Creality 5W w/ Falcon Controller - Ender 3v2 - Homing Direction Incorrect

LightBurn Software Questions
1

Hey all, recently obtained the 5W Creality laser for the Ender 3v2. This laser came with a Falcon module, which connects to the laser itself, and X and Y motors and limit switches.

I followed Creality’s setup process with lightburn, was about to get the laser to connect appropriately, however, it attempts to home in the opposite directs of the limit switches. I’ve go through the laser set up and change from Front Left for homing (suggested by Creality), to Back Right (opposite on both axis in my mind). It appears that the Y axis homes correctly now, however, the X axis is still trying to home the opposite direction.

I checked cable connection and everything seems right, so I’m just trying to see what I’m missing.

Thanks

2

I want to make sure I’m understanding the situation.

  1. Your controller is the one from a Falcon? So GRBL based? Please confirm.
  2. The controller is attached to an Ender 3v2 frame?

How exactly did you change this? Where is the laser setup that you’re referring to?
4. Can you confirm if all jogging controls in LightBurn Move window work in the expected direction?

Can you run these commands in Console and return output:

$I
$$
$#
?
3

Hey, thank you for your response.

  1. Yes - GRBL Based

  2. Laser is attached to Ender 3v2 Frame - Falcon (GRBL) Module is connected to the X and Y motors and X and Y limit switches

  3. Bottom Right section of Lightburn, there is a “Devices” button - Clicking that opens a window for “Your Device List” and numerous buttons such as “Find my laser, Create manually, etc” - Clicking my device from the list, there is an “edit” button that becomes available. Clicking “edit”, I’m prompted with the “New Device Wizard”, which allows me to pick said device (GRBL in this case), connect via “Serial/USB”, Name and Bed Dimensions, and “Where is the Origin of your laser? - Rear Left, Front Left, Rear Right, Front Right”. Creality’s instructions state to use “Front Left” (which doesn’t work for me). On this same page there is a button for “Auto “home” your laser on startup?”, which I’ve selected, and of course it tries to auto home in the wrong direction.

  4. I will run these shortly and report back to you (had to step out for a sec).

Thank you!

1 Like
4

This isn’t so much a configuration in the sense that it specifies the behavior that you want, this needs to reflect how your laser controller is setup. Your machine is most likely meant to work as a front-left (bottom-left) machine irrespective of limit switch location. Set it up that way. Note that you can also change this in Edit->Device Settings.

I’d suggest setting origin to bottom left before doing your jogging control test.

To what corner is your machine attempting to home?

5

Okay, I’ve reverted back to how Creality specifics.

I’ve of course had to turn the auto home off in order to run these commands, as the machine will just crash into both opposite on the X and Y of where the limit switches are.

In terms of these jogging control tests, should I be expecting the motors to move? This is what comes up in the control

<Idle|MPos:0. <Idle|MPos:0.000,0.000,0.000|FS:0,0|WCO:0.000,0.000,0.000>

ok

$0=10

$1=250

$2=0

$3=4

$4=0

$5=0

$6=0

$10=1

$11=0.010

$12=0.002

$13=0

$20=0

$21=0

$22=1

$23=3

$24=1500.000

$25=4500.000

$26=20

$27=3.000

$30=1000.000

$31=0.000

$32=1

$100=80.000

$101=80.000

$110=10000.000

$111=10000.000

$120=500.000

$121=500.000

$130=400.000

$131=415.000

ok

[G54:0.000,0.000,0.000]

[G55:0.000,0.000,0.000]

[G56:0.000,0.000,0.000]

[G57:0.000,0.000,0.000]

[G58:0.000,0.000,0.000]

[G59:0.000,0.000,0.000]

[G28:0.000,0.000,0.000]

[G30:0.000,0.000,0.000]

[G92:0.000,0.000,0.000]

[TLO:0.000]

[PRB:0.000,0.000,0.000:0]

ok

ok000,0.000,0.000|FS:0,0|WCO:0.000,0.000,0.000>

ok

$0=10

$1=250

$2=0

$3=4

$4=0

$5=0

$6=0

$10=1

$11=0.010

$12=0.002

$13=0

$20=0

$21=0

$22=1

$23=3

$24=1500.000

$25=4500.000

$26=20

$27=3.000

$30=1000.000

$31=0.000

$32=1

$100=80.000

$101=80.000

$110=10000.000

$111=10000.000

$120=500.000

$121=500.000

$130=400.000

$131=415.000

ok

[G54:0.000,0.000,0.000]

[G55:0.000,0.000,0.000]

[G56:0.000,0.000,0.000]

[G57:0.000,0.000,0.000]

[G58:0.000,0.000,0.000]

[G59:0.000,0.000,0.000]

[G28:0.000,0.000,0.000]

[G30:0.000,0.000,0.000]

[G92:0.000,0.000,0.000]

[TLO:0.000]

[PRB:0.000,0.000,0.000:0]

ok

ok

6

Yes. Are they not moving at all?

If you attempt to home, to which corner of the machine does it attempt to go?

7

Correct, nothing moves. However, when I open the move panel, clicking the arrows, the device does move. One interesting thing is - when pushing the “down” arrow, the bed (Y axis) comes toward me. The up arrow, the bed moves away - however, for the X axis when pushing the “Right” arrow, the laser moves to the left, “Left” arrow and it moves to the right. So it’s opposite.

In terms of homing - on the Y axis, the limit switch is at the back, so the bed needs to move away from me, however it moves towards me. For the X axis, the limit switch is on the left, but the laser moves to the right. So it should “Home” with the bed furthest from the front, and the laser farthest to the left, but it does the exact opposite - bed moves toward me and the X axis moves to the right.

8

Okay. This is what I was asking for so that’s now clear.

Are Z-axis controls also inverted? If yes, then enter this in Console:

$3=3

If no, then enter this in Console:

$3=7

Once you do that, can you try homing the laser? Does it home in the proper direction?

Also recheck the button/jogging controls in Move window. Do they now move in the correct direction?

9

So, the Z control is “non existent”, as in, the Z is under the control of the printer itself. The only options for motor control via the GBRL module are X and Y. Z is technically the laser (they label it as Z, but it’s not of course). So I don’t have any vertical control unless I adjust via the printer itself. Hopefully that makes sense (which I just use to level/focus the laser).

Regarding the provided commands, knowing this now, which approach would I take?

Also, I’ve been looking at documentation via the Lightburn site to get a better understanding of these commands you’ve been providing (much appreciated by the way), as I’m really only used to Marlin based stuff. Though not via the Lightburn site, Is this an accurate directory for these commands?

10

Just got with $3=7 in that case.

Yes, but from the perspective of Mini Gerbil boards.

Here’s a reference from the GRBL source:
grbl/settings.md at master · gnea/grbl · GitHub

1 Like
11

Ah! That worked! It homes correctly however, using the “Move” control, it’s now flipped. Left and Right is accurate, but the forward and backward arrows are incorrect. When doing this, even if I move it toward the limit switch, it just bashes into it - is there a way to flip the orientation of the forward/backward along the Y axis now?

Thanks for the link!

1 Like
12

Okay, so while the move arrows aren’t accurate for forward and backward (Y axis), every other motion seems to be fine. I ran a frame, then attempted a cut. It seems to follow the correct motion, however, the laser itself no longer turns on.

Preface - When I initial installed the laser, when powering on, the laser fired at full blast. I updated the firmware which resolved this - after update it went into standby mode as it should. Since then though, I was of course dealing with the homing issue. Now the laser won’t fire. I’m looking at firmware related stuff at the moment to see if there’s something going on here.

13

Yes, but I’m surprised this didn’t work as it was previously backwards I had thought. Just to confirm, you’re saying by pushing up, the bed is moving away from you, correct? If it’s moving toward you then that’s how it should work.

Can you change to this:

$3=5

I suspect homing will now be reversed for Y. If so, then also do this:

$23=1

Retest homing and controls.

First thing, make sure that S Value Max in Edit->Device Settings is set to 1000.

Then, can you use the Fire button in Move window to test the laser. Continue increasing power until a light is visible. You’ll need your goggles on for this.

What are the results?

14

Okay, I’m just used to 3D print stuff - when pushing the UP arrow, the bed moves TOWARD me (Away from the limit switch). What you’re describing hear to me means it is working correctly, and I’m just used to Prontoface (which is the opposite). If this is correct, I’ll leave this as is and not follow the further commands listed in this comment.

Right now (without any changes since your earlier comment), it is homing correctly, and seems to follow movement paths as intended.

Starting value was 1000. What is a reasonable setting to expect thereafter? I’m so far at “S-Value= 10,000” under “Device Settings for GRBL” and not seeing any light.

15

I may not have been clear. Leave S Value Max at 1000.

Then go to Move window. Use the fire button there. Increase % until a light is visible. It will max out at 20% if I’m remembering right. If no fire button is available enable this in Edit->Device Settings.

16

0%-20%, the laser never activated unfortunately.

17

In that case there’s likely something wrong in the actual firmware or possibly the hardware itself.

There’s nothing in the GRBL configuration that should be causing this.

Do you have a meter that you can use to check voltages? You could test to see if you’re getting PWM values from the pins for the laser on the controller. That would tell you if it’s something with the controller or something on the laser module side.

It’s also possible you simply have something wired incorrectly. Is the laser module designed for the controller? If not, it’s very possible that the wires are not in the correct order.

18

I honestly think it’s firmware. Though GRBL based, it is Creality Licensed. To which is a company that is quite all over the place with firmware. Because their focus is 3D printing, their laser support is next to none. Hence me being on the Lightburn forum.

I do have a meter and I’ll likely check, however, when first “installing” the laser, the laser did work. I just powered on immediately and at full power. Creality provided an instruction manual, however, the provided link for the firmware update no longer exists. They unfortunately have more than one site, and do not specify a variety of their lasers, (they have a 1.6w, 5w, 10w, then entire laser units that go up to 40w), and all are referred to as CV lasers. Their firmware is listed as CV-30 - which actually doesn’t have to do with the laser wattage. The other issue is some firmware is specific to printers that actually support running software specific to laser printing, whereas, the printer I have, it’s required to have a GRBL module, which is entirely different firmware. It’s a mess really.

I’ve checked wiring and actually opened the GRBL unit to trace paths, as how it was originally behaving, I thought X and Y were potentially switched. They were not. I also have two of these laser units, so I know it’s not the laser and likely the GRBL module, as both behave the same way.

Nonetheless, I think firmware has to do with it, and luckily, I have a bit of insight, thanks to you, to get this running. I have a ticket open with Creality to hopefully pinpoint the exact firmware I need, as I really think that’s the issue, and then go from there.

Thank you kindly for your help, much appreciated. I’ll be looking more into how Lightburn operates and console commands. Will touch base once I have solidarity regarding firmware. Appreciate it!

19

This could be a symptom of being miswired and is fairly common. It could also be the firmware continuously asking for full power.

I thought you had merged the Falcon controller to a Ender frame on your own. Are you saying it was sold this way? Can you link to this printer?

I’d encourage you to check PWM voltages while you’re waiting. Might provide other insight in any case.

20

I don’t think it’s incorrect wiring due to the fact that said module only provides X, Y and “Z” - Z being the laser. I did open the module and trace the wiring, and everything looked correct. I’m of course not familiar with the board, but nonetheless.

This is correct. I did merge the Falcon/GRBL controller with an Ender 3 v2 frame. My point to what I posted is, they sell multiple lasers, though similar, and they’re all “accessories” for Ender/Creality frames. However, Creality does have their own Laser Frames as well. My point was - though their laser frames and lasers for Ender machines are similar, they have lackluster specifications for firmware. And the S1 frames firmware is actually installed via their boards and their touchscreen - it’s a different board to the 3v2. Disregarding the S1 Enders, it theoretically shouldn’t matter the frame, as their Laser Frames use the same motors, same GRBL controller, and same lasers, but nonetheless.

Here is the kit I am using:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BQQJL1T7/?coliid=I17QYPV2FVGP28&colid=WB5JH28UIRN2&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_itd

The firmware the installation manual (via an SD card) requested is this (link did not work for me):

https://www.creaity.com/pages/download-cr-laser-falcon-la-ser-engraver

The applicable firmware I was able to find - which is for their laser engraver, and listed as 10watt:

The other available firmware, but specific to their S1 printer, which updates the printer itself and has firmware specific to the touch screen included on said printer:

I can go ahead and do this!