Put on your laser safety glasses for this section!
Let’s perform a quick test to make sure the LaserBeam fires up.
Turn on your LaserBeam driver. Refer to the section Turning Driver On to make sure you successfully power it on.
Navigate to the Spindle/Laser tab at the bottom of the screen and select “SLB_LASER” in the dropdown list. After this, flip the toggle at the top to “Laser Mode.”
Ensure your power is set to 1% and your “Test Duration” to 1 second. Now when you hit the “Laser Test” button your diode should momentarily emit a faint beam. This means that it is controlling your laser successfully!
Successful laser test!
If the laser testing didn’t go as expected, check your wiring and DIP switches, and review the instructions for setting up and turning on your driver. Below you can find Chris’s video that quickly runs through how to set up the LaserBeam (or a generic PWM laser) for the SLB using gSender, along with troubleshooting tips.