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Dominic Galligan
12-13-2016, 8:50 PM
Hi all, I bought a chinese cnc/ laser machine. The instructions says it's a Woodpecker cnc machine. The laser runs LiteFire software. I fired it up yesterday and the laser works well, tests great and burns well and the software talks to the machine. But the problem I have is that when I followed the wiring instructions it gave me up and down and side to side movement but no back to front. On the software main page it only has Y and X axis, so I take it that it should only have back to front and side to side movement, up and down? As the up and down is for the cnc machine? If I change the wires around to allow for the Z axis, back to front movement it then works, but when I ask the software to engrave something it does not move and stays in one spot and burns on one spot. Yes I have asked the Chinese seller but have got no reply. I have cnc software questions and have had no reply. We chose this seller because they seemed to have very good feedback with answering questions, but now I need them they have fallen of the earth. I have attached a copy of the instructions with the wiring instructions. Hopefully is a simple fix with something I'm doing wrong. Thanks Dominic

Bill George
12-13-2016, 9:04 PM
Got it off eBay and no response from the Seller after they got paid? Have you tried contacting eBay?

Dominic Galligan
12-13-2016, 9:27 PM
We bought it off Ali express and yes have had no answer from the seller. This morning i was trying the machine again and it's trying to work. Looks like to me no matter what size I set a script to I've tried it on 72 the biggest it engraves at smaller them 1 mill. In the NC sender section of the software I got it to do something by clicking outline but it engraved all the letters on top of each other.

Bert Kemp
12-13-2016, 9:40 PM
is this a 2 in one type machine ? cnc laser and cnc engraver like with a router to do the cutting?

Dominic Galligan
12-13-2016, 9:55 PM
Yes it is a two in one machine with removable spindle for cnc engraving and laser head.

Dominic Galligan
12-14-2016, 4:11 AM
349448349449349450

Here are some photos of the machine. One shows the results of the engraving. as you can see its only been engraving in one spot.

Bill George
12-14-2016, 7:44 AM
How much experience do you have in CNC and electrical?

There appears to be a lot of Chinese Woodpecker machines on the market.

The control system could be Arduino based but the software is Chinese. It appears without a complete wiring diagram and the ability to troubleshoot, or instructions or help from the Vender your pretty much out of luck. But you really should not need to do any wiring of the machine as the motion control is the same for laser or routing. Its just either firing the laser or running the spindle motor. With the Arduino controller it should be able to do X,Y and Z movements all at the same time without changing any wiring. The only difference is either the spindle or laser is being activated.


Good luck.

Matt McCoy
12-14-2016, 11:12 AM
Looks like it's running GRBL. The X/Y/Z motion control is slightly out of frame. Look if they're labeled or switch them around until you drive the proper steppers. Depending on the quality of the stepper motor, the wiring may be reversed and will require correcting the polarity in GRBL or switching around the wires.

Is there a Woodpecker forum or FB group?

Dominic Galligan
12-14-2016, 2:29 PM
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Hope these pictures help. I have no none knowledge of wiring so I can't test anything without some help, rewiring I think is out of the question. But if a new board could that runs both cnc and laser machines and runs something like mach3 as I've used that before and whatever is the cheapest laser machine software that would be great. But if two boards are needed one for the laser and cnc so longs as there reasonably simple to install we might think about that otherwise we have a huge paperweight or doorstop.

As for this I have no idea what this means or what to do "Looks like it's running GRBL. The X/Y/Z motion control is slightly out of frame. Look if they're labeled or switch them around until you drive the proper steppers. Depending on the quality of the stepper motor, the wiring may be reversed and will require correcting the polarity in GRBL or switching around the wires."

Thanks
Dominic

Dominic Galligan
12-14-2016, 2:58 PM
If I was to get an Arduino controller which one do I get? And are they easy to install? And I bet the plugs on the stepper motors want fit either so where do I get plugs that are going to the Arduino controller?

Matt McCoy
12-14-2016, 3:08 PM
In your first pic: X (left to right), Y (front to back), Z (up and down) and the spindle module is connected to the card to control on/off. You might switch around X/Y/Z to troubleshoot if the steppers work and move the gantry. If you get movement in all 3 axes and move in the correct intended direction, you'll have good reason to suspect the motion control works and might need to look into the software next.

Dominic Galligan
12-14-2016, 3:18 PM
Yes I can get all three to work but in the LiteFire software it only has axis so not sure if all three work at the same time. I've done that but the software still want move the axis enough to engrave has very small movements less then one mill so you end up with a spot.

Matt McCoy
12-14-2016, 3:37 PM
Yes I can get all three to work but in the LiteFire software it only has axis so not sure if all three work at the same time. I've done that but the software still want move the axis enough to engrave has very small movements less then one mill so you end up with a spot.

You might need to look into the software next.

Dominic Galligan
12-14-2016, 3:47 PM
yep maybe downloading it again from a more reputable site

Bill George
12-14-2016, 3:54 PM
Well all I can say is this. Looks just like the overrated controller board that came with my Chinese blue laser diode engraver... project. It would run the Chinese version whatever that was of GRBL. Would not run a standard GCode file, nor could I find a flavor of GRBL GCode it liked. The Chinese software worked but so many limitations. If you can figure out the as wired from the factory that is fine. But My "free" advise of the day, get your money back before you get into the money pit.

Sure I got mine to work, the only thing I salvaged and reused was the stepper motors, the frame and the 6 watt blue light laser. The Arduino board and then you need the driver board and another board for the laser control and in your case a relay to control the spindle. You will then need software and that would cost anywhere from $50 - $150 and before you start all this I am a controls electrician by trade and dabble a bit in CNC.

Repeating my free advise of the day, get your money back.

Warning of the day, I think a Chinese download carried the RansomWare virus that got me this summer. Getting Pi$$ed does no good, I lost a lot of stuff but I did have a 2 month old backup drive that helped some. First ever virus on a home computer in over 30 years, one I could not get off that is, now Norton's is my best friend.

Dominic Galligan
12-14-2016, 4:12 PM
Thanks Bill yes it is looking like a great big paper weight. We should of listened to our own advice after our last experience with Chinese laser machines where the mother board stuffed up and we said then we'd never get another one but look what we did we got another one. The thing is we liked the last one it worked great for about 12 months. But we can't afford a brand named machine like a trotec. We looked at the Darkly lab machine. At least this one was about $400.

Bill George
12-14-2016, 4:25 PM
Before you go crying in your beer so to speak, there are lots of decent Chinese laser machines but you need to do some reading and research before purchasing and expect to pay more like $4000 for one that will last and make you some money. The concept of the machine you purchased would work, its just poor design and construction. I don't have the money to purchase a Trotec either, but I did find a refurbished ULS machine.

Dominic Galligan
12-14-2016, 4:36 PM
Right noe we could not afford anything at that price either.

Jerome Stanek
12-14-2016, 6:15 PM
Is the step settings for the laser the same as for the cnc. Is one mm and the other inch

Dominic Galligan
12-14-2016, 10:20 PM
i'm not sure have not used the cnc yet. It runs on Coppercam which only does circuit boards which I don't need to do, we want to be able to cnc and laser engrave engrave names and possibly pictures

Bert Kemp
12-14-2016, 11:56 PM
can I see a picture of the whole machine?

Dominic Galligan
12-15-2016, 2:56 AM
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Here are some pictures of the whole machine

Bill George
12-15-2016, 8:34 AM
Did it come all assembled or did you have to put it together and wire? It looks well constructed. IF they used a standard GRBL and you can access it all is not lost. Someone else asked the same question wondering if the steps are set right in the software. But you have no way of finding out unless you can see the setup. My experience with my Chinese board was they used a special version and none of the standard programs will work with it.

You can try this program as a Demo to see if you can get into the GRBL and view. http://www.picengrave.com/PicSender.htm

This may be beyond your skill level and my blue light laser engraving project works but has been put aside for now.
The PicEngrave people sell the software you are looking for to carve and engrave.

Your motion control setup should be the same for laser and engraving, the gcode file sent to it controls the speed. The company above markets software that generates the gcode needed, as well as JTech who also makes controllers for laser diodes. Both companies are outstanding in the Arduino controlled engraving field.

Question of the day, now I see they are using lead screws,, who installed the couplings and tightened the set screws?

Dominic Galligan
12-15-2016, 3:11 PM
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I'm not sure what picengrave software can do? But coppercam the cnc software that I got to run the machine will only work with gerber files and nothing else. It's really only meant for doing circuit boards but I want to be able to engrave words, name and possibly pictures. So what I wanted to no is if I converted gcode to a gerber file if coppercam could read that even though it wasn't a circuit board? Not sure how you convert gcode to a gerber file?

Now the machine I had to put together myself. It wasn't easy using the picture only instructions. But I think that maybe I found the problem with the engraving. It's not the software or the control board. As it looks like to me the software is talking to the machine ok. And I can get all three axis to respond and move accordingly. Even though to get the third axis to move I have to unplug one and plug the other one in to get it to move. But that's because LiteFire software is only a 2 axis software.

What I noticed last night is that the main screw rods used to move the axis are connected to the stepper motors with this odd looking connector. Which has to go over the motor stem end which quite a smooth piece of metal and also go over the screw rod. The connector has 2 little allen key screw things that are supposed to tighten onto these two rods and I think that this connector is slipping on the motor stem as it's so smooth and hasn't got a good enough grip on it. As you can see in the photos i attached the instructions told me only to put two screws per connector so I did that. Not sure how to fix this problem other then to put another 2 screws into them, as there are 4 spare screws and see what happens.

Bill George
12-15-2016, 4:26 PM
The odd looking connector is called a coupling. You did read my post above about making sure those are tight and not slipping? I would do whatever it took to make a solid non slipping connection. The PicSender program if you read my post was going to allow you to see how the GRBL was set up? If you can't access the GRBL then you have a non standard controller and there is nothing more I can add.

I do not know about Gerber files to gcode. You don't need 3 axis or the Z movement with the laser but it should still work. If you want to learn about GRBL and Ardiuno plus gcode files, this would be a great time to start learning... on your own. Good Luck.

Dominic Galligan
12-15-2016, 11:20 PM
I fixed the couplings but is still not moving the axis properly. Must be a gcode issue. When I look at the gocode produced it has 18 lines before it gets to the x y lines. Not sure if that is correct? But I can't delete any gcode lines it's only letting me change the VALUE and I can't copy the gcode.

The first lines are
10 step pulse, usec
25 step idle delay, msec
0 step port invert mask:00000000
4 dir port invert mask:00000100
0 step enable invert, bool
0 limit pins invert, bool
0 probe pin invert, bool

Hopefully that makes sense?

Bill George
12-16-2016, 12:14 PM
That is not gcode and sorry I can not help, perhaps someone else.