site but cannot find an idiots guide)
I am nearing completion of my home build 130w co2 laser it has a bed size of 1400mm x 1000mm all the gantry is home
Made from my aluminium furnace then machined. I have both axes connected to mach3 all working. My question is I am
About to order a 130w laser and power supply from china and would like to know how to control the laser output. I wasn’t
Sure if the power supply has it built in or I need a separate control board. I will be using mach 3 to run the machine. I haven’t
decided the best way to fire the laser so any ideas would be appreciated. Many thanks in advance.

[Pplug]

You don't want to use Mach to control a laser. It's not really suited for the quick on/off signals that a laser needs. I would suggest a trocen "anywells" 708c DSP laser controller. It will be able to use regular stepper drives and motors and will give you the ability to do raster engraving as well as vector cutting.

It runs about $400-450. It's more expensive than just a breakout board but it is worth it. If your spending the money for a 130w laser then do it right!

BTW we just ordered an 80w laser from EFR laser in China and it cost us $623+40 for the bank fee.

[mark.a]

thanks pplug just been looking at these boards you could be right i will be mainly cutting but to have the ability to engrave would be good at
a later date. i have been hunting around for a decent wiring diagram but as yet not found one, any ideas.
i also see that it will accept dxf files since i dont know coral draw. i use turbo cad pro and vcarve which will export dxf files.

[Pplug]

If you use vcarve pro then you should export in ai (adobe illustrator) document. Laser cad keeps the original size of the ai doc and automatically converts the English measurements to metric. We use vectric aspire for vector designs exclusively even though we have educational versions of the whole autodesk suites.

Wiring diagrams are available from the light object forums. Just don't expect help from there if you didn't buy your dsp from them. Fortunatly, wiring up the dsp is much easier than wiring a breakout board for cnc. We just bought our second 708c from light object. I will be converting our 608 80w laserlater this week after I install a new 80w tube in our second machine.

[mark.a]

thanks again for your advice. i have just ordered the control board should take about 30 days to get here from china.
will post the results later.

[Pplug]

How much did it set you back and where are you located?

[mark.a]

$304 from china im in the uk

[Pplug]

$304 from china im in the uk

Good for you! That's a good price for the controller. Just make sure to upgrade the firmware and if you need help wiring it up, just ask.

[mark.a]

first question how and were do i update the firmware.lol