I have a new Sculpfun S30 Pro Max and I am using Lightburn 1.4.03 over a Windows 11 HP Spectre X360 laptop.
The Sculpfun S30 Pro Max worked perfectly on the first two little jobs (cutting and engraving) but is now failing on every new job. A connection Lost window appears partway through any of the jobs and there does not seem to be any consistency except for the current job (a simple engraved name tag with a border cut… only managed to get it to work perfectly once) where it is engraving fine and when it switches to the cut, it disconnects. I have done all the usual things to no avail:
New USB cable (1.8 metres in length) (Actually tried two)
Dedicated circuit for the laser engraver (lucky to have one for something else so disconnected that and plugged in this)
EMI’s on both ends of USB
Moved laser power supply as far away as possible. In fact, other than the air assist in the Sculpfun next to the laser (and the enclosure itself), there is nothing closer than a couple of feet
Even tried disconnecting enclosure fan to see if it made a difference
My laptop is running Windows 11 which does not appear to have any control over the one USB slot that it has built-in. My laptop ran Windows updates a few days ago just before I set up the Sculpfun.
The current engrave/cut name tag job is small… Lightburn wants to take less than 1.5 minutes to complete the whole thing so unlikely to be a computer power issue anyway.
Another user said they also tried all these and other things (including flashing the firmware) and finally found that flashing FluidNC solved the problem.
I cannot find any instructions on how to flash FluidNC. I did manage to find the file to download at:
OK - I was a little worried about having to do this. Am quite technical but figured if my connection was being lost, trying to do an update to an onboard processor could potentially have a lost connection partway through too. I have emailed Sculpfun with a detailed explanation with console output and photo of jobs. Will await to see what they come back with.
If you’re technical then moving to FluidNC should be doable. However, I’d suggest doing so only as a last resort or if you’ve moved beyond the capability of the stock firmware.
Bottom line, your laser should be working with the stock firmware. So it’s likely not an issue with the software of the firmware itself. However, Sculpfun machines somehow often seem to have corrupted firmware scenarios.
The type of disconnect issue followed by a recycling of the controller for Sculpfun lasers is most typically caused by either an electrical issue or a firmware issue.
Here are some test scenarios that you can run to help narrow things down:
Try disconnecting the connector to the laser module. Then run a job. Does the behavior change?
If you have another suitable power supply, try swapping power supplies
When you run the job, are you actively working on your computer? If not, try being somewhat active on the computer during the duration of the burn or make absolutely sure that a screen saver or power savings is not kicking in
You indicated that the laser is on a dedicated power circuit. Is there anything at all possibly running on the same circuit or adjacent circuit that could be introducing electrical noise? A compressor or dehumidifier or anything similar that draws a large initial current could be an issue. If you have a power conditioner or UPS you could put in front of the laser that would eliminate that as a potential cause
Is your laser properly bonded and grounded? Static build-up and discharge into the USB port was a common cause of disconnects for Ortur units and others. Proper bonding and dissipation can remedy this.
You may want to test the laser using LaserGRBL. This would eliminate software as an issue.
If none of these help, I’d suggest reflashing the latest firmware from Sculpfun before attempting a FluidNC conversion. That could potentially remedy a corrupted firmware scenario.
I will respond to each of your points now and then come back after trying the ones I haven’t yet done:
What do you mean by disconnecting the connector to the laser module? Do you mean at the top of the laser head, pull that connector off and then just see if a job will run even if it is not actually controlling the laser? (Hadn’t thought to do that.)
I will dig around and see if I have something suitable in terms of another psu.
The last job I have been trying to run only takes 1.5 mins to complete and whilst I am not tapping keys, I am watching the screen. I don’t have any screen saver coming on during that short time and I forgot to say that I also tinkered with the power settings to stop them doing anything weird for the longer jobs (material tests).
The power circuit is 100% dedicated. Needed it for my kiln which is NOT plugged in at the moment. There is only one power point on that circuit. I got it installed a couple of months back. I am working in our shed and there is nothing else electrically on except for lights, a camera system, and power to an alarm pad (on different circuits) that is nowhere near where I am working and would only draw a small amount of power. I did think about putting a UPS on the line but I really do think that is clutching at straws.
Forgot to say I used a multimeter as suggested on a Youtube video to test the difference between the various frame parts and although my readings were all zero, I ran a wire between the front frame rail, the moving rail, and the laser head and re-ran the multimeter test and as would be expected, still got zero. Now this is where my electrical knowledge gets a bit thing but the power here in Australia has an earth pin so that is ok. I did place the rubber sticker things on the feet of the unit which sits on an 18mm MDF board which is the table it is on. The only other thing I can think of is literally running a wire from one of the rails to a metal pin in the ground outside but I really think if everyone had to do that, no one would sell any of these.
I will have a go with LaserGRBL although everyone else using this machine on Youtube seem to prefer using Lightburn.
I am updating an old laptop I have lying around and will install driver, LaserBRBL and Lightburn on that and give it a whirl too.
it seems like you ruled out most reasons/cases that I would have given to check.
Regarding the first question: installing FluidNC is done using their installation procedure given here: FluidNC Installation | Wiki.js I recommend trying the web installer first. After you finished installing it, you need to upload the configuration file from the wiki and then reboot the board. The configuration is used then.
As the others stated, this should not be the solution to a connection problem. Though, FluidNC is a great firmware (better than the manufacturers firmware), it should not be necessary to use it
Did you try to re-flash the firmware already? Because there are some boot messages in your console output that are usually not there. I’d first try this. The “normal” firmware file can also be found in the wiki and flashed using the MKS tool (or the new Sculpfun tool, that doesn’t matter).
I haven’t flashed the firmware yet. I am a little bit reluctant given the connection issue… don’t want it disconnecting partway through. Something else I read mentioned the new Sculpfun tool to help with flashing the firmware but I can’t locate it. I believe I found the MKS tool and I think LaserGRBL has an option too. Is there a more stable or better option out of all of these?
Thanks for pointing me to the FluidNC installation procedure. I think though, given what you and others have said, I might not go down that path now.
LaserGRBL can’t to the upload, since that is only for older versions of mainboards. The 32bit boards like yours don’t work with LaserGRBLs firmware update.
You can flash different versions of firmwares at any time, if some version is not working. There is the possibility that you brick the board, but it is very unlikely. I never managed to brick one yet, and I flashed many The firmware might not work, but then you can flash another
This version should work: https://diode-laser-wiki.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/sculpfun-S30-12-26.zip (though, export your firmware settings before, because some values are set to wrong values within the firmware, if I remember correctly, but they are mentioned in the wiki as well).
I will try that… I decided to download that iCube pack just before reading your message and found it in there. Odd given iCube is a different laser. I shall export my settings first. Thanks for the reminder. Have read that in a few places.
Tried a Windows 10 laptop with patches loaded and up-to-date Lightburn. Same issue… laser Lost Connection at the cut stage
Sculpfun came back and suggested using laserGRBL which I did with a different job - JPEG material test with some conservative settings and guess whatttttttt… a 15 minute job finished fine.
Got me thinking that maybe Air Assist had something to do with it as laserGRBL is not using Air Assist.
Ran a series of tests back in Lightburn with/without Air Assist and without Air Assist, all worked fine. As soon as Air Assist tried turning on… FAIL.
Then I wondered if the air compressor was even on or coming on. Given I had no previous experience of a working setup, you don’t know what you don’t know. When I issued an m8 in the console, the laser noise (which I wondered if it was compressor noise) stopped briefly and the moving axis jigged a bit, issuing an m9 yielded nothing. Issuing an m8 and feeling the air compressor yielded nothing. No noise from compressor unit and no vibration. I then pulled the hose off the compressor - and issued an m8 - nothing. I turned the laser off, pulled the cable from the air compressor to the laser and then reseated it, turned on, tried again but nothing.
Do I have a dud (non-working) air compressor then?
That’s interesting. And grounds enough to get hold of Sculpfun for replacement parts. To be thorough, you could try manually enabling air assist in LaserGRBL and see if you get the same problem:
Also, try disconnecting the power to the air compressor - if the air compressor is faulty that may create enough of a power fluctuation to cause the spontaneous reset that you are seeing from your controller chip.
Seems that way… or possibly a bad controller. But I’m curious why this would cause a disconnect scenario. I suppose if the air pump were shorted it could cause a current spike or voltage drop on the controller causing the connection to be lost.
In addition to what Nicholas is suggesting I’d also suggest the following:
Put a voltage meter on the air assist control pins on the controller. Test voltages for air assist on vs off. And M8 vs M9. What are the results?
How is the air pump powered? Does it get power from the controller or does it have a dedicated power supply? Are you able to turn on the air pump manually or it is only activated from the controller?
The new S30’s have a direct 12v to the air pump. The 12V is switched on and off by the controller. There is no external air pump power source. If the air pump draws excessive current, it can bloop the controller board.
This indeed sounds like a broken air pump. You can open the small box that’s integrated in the pump cable to check if the inverter looks ok. I had some cases where it blew up. Another thing could be that the pump / coils inside the pump are blocked. You can open the pump and check if it is still able to move.
Anyway, the easiest is to contact Sculpfun support (support@sculpfun3d.com) and ask for a replacement. Not sure whether they send a new pump, new board or both.
An update so far is that Sculpfun have asked me to access the laser motherboard, connect the Air Pump directly to the blue 12v connector on the board, disconnect the pipe to the Air Pump, turn it on, and video the output. Just trying to isolate whether it is the Air Pump or the board.
Oddly, the power switch started flashing and a very faint beep (in sequence with the flashing) comes from the Air Pump (but no other noise) and the barest bit of air comes out but hardly enough to be of use to anything.
I will update progress once I hear back from Sculpfun.
