Hey @raykholo , does either the Cohesion3D or a Smoothieware board have the option to add things like flow sensor or water temperature sensor? And can either be programmed to use those additional components or other stuff, like controlling a digital air valve on some pins? (all I would need is a HIGH/LOW signal, the valve won’t be powered by those pins)
So you have any particular sensors in mind you can show me? Depending on what the input is (if it’s a simple high/ low) then we can write some switches in config to toggle the mosfets or other gpio pins.
Personally my idea of interlocks is they should be hard wired and not software controlled
Oh I didn’t read that like it was interlocks, just some simple if this then that.
For interlocks we have some stuff in mind. @donkjr this is your territory 
@raykholo wouldn’t making a extension board that could sit on top be more effective? Like raspberry pi does with its different “hat” extensions or even the ability to layer them one on top of the other.
Not quite a hat, but a compatible board that handles the interlocks and reports back to Smoothie. That’s what we’re discussing.
@raykholo that to me would seem like a considerable option, or even having a version of the board that could utilize the processing power of the computer it’s connected to
It would be nice to be able to monitor the error via a glcd or console error but the function itself should de-energize the ability to fire completely
@Alex_Krause yepp, that’s what “reports back to Smoothie” would entail. We’re still trying to figure out a way to do it.
So right now, what I have is a secondary controller (an Arduino MEGA) that has a color LCD on it. It reads the flow meter (hall effect) as well as two digital thermometers and displays that info on the screen. That’s code I wrote myself. It does NOT interface with the laser control board and this is the part I want to change as I want it to be a single controller than can do that as it would allow for proper warnings and cutoffs. (Right now the MEGA will emit a screeching noise if something’s wrong which will get my attention, but it won’t actually stop the laser.)
Thinking bigger, I’d like to be able to turn on the air FLOW when the laser is actually working, and turn it off when it’s sitting idle. And thinking even bigger, I want to control two digital air valves (one high and another low pressure.) But in order to do that, I need to be able to control whatever pins are available for the end-user to play with.
Ultimately if the firmware is closed, this is a moot point.
Jon Bruno and I are reworking the LaserSafety System I have on github to do just what you said Alex. Should be out in January sometime. All Interlocks will be of the mechanical deenergizing type, with visual and auidble feedback via an LCD display, LED lights and a buzzer.
Okay? Because when you think about a computer already has something of a 32bit processor and with the fact that it can handle multiple programs means that like say running a series of RGB lights via the USB port while the computer would handle the processing of changing the colors of the lights via a software program. So to me it seems like it could be done.
@funinthefalls interesting idea but of course please don’t forget us Banggood gearbest laser engraving machine owners as well
@Ashley_M_Kirchner_No
Here’s the big picture points:
The Cohesion3D boards all run smoothie. Which is open source. And highly configurable just thru the config.txt file so we could totally do things like a switch module to turn on the air assist pump from a start and end gcode. And possibly tie the output of your mega as a “pause” pin to smoothie.
The mini has Mosfets that are not used in the stock laser configuration so you can use one to run a 12v DC pump like I do or a relay/ ssr for something larger.
I prefer keeping things isolated, so it’ll likely be driving relays or other custom circuitry to trigger larger loads. But from what I’m understanding, in my case, there’s probably no way to get rid of the MEGA and have the Smoothie or Cohesion run everything, including the color touch screen. That would require compiling in the screen’s library and writing code for it.
@Ashley_M_Kirchner_No I guess so, everyone is using the RRD GLCD with my boards, that’s one of several panels that Smoothie supports. No touch screens are in the list yet.
Aww mang … I like my color touch screen. 
Ok, no big loss, I can simply continue to use the MEGA as is and maybe do what you suggested, and tie it’s ALARM pin to the Cohesion/Smoothieware … This is still progress.
Cool. And as with all open source software, pull requests welcome
following you all with attention ;-))