You are an absolute lifesaver with all these 3018 videos. Need to watch every one of them.

I've just spent about 6 hours doing so much of this on my system, only to find you have this channel.... well, I am a believer! Wonderful to find you, and thanks so much for making my life this much easier.

I have to say you do an excellent job of explaining setting up the 3018 pro. I watched your video in setting up the router portion of 3018, and I learned a lot from it. You’ve managed to instruct others in setting up both machines as simple as possible.

Honestly cant thank u enough m8. I just bought this machine and it is amazing for the price but could have been very confusing to understand without your videos. your links have been more than helpful and I am now ready to do the tests needed to help me produce its best work possible.

Thank you for this video!! And that tip at the end about $32= value was a life saver. I just happened to do a job on a painted tile and had those lines. I had no idea why.... until now. Thank you!!!

Quite simply the best videos on setting up a 3018. Thanks so much. A lot of great information jammed in these videos. So many headaches and troubles have been put to the wayside.

Genmitsu 3018 and a laser module just like the one you're showing. it didn't initiate, didn't run the fan or fire the laser... turns out the order of wires in the control board is different from the module. The Genmitsu is 12+, PWM, Gnd and the head is 12+, Gnd, PWM. I found the correct end of the connection wire for the head (color coded), and rewired the other end by pressing down on the terminals in the white terminal block with the tip of a knife and shoving/pulling them out, then ordered them by color coding to match the labels on the terminal receptacle on the board. Now it works.

Followed your tutorial and had no issues at all James. Cheapie 2.5mw laser works well. With your test files, I found that the laser will do what I want at max 60% power with speed at 800 to 900 using MDF.

Plummers tape on the threads does a nice job of keeping it in place...cheers!

As a newbie to Laser Engraving, this video was excellent. Thank You. (As an aside, as an ex-pat from the UK 54 years ago, it was nice to hear your accent again!)

hi James. Thanx a lot for fine videoes. I am an headteacher at a secondary school in Odda-Norway. We have a makerspace in our school and have recently bought a cnc machine High-Z-s400 . I am just readin myself up on the instructions but your videoes have allready opened my eyes to know where to start. Thanx.

You are amazing, I bought my machine few months ago and since that time I tried to find out how I can use it and I couldn't to be honest. after I saw your videos I was able to use it for the first time :) Thank you and keep going please, I am your fan :)

This tutorial is super useful. Thanks

Best help, Best advice, I was able (FINALLY) to use my 3018 . Thank you So much James, you are the best.

This video made setting my laser so easy. What started out as itimidating turned out to be quite easy thanks to you!! I have been watching a lot of your videos on cnc machines and you made those easy as well. Thank you so much for making great instructional videos for beginners like me.

Excellent video. I appreciate this and think that running the laser at 70 to 80 percent was one of the most important points.

I appreciate you taking the time to explain how to set the laser up. You were easy to follow and also provided the necessary documentation files to calibrate this laser as well! You have conveyed a level of confidence to me! Thanks more that you know!

After 4 days of search at google, you got all my ansearws . Thanks for sharing your knowleage

What helps a lot for focusing your laser is to focus ur focus on a black copy( comes out completely black. I used this method with a ND: YAG, pulsed lasr. just open the scan platten and leave open. Start a scan of the printer. A copy/scan on the paper will black. Turn laser down, place black paper in lasers path and wala... you can really fine tune the focus.

Super! Tutorial is great! I have my CNC 3018 Pro-M with laser 7W! I think you are good at setting my laser! I'm from Germany 🇩🇪! Thank you Mr James! 😁😉👍🏻

Thank you so much! This will save me a lot of time, and save my head from over zealous head scratching.

Hi James im setting up a sovol 5W laser on my 3018c cnc yur you tube tutorial is absolutly spot on. when in laser grbl you set up the importation of command from the c drive.my C drive does not display these special commands. another thing is that my laser is constantly on and obviously burns the plywood by the time i get to set up

Thanks Mr. James, I have been watching your 3018 videos and have gotten a lot of good info. I have the same 3018 pro.

thank you so much for such a clear and concise video

as a newby to 3018 s i was so pleased to find your channel please keep em coming . i was sitting on the fence with should i shoudnt i ?? but your videos gave me the confidence to have a go. ended up getting one and now following vids to try and create a photo. well done thank you

Excellent videos.I really struggled with the supplied manuals but these are brilliant, clear and explain absolutely everything. Nice work!

Great tutorial! Every one that I have watched has helped greatly. On this tutorial where you added the custom buttons I had a slight problem. Following the tutorial I clicked on the 2 second laser fire button and nothing happened..... tried the laser on button and again nothing.... perfect- all this work on the machine getting limit switches and homing function working and I end up with a bad laser! Itried one more thing entering the gcode directly. The laser came on as it should... so not the laser- figured it had to be the gcode in the custom button. Right click on the button and choose edit button- the laser is called out using M3, but has no power indicated- leaving it essentially off.... by making that line of code read M3 S50 and then saving it both buttons work as they should now. Again- Thanks for the great tutorials!

Thanks, i thought before it needs additional accesories for the laser as i've seen from other videos, but this is an eyeopener for me.

A perfect post! Very helpful as I add a laser to my home grown DIY CNC machine. The video and the links in the description were a one stop shop for everything I needed. Thanks!

A very helpful starter guide. I just go my laser and am ready to switch. $32 here I come.

Great video, thanks so much. I was struggling with my variable focus laser and your suggestion to put some teflon tape on the threads was fantastic. Was able to get it focused and it stayed focused. I had given up on getting it to work reliably.

Just a little FYI, I did some research and the 15W diode lasers have an optical output of approximately 4.5W - 5W. 4.5W of output power from these diodes is frankly astonishing given how cheap they are.

I found this video while troubleshooting my new laser. It was very helpful because everything seemed right but my laser would not fire under software control. I discovered the 3 wire connector was mismatched. 12V wire was correct but Gnd and TTL were crossed. Lesson: just because the connecter plugs in it doesn't guarantee it's wired correctly :/ This is a very clear and concise video. *****

Thank you very very much!!! Your video is great and well exposed. I've just bought a 3018 machine and I will follow your gudes. Ciao Enrico

Superb explanation! Could have done with this from day one. Thanks very much, time to start tinkering!

1st for the mame... 2nd, yes, I have a CNC, of course! Thanks for the great video!

Thank you so very much, that was informative, simple useful and enjoyable - Thank you once again, James

Great video, many things are covered.

I was totally waiting for this video! Thanks so much!

Huge thanks man! Very awesome video! Already waiting the logo episode.

Super tutorial Mr. James!

Thanks for the suggestion but i turned on continue power an solved the problem

Thank you very much for great information

Thanx a lot for such a good video. Greetings from Germany :-)

Thanks for the great explanations and useful hints!

What a brilliant video thank you

Well that was Amazing ! Don't know what my wife will say if I buy one though ! Jim

Excellent tutorial, thank you.

just bought the 40w in 15w out laser and will be arriving tomorrow. my 3018 came with the 500 mw and i couldnt believe i could actually do anything with a half watt laser. from what ive heard and seen you dont want the focal point exactly on the surface you want 1-1.5mm below the surface.

Brilliant video.

The best video

Great video!

excellent video. very good job!

Thank you i sent you a donation wish it was more I’m trying to get a laser up and running but first going to watch more of your videos you should wright a book...

Cheap diode laser modules are often advertised for their power consumption not their optical laser power. Lot of others just claim optical power but advertise pulse power. Proper companies advertise all specifications. That is 15 Watt hence around 2.5 Watt optical continues power. That's also dangerous serious laser module. To have 15 Watt optical power you would need 2 diodes or even 3 diodes. Currently, for example, strongest cheaper proper module utilizes 2 diodes and makes 12 5 Watt optical pulse power and continuous 11 Watt. But fir long jobs they recommend 9 Watt power level. This module consumes 40 Watt electricity to make those 9 to 12 Watt optical power. I own 7.5 Watt, 20 Watt and 30 Watt modules. But that 30 Watt is electricity consumption number and optical its 7.5 Watt max pulse power and like 6 Watt continues optical power.

Hello James, thank you for sharing your knowledge , really really helpful. Quick question , for the speed tests, do we have to change any settings when trying out with other files ?

A very nice run through of all the important stuff. I was hoping you'd talk a bit about the adaptive power level (M4 command) that Laser-GRBL uses, because I can't figure out why it makes the G code it does, and I get very inconsistent results with the same power settings in different render modes. Anyway, I have a variable focus module and I figured it would be sensible to set the distance quite long, mainly so that surface level fluctuations would have less effect, but also for smoke reasons. But seeing that yours is set to 20mm - by people who presumably know more than me, I'm wondering if my reasoning is not so sensible ? I feel I should say that MDF (that's what you say you are cutting) supposedly gives off particularly bad gasses when burned, I'm lead to believe much worse than normal wood. I think that maybe deserves a bit more of an emphasis. I do like all those test plots though, very useful resources that are kindly made available - already downloaded them. A tip for people trying to make their laser come on - if your laser has a separate "power supply" module, there is probably a switch on both the laser module and the power supply module. Make sure the laser is mounted safely pointing at something non-shiny before you start hitting the various ON buttons.

Thank You!

my next 3018 PI4 CNC upgrade. know this was coming=]

and thank you for these videos helping me tons!

Thank you!

Good video, I think it would be just a little better if you made the pionter black and made the size bigger so you can see thing better.

Thanks Thanks Thanks !!!! Very Very Goood.... !!!! Have you some Advises Regarding the Power of used Lasers/Materials ?

Thanks!

your vlogs are very useful. Thank you. Can you make a video to compare 3018 max pro laser 5.5W vs sculpfun s9?

Just finished building my new 3018 cnc machine using your video. It was great and when I do my amazon review of the machine I will recommend they forget the "instructions" included and just follow your video. I had also ordered a laser from Amazon but it Wound up not fitting. I tried to look at the pictures in this video to see what you used, but couldn't tell. Could you possibly email me a link to the one you used. I will keep looking. Thanks for the great videos. I have already watched about 6.

Awesome stuff. BTW, SainSmart laser modules are discontinued. It just happens I'm shopping for a diode laser module for my Vevor 3018 Pro. I haven't been able to see any of those 20W 4-diode setups like on the xTool D1 Pro yet.

James ,love all your tutorials can you recommend a laser cnc for cutting plywood up to 5mm. The market is a bit confusing. Thanks

Amazing videos tanks you very much, i don’t have the spindle settings in my g code the $30 that you changed does not show in my settings

Ok, so I finally managed to get my 3018 to home to the bottom left corner of the plate after moving my limit switches and inverting the X axis, but I can't figure out how to tell LaserGRBL, or Lightburn, that the zero point has been reset. The only time I can get anything to work is when I move into the -X and -Y space, but I can't get the software to put anything in that space. I need to either update a setting or make software changes and I can't figure out which is the case. Help please!

Please, Make rubber stamp engraving tutorial video with GRBL software by CNC3018 Pro.

Thank you so much! :D

Nothing to say ...........................Perfect

Link to Grahams guide doesn’t work

All of your videos are so informative and well presented. I've upgraded the bed to 3040, cut my spoilboard, it is surfacing now and just looking at the laser setup that will arrive tomorrow. I have one question that I have not seen addressed. If I have an MDF spoilboard and want to clean cut through my project what can I put between the spoilboard and the workpiece to prevent the laser from setting the spoilboard on fire??

Is it possible to cut copper foil with this type of laser?

Thanks bro

Do you have a video showing how to install the laser head into a masuter pro?

Also the Laser Mode button is missing.

Great tutorial and very good video editing by the way! That first laser you showed at 1:50 looks a lot cheaper than the version at 4:28.

Hi, having some weird results from your laser test files and wondered if you had any ideas. I did the GRBL tuning as per your previous video and it went fine and I did some carving with no problems. I then ran through this laser set up video and again the the focusing section went as planned. When I ran the test filed however this is when things started to go wrong. The lower test 800 and 900 went fine but way to dark so I went up to 1200 and the laser doesn’t do the vertical lines and just burns a series of ‘blobs’ where the fill sections should be and where the darker fills are it just sits there and burns burns burns and then when it does the numbers it just does 12 and not 1200. Any ideas? Thanks Malcolm

I have set my laser up but it on engraves on the outward x axis have I missed something

Im doing PCBs by burning off black acrylic paint from my copper board and after a couple of good result I noticed that there is blurred contour that is forming around curved edges which was not there on the first boards. My software is Lightburn and I use 2.5% overscan, 10% power 1000mm/s speed. With more power there seem to be more blurred edges. It is as if the led started to fade out approaching the edge instead of sharply turning off. Did any of you had this issue? I just remembered that I have updated Lightburn recently... I must check of there is a new setting somewhere about it.

Your videos are so good for helping the beginner. Could you (or anyone else) please tell me where to download the tests from. I don't have any in my LaserGRBL programme. Thank you

I stumbled a little, I put my laser on using the eye logo/ button and the laser will not stay on, stays on for around 5s? Any clues to why?

Thank you for all your hard work. I am new to the lasers and when I run the test. The Laser comes on and moves but nothing burned on wood any suggestions? Please keep the great content coming.

yay lots of good in this vid :)

James Im a newby to this and have followed your instructions BUT, it appears my CNC is not moving in the Z axis when running your configuration test programs. My laser is a variable focus so Ive set it as best I can. When running the speed test it burns the single dots but the lines are all on top of those same dots. Any ideas ??? Z axis has been enabled in LaserGRBL settings and works manually

thanks again...great instructive video.

Great video well explained. My oly problem is my laser not burning... need help. What am i doing wrong...

Hello James, I have been viewing all of your videos regarding setting up my Foxalien 20w Laser and I downloaded Grahams Files and tried running the Laser Focus Test and for some reason most times it doesn't turn the laser on and also watching the indicating in LaserGRBL it seems to get stuck on the second line at the bottom and the rest of the lines are over top of this one. The longer lines at the top going as expected, without the laser coming on of course. I can Manually activate the laser with the buttons, so I know my power and connections are correct. Any idea how I can resolve this?

Hello. I have the CNC 3018 machine. How do you change the settings in console from engraver to laser engraver please.... Jay

Working on an vector image in LASRGRBL. Seems to jump around the image and does not systematically engrave nearest line....wastes a lot of time for a simple image. Any suggestions to "nearest neighbor" or whatever.

HI i have connected my laser to softwear but for some reason there is no movement to laser any advice please

Can someone help me figure out why the tests come soooo small. The laser looks like is "printing" for ants. What i am doing wrong?

What could be the reason for my laser not turning on when starting the job? -20w FoxAlien -LaserGRBL -Laser Focus Test I have imported the extra menu buttons and can turn the laser on/off with the 'eye' icon and do the '2sec' test (although it is more of a half second). The first line test I ran worked as expected but the laser isn't coming on for the rest. I got it to come on by clicking the 'laser mode on' button but even that has failed a number of times and the laser goes through the motions but no beam. Any ideas?

My laser that came with the machine is different than yours. It is black, and it doesn't have an on/off button on top. It is a wheel that turns up the power of the laser. The computer doesn't seem to have any control of the laser. I can turn the wheel, and the laser turns on, but the computer can't control it. I have the 1.1f version. The $32=1. The wires are connected correctly, i think? The connections are not marked on the laser but are on my control board. What am i doing wrong?

Hi james . The laser doesn't switch on I bought a 12 v 450nm/2500mw Laser . I'm using Laser grbl with V1.1 controler. What could be the problem

how this focal and speed test move to linuxcnc, and what laser u use, TTL or PWM how connect. ttl and pwm.

I have a problem, my laser won't turn on when I was trying to calibrate it, can someone help me please