Help with making a rudia based CO2 laser open source?

Lasers
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Hi Everybody…
So; while I know a fair bit about diodes; I’ve never actually used a tube laser, I thought a ‘noob questions’ post here might help me sort my thoughts out.

One of the Amsterdam Makerspaces recently purchased a GBOS GH960 laser cutter from the people that origiinally operated it there. They are now trying to get it up and working; I got involved through an acquaintance.

The goal is to get it operational; and running on as much Open Source tech as possible. This means LightBurn is not part of this equation; VisiCut, LaserWeb, meerK40t, and others are where we are going.

The machine itself is in very good physical condition; original and undisturbed electrics, it has a brand new Chiller. It really seems to be totally ‘stock’, nobody has been making modifications to it.

Originally it was sold with a 130W tube (and a case extension to cover it), but the current tube is a 40W one, it gives a beam but it is weak. There are two ‘spare’ tubes of unknown quality (eg they may be failed tubes) in boxes that came with it.

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From my research (*) I can tell that it has a Rudia controller, I didn’t get access to see / photo it but the parts list says it is a RDC6442S (and it has the matching control panel for that). This is a nice controller; but fails the most basic of ‘open source’ tests.

This makerspace is very much against any form of propriety lock in; they want to run this via an open source toolchain.

So; what I am trying to do is come up with a plan to get it working; and provide a robust toolchain they can use.

My approach is ‘software first’; We need to find a control solution that will get it moving, homing, switching on accessories and firing the tube. Once we have proper motion control we can work on alignments, tuning and evaluating the tube(s).

So; the current question is:

  • Is it worth replacing the controller?
    • Rudia controllers use a proprietory gcode variant, I want to replace it.
    • There is a small budget available.

Can a ‘home made’ (this is a makerspace) esp32 controller + the existing stepper driver modules and FluidNC adequately run this machine?

  • I want to have a controller that speaks ‘open, documented’ GCode; we can then put a Pi in the case and offer LaserWeb on the local net for composing and sending jobs; or use pretty much any other tool via USB.
  • Having a web interface the the controller itself is very desirable too.

The alternative if we keep the Rudia seems to be VisiCut. This might also be a good solution. Does anyone here use VisiCut on a Rudia based machine?

Or am I missing a diffrent way of achieving this?

(*) GBOS have some ‘support’ but, for instance, the manuals are on dropbox… uurgh.

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Hi,

I would say YES !
It’s quite easy to pilot a ruida without the controller and to replace it with an ESP32 running fluidNC.
I made it last year on my trotec. I am sure that pretty much the same setup would run fine.
Here is the hackaday project with a lot of details inside : https://hackaday.io/project/193893-retrofitting-an-old-laser-engraver

This setup will be “Gcode” capable.
But IMHO it would be better to keep the ruida controller… Much faster much better for image engraving…

And you can try to run it without lightburn using the freeware RDWorks.
RDWorks is not open source but provided for free with Ruida controller.

Its download link is here : RuiDa Controller RDWorks Software | Best Co2 Laser Controller

So if I were you, I would give a try to RDWorks and check if the machine is running well. Then you could of course change the controller for a FluidNC one !

JP

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It’s interesting that Meerk40t can convert from ruida to gcode, but can’t actually emit ruida last I checked. Seems like the hardest work has to have been done… :thinking:

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RDWorks is Windows only, which rules it out in this space, but we have Lightburn available for testing and getting it running.

I downloaded all the documentation, once I fought my way through all the dropbox bs I discovered that it, at least, has a proper set of manuals, use, cleaning and maintenance guides, etc.

Most useful is a visual parts (identification) guide that lists proper parts numbers. I understand how the machine is put together much better now.

My impression is that the existing controller is a really good unit; apart from the closed nature. I’ll be talking to them again on Wednesday; getting the machine available is top priority so we’ll play with both LightBurn and Visicut while doing that I think.

Then… because they want this to be available for all we will go for a homebrew controller/laserweb solution.

I just spent this weekend fixing my CNC after a re-wire and spindle repair. This machine uses FluidNC so I had a chance to remind myself about how it is set up and configured.