

- #Lightburn camera with autofocus upgrade
- #Lightburn camera with autofocus code
- #Lightburn camera with autofocus Bluetooth
#Lightburn camera with autofocus code
The source is available here but be warned it is a horrible mess of gaffa taped code written for a project that could never be more than an interesting hack. The project was written using C# and Brian Peeks Wiimote Lib, which made it incredibly easy to connect to the Wiimote using just a few lines of code. The result is a laser cutter that has the ability to remain in focus throughout the duration of a cut. The Arduino controller is the same as we have used on previous projects to control the Z axis. The laptop sends data to an arduino that is connected between the laser cutters onboard Leetro controller and the Z axis stepper motor driver.

The location data is fed back to a laptop and by comparing this point against the initial 'in focus' point we're able to detect if the Z axis needs to move up or down and by how much. The cutting laser on a laser cutter is an infrared beam, as it cuts through the surface of the material there is a moment where it is reflected off the material and the Wiimote is able to detect the location of the cut.
#Lightburn camera with autofocus Bluetooth
The hardware automatically identifies these points and feeds back XY positions through a bluetooth connection. The Nintendo Wii Remote has an optical camera in it that is used to detect up to four points of infrared light. A camera mounted in the head of the laser detects a laser dot being shone onto the surface of the material and from there it can determine how far the lens needs to be adjusted to set the focal height for the correct cutting distance. Narrow doesn’t work on Mac, etc.We were inspired by the Glowforge laser cutters ability to continuously autofocus it's z axis. In this case, you might want to consider using a larger lens angle like a 120 or 140 degree, and mounting it lower so that it still sees your bed without too much wasted space around the edges.Īlternatively, you can get an 8mp camera - since it has a larger sensor, more light gets in, and there is no problemįind the one with the least dead space.

If you have a larger machine and the calculator is showing that the 60 or 90 can see your bed, but you would have to mount it pretty high, that can have a negative impact on resolution and the camera would not clearly see your bed. The 60 and 90 degree lenses on the 5mp camera do not let a lot of light in. In our camera intro video you can see that the 5mp, 140 degree works well on a common generic 700x500 red and black laser, but it depends on how much alignment accuracy you are looking for and whether you want to spend the little bit extra to get the 8mp. We’ve found that the around 700-900mm of bed size (the larger of the 2 dimensions) is typically where the 8mp’s increased resolution becomes noticeable. This info from what I’ve been working on writing may help explain the reasoning why: More cameras are in transit to us and should be restocked within a week. 8mp N - 75 has the least wasted space, but the N (narrow) models do not work on Mac.

#Lightburn camera with autofocus upgrade
In short, below are reasons why the 5mp-60 may not work well for you (your machine is big enough and you’re going to mount it pretty high up), so you should upgrade to 8mp.
