Hello,
I have a Boss 2436 laser. I purchased the 160 degree camera and have it mounted to my lid in a housing. It seems no matter what I do the alignment is always off. I don’t think my camera is moving because it’s in the housing. I really want this to work but I’m having a great deal of trouble.
A few more specifics would be useful here - In what way is it off, and by how much? (for example, it’s always 5mm too low, or it’s always about 10% bigger than it should be, or … ?)
Can you post a screen shot of the preview from the camera feed?
With the camera setup, calibrated and working you could hit a spot to sub millimeter accuracy. Actually it is amazing, hope the guys can get you up and running. Your screen shot does not look to be in focus though have you focused the camera.
Well, this is not what we want. LightBurn should not crash. Do you receive a crash report or message when this happens? We definitely want and need to see that. Please send any crash reports to support at lightburnsoftware dot com with a description of what you were doing at the time of the crash. We will want to see if we can reproduce so the more details the better.
No, we do not. LightBurn is a very small team supporting a relatively large user base. We have to be very efficient with our time to do this. Keep firing away here and we will help to get this sorted.
I think it is the wrong angle of the lens for the installation height on the laser.
160 ° 24x36 = at least 17.5 inches away from the table, I think yours is at least 25 inches or higher.
I moved my camera lower as someone suggested and it definitely helps with seeing my substrate. I recalibrated the camera after the move. I did have success on my first try with a name in the middle of a square. So then I decided to try this. Photo 1 is the actual spot that it started to engrave. Photo 2 is how I lined it up in light burn.
When using the camera, set the focus height first, then click Update Overlay, never the other way around - the top of the material has to be at the same height as the material when you did the camera alignment process.
The only thing that affects camera alignment is movement of the camera. In your case, the alignment appears to only be off in the vertical direction, which would be along the hinge line, meaning your lid isn’t opening to the same place every time. Even a single degree of difference can mean a huge amount off for the camera. If you can put some kind of hard stop in place, or some other way to know that the lid is stopping in the same (exact) place every time, that will help.
Hi,
I’ve repositioned my camera to 25in and mounted it very securly, I really don’t think its moving. Also, My lid seems to open and close the same way. I have a Boss 2436 if that helps. I have the 160 degree camera which I now think is not right for mu size bed 900x600. I started completly over today. I did the lens calibration and alignment. I am very close but it’s still off. Do you think I another degree camera would help?
Did you notice on the camera window you can tweak it. Draw an x on a piece of wood with a marker then update the display overlay and try to engrave an x on top of your pen drawn x. Then move the x shift and y shift in the camera window. Worked for me at any rate was able to literally engrave on the top of a pin with that method. Not sure if that is the 100% correct way though
Are you setting the material to the proper focus height before you update the overlay? You have to - the top of the material has to be at the same height as the material you ran the ‘Calibrate Alignment’ job. Also, I’m assuming that you aren’t changing your focus height, correct? As in, you’re not changing the lens tube height, but setting focus using the bed height.
Can you please explain in setting the proper focus height before I update overlay. For example let’s say I’m engraving a cutting board. I put the cutting board in my machine and then I put the head to the center and click the auto focus button. Is that what you mean by setting my proper focus height? Because if that were the case you would have to calibrate it every time you changed substrates of different thicknesses right? I had to take a break from this but I’m ready to start over and try again to get this working. Please advise?
Yes. You mention Boss in your profile but you do not identify which one. The focus height for most lasers is at a fixed point in space. It is determined by the focal lens installed in your lens tube. Systems provide beds that move to accommodate different thickness material to be cut/engraved but the top of the material is always at this “proper focus height”. Once installed, a correctly focused camera will not need to be adjusted to accommodate different thickness materials.
Rick I have a Boss 2436 with a 2 in lens and maybe I’m a total idiot. I thought I was suppose to autofocus every time I put a different substrate with a different thickness? That could totally be where I’m screwing up here. Do you think that’s my issue? If so, I should focus it then go back and do a calibration again, then update my overlay and not touch the auto focus or adjust the height?
Yes, this is fine. During the auto-focus, what is happening here is the bed is moving away from the tip where the beam exits the lens tube for thicker stuff and closer for thinner things, but the top of your material will end up at the same location in space and should always be a certain distance from this tip.
Think of it this way, the properly focused height is the top of your material. You are moving the bed to give room for the rest of the object to fit inside your laser. The top is always the top and should be the same distance from the tip. You are only moving the base support (the bed) for your material so that the top stays at the properly focused height.
HP series, with a Trocen controller, or LS series with a Ruida controller? (that’s the important part here). The HP series has a variable height laser head that it uses to focus, and the LS series moves the Z table up & down to focus. The ideal situation is the Z table.