Have been looking at loads of YT videos to find a solution to my shapeoko XL working in reverse and my origin was always off setting by 167mm. The Macro button setup solved it! Just had to reduce the Y value by... 167mm. Great video bud.
Hi Ben JTech laser & and Lightburn are an awesome combination on the Shapeoko! Test cut on the wood you are using is a must. I use the laser on hardwood and what a difference its makes between species. I use a lot of birch as you get great results. Great review of the settings as it can be intimidating for someone starting out. That said Jay at JTech is great for help. Thanks for another great video - love the "money money" . Cheers from Canada.
Yes, definitely different settings /cuts on different wood. Yeah, there's a bit of set up but hopefully this makes things easier. MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY! :P
Fantastic video. FYI. Make sure you quit lightburn before attempting to reset the GRBL in carbide motion. I kept getting error messages stating the cutter could not be found. Once I quit lightburn it released the cutter so carbide motion could rewrite the code. Hope this saves anyone from going into panic mode.
I have been following your videos on my journey with the Shapeoko xxl and the associated programs! Looking forward to getting a 7w Jtech in the next couple weeks based on your videos. I’m still in between this program and picsender/laser sender
Where I find option to turn on laser with small power as pointer. In laserGRBL it's work great. I set power to 5 (0-1000) and I have blue pointer. Very helpfull to adjust work area.
I know this video is 4 years old but is this setup still the only way to get a laser to work on a Shapeoko? I have to go through all these steps every single time I want to burn something? Then, go back and reconfigure Carbide Motion everyone?
Hows it going. I set my JTech laser to your exact grbl settings. I have the same shapeoko as you and my Laser isnt reaching or moving correctly. Any help you could provide would be AMAZING!!!!
Found this video really informative and helpful! Just curious about how you knew the value 255? Probably perfectly obvious to everyone else, but I didn’t pick up on where that came from. I’m currently trying to connect my jtech laser to my mill right CNC, and my zero value is in the top right corner. Can I follow your instructions for laser mode? Yours is in bottom left?
For adjusting the macros you stated you are typing P1 but in your notes on the video you have P0 listed, what is the difference and what is supposed to be in there?
Thanks for the awesome video! Is PWM enabled by default for the 7W JTech kit? I'd like to use gray scale imaging. I saw an older video where they added an additional card to enable PWM for image engraving but I cant seem to find out if that is still relevant. Thanks!
there's a black switch on the jtech box, one side is fire 100 constant, the other is use the machine to turn off and on fire. i bet its switched on the always on position.
I setup my jtech laser and it works great. Thanks. I setup the macros and clicked on use cnc. When I go to you carbide create the jog doesn’t work now. Any ideas?
just watched this a 2nd time and setup the macros for Use Laser and Use CNC, but I see that I still need to enter $30=255 and $32=1 if I want to laser and then go back to $30=1000 and $32=0 if I want my shapeoko to work as a router again. I suppose the question is, can these commands be added into the macro before the G0 calls?
by eye. set the laser to fire on the lowest power that is still visible. then manually move the laser up and down until the smallest point is achieved.
Great video and thank you for putting this together, it has made it easier for me to get my laser running. Quick question, I followed everything you did but now that I want to go back to my CNC, which is a Shapeoko XXL I can not get it to re connect. I punch the Use CNC and I go to setting on CM but it will not connect to my machine. I test moving the axis’s with LightBurn and it still has control. Do you have any thoughts on this? I relay appreciate it. I have turned everything off and restarted, several times with no luck. Thank you!
Hey Ben, got my laser to work, but my y axis control is backwards . X and Z are are working correctly. How do I correct this? Thanks again for the great video!
I just noticed that you went from absolute to current position in the start from tab. Why is that? The reason I ask is I seen on the Lightburn site for using a camera it has to be absolut.
thanks for the video! I bought the XXL several months ago and also want to buy a laser, unfortunatley I haven't seen any attachments for a rotary 4th axis. Do you know of any rotarty upgrades I can use on my XXL w/ a laser??
Worked great! I am now having trouble jogging in carbide motion after configuring LB. I can home and rapid position, but can’t jog (from either the wireless Rii, wired keyboard or on screen mouse clicks). Do you think the two are related? Thanks.
I had the same problem. I couldn't get carbide motion to jog after homing. I fixed it by editing the two Macros like in the video, but added the $10=0 to the use laser macro, and $10=255 to the use cnc macro. I just have to remember to click the use cnc macro before closing lightburn.
Great Video. I have a problem though. I bought a Jtech 2.8 and watched your video to configure lightburn. Everything went just as it did in the video until I went to type $$. Nothing happened. Then I noticed it said "waiting to connect to device" on the console. I'm stumped. The laser is not connected to the software but somehow it was connected enough to recognize my laser initially and set it up. I unable to show it connected to my device and unable to home it so I know it's not connected but it shows up on the Device list. Any recommendations might be the issue? I turned my Shapeoko and laser on and off, restarted the software (Lightburn and CarbideMotion) Any feedback from anyone would be helpful. Thanks for the great content.
@@MyersWoodshop Thanks for the reply. It turns out the reason it was not connecting is because I had Carbide Motion open and already using the port. I was not aware that those two would interfere with each other but I'm up and running now. Thanks for the quick response.
My machine is connected To lightburn, But the when I turn the laser on I can't change the power Or turn it off Within lightburn. It's just stuck at full power.
So I just got the 7w and just went through and set all the settings as above. When I hit use laser macro it goes to busy and stays there. It's been sitting "busy" for 20 min. Cant move or anything. Also is the laser power 255 for all jtech or just the 4w. As I said I have the 7w will my numbers be higher? I tried to test fire and I get no beam.
Hey Ben, great video as always. I downloaded the free trial from Light Burn but it never said how much the cost of the program was. Also is there something more that is required to purchase from them like any hardware or components for installation? Thank you.
I'm a dork and edited two videos and missed some stuff so i went back and spliced some stuff it. Initially I started with MM but Inches is much easier....but it's still personal preference.
@@Cadence_MFG I am now having that same problem, did you happen to figure out what was wrong. I can turn the manual mode on and the laser will turn on full power. But I cannot get the laser to fire using the button, and it will not come on while the program is running.
@@rickdel73 I did. There is one hook up on the board that can be hooked up upside down, it is the power and ground. I had them switched. There is more detail, let me see if I can find the steps and paste them, but for the most part if you go back to the install steps and find where the power ground is hooked up there is a note that says which way to hook them up. I missed it 3 times.....
Have been looking at loads of YT videos to find a solution to my shapeoko XL working in reverse and my origin was always off setting by 167mm. The Macro button setup solved it! Just had to reduce the Y value by... 167mm. Great video bud.
Great to hear!
Hi Ben JTech laser & and Lightburn are an awesome combination on the Shapeoko! Test cut on the wood you are using is a must. I use the laser on hardwood and what a difference its makes between species. I use a lot of birch as you get great results. Great review of the settings as it can be intimidating for someone starting out. That said Jay at JTech is great for help. Thanks for another great video - love the "money money" . Cheers from Canada.
Yes, definitely different settings /cuts on different wood. Yeah, there's a bit of set up but hopefully this makes things easier. MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY! :P
Awesome! Thank you so much for taking the time to do this video. I couldn't have set it up on my Shapeoko without it. Liked and Subscribed!
You're welcome!
Fantastic video. FYI. Make sure you quit lightburn before attempting to reset the GRBL in carbide motion. I kept getting error messages stating the cutter could not be found. Once I quit lightburn it released the cutter so carbide motion could rewrite the code. Hope this saves anyone from going into panic mode.
exactly true.
Just installed my JTECH on my Xcarve but you really helped especially with the $$ codes and how to get things to work!
thank you so much for the video; it helped me get my feet on the ground with my jtech ... also a shout out to jtech for their assistance
JTECH has incredible customer service. With the price you get USA made stuff and USA support. Worth it.
@@MyersWoodshop lol .. I already bought it .. had it a month but was frustrated till your video ... lol
Just received my 7W JTech - Excellent write-up! Thank You! Looking forward to this addition!
cool! welcome to the world of lasers!
Now its even harder to wait for my laser to arrive! Great video
Hope you enjoy it!
Great tutorial....how the heck would I know how to set up my laser without this. Great job!
I’m glad it helps!
I have been following your videos on my journey with the Shapeoko xxl and the associated programs! Looking forward to getting a 7w Jtech in the next couple weeks based on your videos. I’m still in between this program and picsender/laser sender
Good thing is you can try it out for free
Great video. Thinking I will buy a jtech for my shapeoko. But did I miss something? When did you set the z-zero? Does the laser do that automatically?
This video was a life saver! Thank you!!!
You're welcome!
Where I find option to turn on laser with small power as pointer. In laserGRBL it's work great. I set power to 5 (0-1000) and I have blue pointer. Very helpfull to adjust work area.
YAY!!!!!!! Been waiting for this one....
I did it just for you bud :P
I know this video is 4 years old but is this setup still the only way to get a laser to work on a Shapeoko? I have to go through all these steps every single time I want to burn something? Then, go back and reconfigure Carbide Motion everyone?
OMG, Thank you soo much. Exactly what I was looking for !!!
glad it helped
Hows it going. I set my JTech laser to your exact grbl settings. I have the same shapeoko as you and my Laser isnt reaching or moving correctly. Any help you could provide would be AMAZING!!!!
Found this video really informative and helpful! Just curious about how you knew the value 255? Probably perfectly obvious to everyone else, but I didn’t pick up on where that came from. I’m currently trying to connect my jtech laser to my mill right CNC, and my zero value is in the top right corner. Can I follow your instructions for laser mode? Yours is in bottom left?
For adjusting the macros you stated you are typing P1 but in your notes on the video you have P0 listed, what is the difference and what is supposed to be in there?
Katie Connell I noticed this too.
i just bought my jtech laser but have not recieved it ye do i need to have it installed on the shapeoko 4xxl befor i can configure light burn
Mine says 1.1g. I can’t get my laser to work.
Thanks for the awesome video! Is PWM enabled by default for the 7W JTech kit? I'd like to use gray scale imaging. I saw an older video where they added an additional card to enable PWM for image engraving but I cant seem to find out if that is still relevant. Thanks!
Would this be the same process for a shapeoko 4 with a opt laser?
Any way to set a macro to move the laser to a location on the bed? Hate jogging everytime.
yeah, you just need to know how to write gcode.
Hey sir, how to turn on laser with low power(mybe 1-2%) wehen i click frame sir?
so that I can see the boundaries of the work area sir.
Please reply
you cannot do it during the framing.
My macro buttons dont work. Nothing opens.
it's been so long i'm afraid I can't help any longer.
@@MyersWoodshop Nah it ok. My mindless moment. I had to right click not left click. Allllll is well. thank you for you help though.
YESSSSSSSS!!!!! Thank you thank you thank you!
I hope it helped!
the 812 is millimeters but earlier you set to inches. so do I use x at 812 or do I user it with inces?
mm.
I’m going to try these steps. for some reason my laser automatically fires when turning the control board on.
there's a black switch on the jtech box, one side is fire 100 constant, the other is use the machine to turn off and on fire. i bet its switched on the always on position.
Myers Woodshop thanks man I’m messing with the $$ code right now thanks for the info!
Myers Woodshop that’s what the problem was for the constant fire I switched it back I knew something wasn’t right!
I setup my jtech laser and it works great. Thanks. I setup the macros and clicked on use cnc. When I go to you carbide create the jog doesn’t work now. Any ideas?
go into carbide motion and reset it to the size machine you have, it will turn it back to cnc.
just watched this a 2nd time and setup the macros for Use Laser and Use CNC, but I see that I still need to enter $30=255 and $32=1 if I want to laser and then go back to $30=1000 and $32=0 if I want my shapeoko to work as a router again. I suppose the question is, can these commands be added into the macro before the G0 calls?
Yes they can!
I don’t have limit switches, do I need them on shapeoko?
not really.
Okay all setup but my laser always goes to the right. How do i set things up to use bottom left? I followed the setup above and changed the Macros. 😔
Did anyone get back to you?
Can the $$ commands be added to the use laser / use CNC macros?
i think so. you can edit the macros.
Lightburn doesn't recognize my x carve. I have restarted , tried multiple usb ports but no luck
update lightburn
Brand new 7w Jtech laser continually burns down through stock when laser is switched on.
theres a switch to fire the laser full on, and the other is when the program tells it to fire.
Very informative as always! The only thing I'm wondering is how high do you set Z height off of the material? Thanks again for another great video.
by eye. set the laser to fire on the lowest power that is still visible. then manually move the laser up and down until the smallest point is achieved.
Use the orange disk that comes with the laser. That is your zeroing mark. Adjust as needed from there.
Great video and thank you for putting this together, it has made it easier for me to get my laser running. Quick question, I followed everything you did but now that I want to go back to my CNC, which is a Shapeoko XXL I can not get it to re connect. I punch the Use CNC and I go to setting on CM but it will not connect to my machine. I test moving the axis’s with LightBurn and it still has control. Do you have any thoughts on this? I relay appreciate it. I have turned everything off and restarted, several times with no luck. Thank you!
use carbide motion to move it in cnc mode. You can also reset it in carbide motion to default settings if you screw things up.
Hello does anyone know the settings for X and Y with a Shapeoko 3XL? I think he uses 812 X 812 for an XXL.
16x32 in mm
When you go back to CNC and config back to XXL... do you have to change the $ signs in light burn when on go back to laser every time?
the easiest way is to just go into carbide motion and resend the settings from the settings menu.
Hey Ben, got my laser to work, but my y axis control is backwards . X and Z are are working correctly. How do I correct this? Thanks again for the great video!
did you get it fixed?
@@MyersWoodshop Yes, i played around with the GRBL settings and figured it out, based on the info in yer video. Thanks for your response!
I just noticed that you went from absolute to current position in the start from tab. Why is that? The reason I ask is I seen on the Lightburn site for using a camera it has to be absolut.
always start from USER for the jtech.
Is this only for the laser software or does it effect the router use also? Sorry I'm a newbie just starting out and learning. Love you work
just for laser.
thanks for the video! I bought the XXL several months ago and also want to buy a laser, unfortunatley I haven't seen any attachments for a rotary 4th axis. Do you know of any rotarty upgrades I can use on my XXL w/ a laser??
i don't know of any.
Worked great! I am now having trouble jogging in carbide motion after configuring LB. I can home and rapid position, but can’t jog (from either the wireless Rii, wired keyboard or on screen mouse clicks). Do you think the two are related? Thanks.
id try restarting the system, i don't have that issue.
@@MyersWoodshop Which system? My PC?
Pc, remote and shapoko
I had the same problem. I couldn't get carbide motion to jog after homing. I fixed it by editing the two Macros like in the video, but added the $10=0 to the use laser macro, and $10=255 to the use cnc macro. I just have to remember to click the use cnc macro before closing lightburn.
Getting this error code [MSG:'$H'|'$X' to unlock]
error:9
That's normal.
Is it possible to use the macros to also set $32 and $30 and $10?
I wouldnt. I like to see the $$ console to make sure.
Great Video. I have a problem though. I bought a Jtech 2.8 and watched your video to configure lightburn. Everything went just as it did in the video until I went to type $$. Nothing happened. Then I noticed it said "waiting to connect to device" on the console. I'm stumped. The laser is not connected to the software but somehow it was connected enough to recognize my laser initially and set it up. I unable to show it connected to my device and unable to home it so I know it's not connected but it shows up on the Device list. Any recommendations might be the issue? I turned my Shapeoko and laser on and off, restarted the software (Lightburn and CarbideMotion) Any feedback from anyone would be helpful. Thanks for the great content.
does it fire when you flip the switch?
@@MyersWoodshop Thanks for the reply. It turns out the reason it was not connecting is because I had Carbide Motion open and already using the port. I was not aware that those two would interfere with each other but I'm up and running now. Thanks for the quick response.
Have you seen a cover for the Jtech Laser driver anyplace?
no. he may make a 3d printed one.
My laser sticks way outside my shapeoko 16’’ workspace any offset settings to fix this issue? If so where? Thx !
I no longer have the jtech so I'm not sure.
May be a bit late but see the Macro button setup in this video and reduce the Y value by the amount your laser sticks out.
My machine is connected To lightburn, But the when I turn the laser on I can't change the power Or turn it off Within lightburn. It's just stuck at full power.
Turning the laser on meaning on the controller board with the key and switch.
There’s a switch on it, one side is just full power and the other (which is what you want it on) is controller board controlled.
@@MyersWoodshop is it that little switch between the two green LEDs and the key hole?
Yes
So I just got the 7w and just went through and set all the settings as above. When I hit use laser macro it goes to busy and stays there. It's been sitting "busy" for 20 min. Cant move or anything. Also is the laser power 255 for all jtech or just the 4w. As I said I have the 7w will my numbers be higher? I tried to test fire and I get no beam.
Do you get a beam when you hit the manual switch for fire on the control board? Should be the same for 7w, 255 is the same.
@@MyersWoodshop wheres that. And I've got the code to work if I manually input it in the input bar but not the macro button.
Hey Ben, great video as always. I downloaded the free trial from Light Burn but it never said how much the cost of the program was. Also is there something more that is required to purchase from them like any hardware or components for installation? Thank you.
i think its $50 a year.
Hi Myers I have J-tech 3.8 W, how did you get that thin beam ? Mine is rectangle
your focus must be off.
You have to re-input the config to go back to lightburn each time?
yes
So how long did it take you to set this up the first time.And are the instructions just for the Shapeoko. Are they written or in tutorial form
JTECH has the written instructions on their site. It took me maybe 15 minutes to set it up the first time.
A question, on the setup you established inches. But after doing the macros etc and you test movement, it's setup in mm?
I'm a dork and edited two videos and missed some stuff so i went back and spliced some stuff it. Initially I started with MM but Inches is much easier....but it's still personal preference.
@@MyersWoodshop lol thats okay it still helped me out
is this all still valid as of 4/20 with the latest lightburn?
it should be close!
Is the $30=255 value the same for a larger laser? I just bought a 7W laser from Jay. Thank you in advance for your response.
-Cody
Yes
@@MyersWoodshop Thanks! Now all I gotta do is figure out how to make it fire! Yikes. . .
I did everything in your video, still no luck.
@@Cadence_MFG I am now having that same problem, did you happen to figure out what was wrong. I can turn the manual mode on and the laser will turn on full power. But I cannot get the laser to fire using the button, and it will not come on while the program is running.
@@nicholaspv I'm having the same problem... Did you figure it out? Thanks
@@rickdel73 I did. There is one hook up on the board that can be hooked up upside down, it is the power and ground. I had them switched. There is more detail, let me see if I can find the steps and paste them, but for the most part if you go back to the install steps and find where the power ground is hooked up there is a note that says which way to hook them up. I missed it 3 times.....