I have an Atomstack A5 Pro + and am not able to get the system calibrated.
I have etched an object that is 60mm x 25mm and when it is done, the product is 16.25mm x 6.35mm. I have gone to Edit>Machine Settings>Calibrate Axis and put the numbers in. Click on Write, and then Write again. Same process for both And Y axis.
Shut down and restart system and then when I etch again, it is then 3 times the size of the original.
I have read the tutorial and I believe that I am doing the proper steps, but am getting frustrated with this.
Also, when I click on Get Position with the laser in Lower Left, it shows X410.00 Y400.2. This should show X0 Y0
Please help.
Thanks
Can you document your process and the values that you’re using? That way we can see if there’s a problem in any of those.
I pull up a random image into Lightburn. Set it to specific dimensions. The one above was 60mm x 25mm. I etch the image. Once completed, I make measurements. Per above, the end product was 16.25mm x 6.35mm.
I go to Edit>Machine Settings>Calibrate Axis. I select the X Axis. I change the requested distance to 60 and then change the Actual Distance to 16.25. I then select Write. I then select Write again and then OK.
I do the same process with the Y Axis.
I turn off the laser and shut down Lightburn.
Once it powers back up, I reetch. That is when the image is showing about 178mm x 73mm.
I have done this process several times and it just keeps switching from overly large, to very small. Can’t get it to actual size.
I don’t see an inherent problem with the approach. Using image may not be ideal, however, in case you have transparent portions of the image that is throwing off measurements.
Let me offer an alternative approach.
- Draw a square in LightBurn as large as can fit in your laser. The bigger the better.
- Burn the square
- Apply axis calibration for X and Y.
- This should get you to something relatively close. However, since you were so far off originally you may want to rerun the entire calibration to get closer.
A few notes:
- Make sure rotary is not enabled. This could be throwing other things off
- Can you check the values of $130 and $131 in Machine Settings or by running
$$in Console?
I will try a reburn tomorrow.
$130 = 410
$131=400
Sorry. I didn’t intend to ask for $130, $131. I really was looking for $100 and $101. Those are the relevant configurations for steps per mm which is what you are tuning.
$100=82.567
$101=73.857
Those values are very close to default 80 for both. If that’s the case then I suspect something else is going on.
Can you provide a full screenshot of LightBurn with your design loaded and ready to burn?
I haven’t done the full size yet.
What Windows do you want to see?
The discrepancy you’re talking about is something off like 4x which would be much larger than I would expect.
Is your machine stock? Have you made any modifications in terms of changes to belts, gears, motors or anything else?
This isn’t so important but if you can show the Cut and Laser windows in the screenshot that would be fine.
X is coming in at 412mm
Y is 336.55
When Y axis is going up and then coming down it tops out and bottoms out. It is hitting the “hard stops” on the laser machine.
OK, so, installation error by me. It has now been resolved.
What was the resolution? Others may benefit.
Still a bit off, so need to do a bit more adjustment.
Other question. When I select “Get Position”, with my laser in the middle of the board, why would it show X434.88 Y405.92?
I have the Job Origin set to middle, and start from is Current Position.
Have you homed the laser and never moved the laser head by hand post homing? If you’ve ever moved the head by hand or had an alarm condition the known position is compromised and will not necessarily report correctly.
I’d highly encourage you to stick to Absolute Coords until you’re very familiar with the operation of your laser and LightBurn.
LOL, I have always adjusted the head by hand because of how far off it is.
If I go with Absolute, I can still have the Job Origin set to middle, correct?
Got this message on my last Home request: ALARM:9
Homing fail. Could not find limit switch within search distance. Defined as 1.5 * max_travel on search and 5 * pulloff on locate phases.
No. Job origin is not even an available option when using Absolute Coords.
Can you describe in as much detail as possible what happens when you initiate a homing operation?
Has homing ever worked?
And what was the initial installation issue that was causing the size discrepancy? Want to make sure that’s not a factor here.
Sorry, this may be a bit wordy.
When I first built the machine, the left rail was installed upside down. When the laser would go all the way to the top, or when I would have it Home, it would end up “grinding the gears” because the stop was in the wrong spot. That is when I first started moving the laser by hand. Trying to keep it from grinding.
Currently when I hit the Home button, the laser travels to lower left and then only slight amount of grinding. That is where the error message is coming from. I have “lasered” the full area and have made calibration adjustments, but still hitting Home corner as well as upper right.