• 2020 october 20: added Power and speed settings section
• 2017 december 18: Improved the smoothness of the X carriage, $110=5000 and $111=5000 for setting the max speed to 5000 mm/min in GRBL
• 2017 december 13: Added smoke blower and pimped up step drivers current, heat sink installed on Allegro chip

I'm using the machine with GRBL firmware and LaserWeb4 PC frontend instead the original EleksCAM (called somewhere Elek-SCAM )

GRBL settings used for LaserWeb and explanation.

This article is related to GRBL v1.1f (2017-08-01) Release

The setup that i've used is based on this useful wiki article: https://github.com/LaserWeb/LaserWeb4/wiki/2.1-Initial-Configuration-GRBL-1.1

Latest update of the GRBL settings: December, 12 2017

$0=10      ;Step pulse, microseconds
$1=100      ;Step idle delay, milliseconds
$3=1       ;X axis direction inverted
$10=0      ;send work coordinates in statusReport
$30=255    ;max. S-value for Laser-PWM (is referenced to the LaserWeb PWM MAX S VALUE)
$31=0      ;min. S-value
$32=1      ;Laser Mode on
$100=80   ;steps/mm in X, depending on your pulleys and microsteps
$101=80   ;steps/mm in Y, depending on your pulleys and microsteps
$102=80   ;steps/mm in Z, depending on your pulleys and microsteps
$110=5000 ;max. rate mm/min in X, depending on your system
$111=5000 ;max. rate mm/min in Y, depending on your system
$112=2000 ;max. rate mm/min in Z, depending on your system
$120=400  ;acceleration mm/s^2 in X, depending on your system
$121=400  ;acceleration mm/s^2 in Y, depending on your system
$122=400   ;acceleration mm/s^2 in Z, depending on your system
$130=390   ;max. travel mm in X, depending on your system
$131=297   ;max. travel mm in Y, depending on your system
$132=200   ;max. travel mm in Z, depending on your system
$$         ;to check the actual settings

For a reference, please read Grbl's $x=val settings and what they mean on the official GRBL wiki.

The VREF on the Allegro A4988 by factory is 0.6V, i have set the VREF to 0.82V, The motors for now are cool, but i've mounted the heat sinks on the drivers.

By using this useful thing shared by MiguelBi on Thingiverse i have attached a fan on laser module in order to blow away the smoke from the optics.

By using this useful thing shared by nottingham82 on Thingiverse I have greatly improved the smoothness of the X carriage.

• GRBL releases (pre-built HEX): https://github.com/gnea/grbl/releases
• LaserWeb binaries: https://github.com/LaserWeb/LaserWeb4-Binaries
• Useful video about GRBL + LaserWeb on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psnbSPrdy0I&feature=youtu.be
• 40 mm smoke fan blower: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2467964
• X carriage tension adjuster: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2482004
• How to buy: https://www.banggood.com/2500mW-A3-30x40cm-Desktop-DIY-Violet-Laser-Engraver-Picture-CNC-Printer-Assembling-Kits-p-1003863.html?rmmds=myaccout-bottom-latestwishlist&p=GX03116123132014067E&cur_warehouse=CN
• Interesting: Marco Reps mods on EleksMaker laser: Trinamic stepper drivers - SilentStepStick TMC2130