Controller beeps and says finished instead of actually doing the job

I just found the answer to my problem of distorted burn yesterday. The “Lightburn Software Documentation” said to change the “PWM rising edge valid” setting. That worked great. Did two burns perfectly. Today though I booted up the computer and tried to run a job but the controller just beeped and said finished. Oddly, files that have been saved in the controller prior to today burn fine when initiated from the controller. Files saved today show up fine on the screen but won’t run.
Things I have tried: changed the PWM settings back, tried it from Lightburn on another computer and deleted Lightburn and reloaded it.

Is it possible that your storage on the controller is running low? Try deleting some files.

Sounds like not a LightBurn issue if it’s behaving the same on both computers.

Are you using “Send” or “Start” to initiate the job. If using send, try start as this uses a temporary file that gets overwritten.

If that doesn’t work, try transferring an RD file using a USB drive.

hello perhaps is not the problems you have, but when i was starting to use lightburn, i have accidentaly disactive the color layer to burn and have the same answer by the computer

Thanks for the prompt suggestions. Update I found the answer- It fails when set to “Absolute Coordinates”. “User Coordinates” or “Current Position” works fine. I don’t know why but this could help someone else.

Glad you’re back in business but it seems like both this fix and the previous PWM fix are simply masking a more fundamental problem or set of problems which are likely to pop up again in unpredictable ways. There’s no fundamental reason why absolute coords should not work and if it does not work, there’s something fundamentally wrong.

This is how superstitions start and soon you’ll be making goat sacrifices.

I guess that’s what I get for building my own machine. I started with a small GRBL hobby several years ago. That progressively malfunctioned worse and worse till it died. I purchased upgraded motors transformer and controller from Light Object. I think I bought the motor drivers on Amazon. That didn’t work much better. I returned the controller 3 times but it still was unstable. After a year they said my warrantee was up so I ended up tossing it and purchasing a Ruida (a much better unit). I’ve always had trouble with the unit staying within the small work area. The limit switches don’t stop the travel so I am careful to center and size the work and I can’t let it go home. I don’t understand all the terms and settings but I am saving thousands of dollars over other other Ruida class machines. I would love to find a good comprehensive book on setting up a DIY machine. I just make embossing stamps for pottery now but I would like to upgrade to etching glass in the near future. I guess that takes at least 40W.
I don’t think I would ever hurt a goat on purpose but I do have a mean pit bull next door I may be sacrificing soon.

I have a special appreciation for DIY builds. Sounds like yours has some quirks as all machines do.

I’ve seen a number of videos with fairly comprehensive DIY builds but can’t recall a specific one using a Ruida controller. There are people on here that have done this. @MichMich is one who’s done this recently and he’s documented part of his journey here.

I’m sure there are folks on here that would be willing to help you with tuning if you can break down your specific issues one at time into digestible or related pieces. You’ll need to provide good context since you’ve got a completely custom solution.

Hi @dzane3, as @berainlb mentioned I’ve recently finished my DIY build which includes a Ruida controller. The issues you mention are indeed related to your homing problems. Without homing the machine doesn’t know it’s absolute coordinates and can therefore not work on an absolute position.

I recognize the issue of not getting the homeswitches to work. It took me a while as well to get everything configured correctly. The weird Chinese translations aren’t helpful and if you have an non standard origin position, things are even more confusing.

I would highly recommend taking some time to fix the issue. Of course you can leave it as it is and use a somewhat crippled machine. And you can even throw some money at it to buy a new machine. In the end you probably help yourself the most if you manage to fix the issue. Of course it’s all up to you what you choose to do. :slight_smile:

Now for solving the issue. I first recommend checking if your endstop switches are working. Go to the Ruida diagnostics screen, hold one of your switches and refresh the status indicators, or even simpler, check the LED’s on your Ruida controller.

When you are sure the switches work, test them again by manually moving the laser head towards the endstops. You want to be sure the laser head is able to activate the endstops.

If you are 100% positive the endstops work mechanically and electrically it’s time to configure your axis. Now granted, this is the difficult part. To keep things simple, focus on one axis at a time.

In the axis configuration screen for the specific axis you are trying to configure (let’s say you start with the X axis) make sure “enable home” is on. For all the other axis make sure it’s off.

Now if you made changes and saved them, and then reset your machine, that axis will start homing. Before the head reaches the limit switch, manually trigger the switch by pressing it with your hand (of course make sure your hand doesn’t get stuck in between the mechanical moving parts). If the head stops, your limit switch is working. If it continues to move. Press escape to cancel homing before it reaches the endstop. In this case it isn’t working and you need a configuration change.

If the laser head was moving in the wrong direction, homing failed too. In that case you also need to make a configuration change.

Now for the actual configuration options. For every axis there are 3 options that you can toggle: dir polarity, keying polarity and homing polarity. Of course you could try to figure out what all of those three mean. And you probably will find that out while changing the values. But in the end there are three options with two possible values (true or false). So there are 8 combinations you can try:

false, false, false
false, false, true
false, true, false 
false, true, true
true, false, false
true, false, true
true, true, false
true, true, true

If you can’t wrap your head around the configuration options, simply try all of the 8 combinations above. One of those combinations will work for your machine. Just write down or print the list above and start striking them away when they don’t work until you found the right one.

If you manage to get one axis working, continue with the next axis. Take the same steps until everything works. Now if you turn on your machine it should start with the homing procedure and when that’s done your Ruida should say x:0, y:0 on screen. (In stead of 10000 when it’s not homed)

If your max dimensions (breadth in the config screen) are configured correctly (on your machine and in lightburn) you should be able to use absolute coordinates.

Keep in mind that you might need to change the PWM rising edge setting (back) after these changes. But from that point on your described issues should be gone.

Good luck and feel free to let me know if you need additional help. I might have skipped over some details since I wrote this full essay on my phone. :grimacing:

FYI: I’m based in the Netherlands so I might not respond directly since I might be in a different time zone.

1 Like

Thanks for the detailed information, very helpful. I’ll print this and keep it with the machine.


My window is a little different. The limiters light up on the controller but no matter how I set polarities they won’t stop the travel.

You are using Lightburn to configure your endstops. I was referring to the Ruida controller screen. But it doesn’t really matter. You can use both. The wording is a bit different. In case of the LightBurn setting screen, the three important settings are:

- Invert keypad direction.
- Limiter Polarity
- Direction Polarity

The reason why it can be so confusing is when you have both “Invert keypad direction” and “Direction Polarity” configured incorrectly, your axis will move in the correct direction even though your axis is misconfigured.

Make sure you try all the combinations on these three values while enable homing and limit trigger are turned on.

And just to be sure: did you check your laser head is able to physically trigger your endstop?

Also, is there a specific reason why your Home offset is set to 3.625? If not, make sure it’s set to 0.

It also looks like your Max Travel is incorrect. Or is your X axis really only 18,5cm long?

For reference, these are my settings. Don’t blindly copy them because they are machine specific.
Screenshot 2022-02-01 at 09.25.36

1 Like

Thank you for your help. I found my limiter switches were wired all wrong. I can work in Absolute Coordinates now. It homes itself now without slipping on the belt and centers the drawing perfectly. Thanks again.

1 Like

Great to hear! Enjoy your machine. If you run into any other issues feel free to let me know. Cheers!

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.