Magic Z example

Hi

I have built a couple of spindle machines using Linux CNC and I'm ready to start testing my new laser machine build. I have a 100 watt CO2 on a 5' x 5' XY machine I built. There is a manually controlled Z axis that I can use for focusing and moving the head out of the way but LinuxCNC does not control that axis. I would like to use Z depth in my gcode to control laser power.

Can anyone please point me to an example of how to use Magic Z or better yet variable Z depth to control power for my laser? Right now it is just manually controlled but that is limiting. I have found mentions of magic Z on several sites but have never found a description of how that is enabled.

Thanks
Jeff

Did you find this?
github.com/bjj/2x_laser

Yes I found that one. It mentions Magic Z and also discusses how they do raster but it seems very complicated. Then again all the ones I found either fall into the "just mentions magic Z" case or "wow that is really complicated". That's is what has me worried. It seems that you should be able to proportionally scale pwm control of the laser power based on the Z depth alone. Say 1" = 100% or something like that so you set .5" and get 50% power. Then image to gcode would work to raster and you can set a depth that correlates to the laser power you want when you cut and vector. Maybe it is much more complicated than I think. If it was that simple someone would have done it and it would be common.

Thanks for the reply.

Awesome. Found it.

I have searched but knowing your user name made the difference.

"There is no magic in machines." - I try to explain that to my managers every day.

Thanks!