<p>I have a Reprap Guru Prusa i3 v2 3D printer. To this I added a 5.5 W laser that I purchased online. The board of my 3D printer is an Arduino Mega 2560 board with Ramp 1.4.</p>

<p>I have connected my laser power to the 12 V power supply on the board and the PWM pin to D4 pin on the Ramp 1.4 board. I am now able to control the laser with <code>M42 P4 S0</code> (turn off) and  <code>M42 P4 S255</code> (turn on).</p>

<p>I have not had any success is being able to burn a grayscale image. Everything I am burning just looks like random strokes. also nothing is ever grayscale. The laser always runs at full power. Here is what I believe my issues are:</p>

<ol>
<li>The software I am using is not adding the <code>SXXX</code> to control the PWM (I am using Inkscape with <code>Raster 2 Laser Gcode generator</code> plugin.</li>
<li>Maybe I'm not using the software correctly</li>
<li>I've tried using LaserGBRL but could never get it connected and I have no idea if my Arduino supports GBRL.</li>
</ol>

<p>My Questions:</p>

<ol>
<li>How do I properly control the power output of my laser for burning grayscale images.</li>
<li>Is there a "good" software that you would recommend for a beginner?</li>
</ol>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-23T06:28:38.457Z
Please add a picture as an example which part should have been "gray scale", also post a snippet of the G-code. Why don't you make a test file of a hatched square and print that at various values of "gray scale" or laser power. It looks as though your "slicer" doesn't produce alternative power settings.
0scar
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-23T06:31:55.393Z
Please [edit] your second question, it is unclear which software you mean, I guess you mean the equivalent of a "slicer" not firmware. Note that this is a highly opinionated question, so it could be beneficial to ask this differently.
0scar
<prusa-i3><marlin><ramps-1.4><laser>
Grayscale laser engraving with Ramp1.4
codeNinja
# Grayscale laser engraving with Ramp1.4

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-05-23)

I have a Reprap Guru Prusa i3 v2 3D printer. To this I added a 5.5 W laser that I purchased online. The board of my 3D printer is an Arduino Mega 2560 board with Ramp 1.4.

I have connected my laser power to the 12 V power supply on the board and the PWM pin to D4 pin on the Ramp 1.4 board. I am now able to control the laser with `M42 P4 S0` (turn off) and `M42 P4 S255` (turn on).

I have not had any success is being able to burn a grayscale image. Everything I am burning just looks like random strokes. also nothing is ever grayscale. The laser always runs at full power. Here is what I believe my issues are:

1. The software I am using is not adding the `SXXX` to control the PWM (I am using Inkscape with `Raster 2 Laser Gcode generator` plugin.
2. Maybe I'm not using the software correctly
3. I've tried using LaserGBRL but could never get it connected and I have no idea if my Arduino supports GBRL.

My Questions:

1. How do I properly control the power output of my laser for burning grayscale images.
2. Is there a "good" software that you would recommend for a beginner?

**Tags:** prusa-i3, marlin, ramps-1.4, laser

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Please add a picture as an example which part should have been "gray scale", also post a snippet of the G-code. Why don't you make a test file of a hatched square and print that at various values of "gray scale" or laser power. It looks as though your "slicer" doesn't produce alternative power settings.  
> **username_1**: Please [edit] your second question, it is unclear which software you mean, I guess you mean the equivalent of a "slicer" not firmware. Note that this is a highly opinionated question, so it could be beneficial to ask this differently.  

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## 0 answers

