Hello all, I have researched and gotten frustrated quit and set it all up and researched and gotten frustrated countless times over the past few years with this LM2 Pro since I got it.
I am looking for some advice on how to get this thing to engrave a 4x4 tile without randomly stopping mid way through. No rhyme or reason no errors in console. So please point me in the right direction of how to help me help you help me. I have done the following. Updated to latest version of lightburn, checked my firmware of the laser to confirm it’s up to date, replaced the power cord, replaced the usb cable, grounded and verified all connections are to earth at the laser head the gantry and the motherboard. I have even checked the temps on the laser head and they don’t go above 88f. I have checked the power settings on my laptop to ensure none of the usb ports are going to sleep and added a usb device to ensure there is no voltage back feeding through the usb cable. My issue only seems to be on when engraving images on tiles however I haven’t tried many other projects because this has been so frustrating. I’m not seeing any errors in console. I’m not losing connection that I can tell. I’m at my wits end with this machine. Any thoughts, tips suggestions or anything so I can create a successful tile at least one time?
Let’s start with some basics. Just verifying I understand the scenario. It has been randomly stopping as long as you’ve owned it, correct?
Does it always stop at the same point in the engraving?
Have you tried other engravings?
Is it always the same file / type of file (photo, image, vector)?
Can you take a video of the behavior? You will have to post it on a hosting site like YouTube or Google drive, etc. and link to it. You can’t upload videos to the forum.
In the console window click show all, try running the job and copy and paste the ouptut when it fails.
Post a screenshot (not a cell phone pic) of your entire Lightburn screen with your project loaded and the Cuts/Layers Panel and Laser Panel visible. Also post a screenshot of the Settings Window (Gears icon) with the Units and Grids tab visible and post a screenshot of the Device Settings Window (Wrench and Screwdriver icon).
Tim: I do appreciate your response. I have owned this unit for a few years and bought new from Ortur in 2022. Went through a divorce and had it put away for a while. With this said i have not tried a bunch of different projects as the projects I mainly was interested in I have not had success in. I cannot confirm it stops in the same place but It usually fails about 10-13 minutes into each project. Lightburn still says its running but the laser just stops like you pulled the power but the power is still on. I can hit stop and rehome and reset to origin accurately. Since I never know if it will stop I have a hard time getting video. I made multiple 3 passes on a project this am with zero issues but the 4th and 5th pass failed randomly.
The above picture was a 30 minute burn and you can see the two spots it failed and I tried to recover. Again console is not throwing any errors and it is acting like it is still running but the laser is not moving the diode stops emitting and the cooling fan runs a few seconds and stops. I hit stop in the lightburn console, rehome and reset to origin and then can hit start and it will start again from the bottom or I can go through the preview pane and try to restart where it failed.
I don’t understand anything about “ORTUR” and it’s probably nothing. But isn’t it related to the flame detector? A flame detector that is too sensitive, with interference from external light or is defective could cause a similar symptom, right?
You can turn off the show all in console. Does the console show mention of the flame sensor being disabled by user on first startup? I have seen a few instances of a too sensitive flame sensor causing problems, but if it’s been disabled it shouldn’t.
I did have the flame sensor manually disabled. I don’t recall the specific instance, but it was during a Cut operation a few years ago I had a shiny Cooling type rack underneath my media and it would trip it
I was having this issue with the old power supply and just this week. I changed over to a new power supply and I’m still getting the same issue. I will still be glad to run through this at zero power just to eliminate that is an option.
Hi Mike. I appreciate the response. That’s the same tile that I have in my YouTube video. I left it in place to see if it would fail in the same spot. The power was in fact off as you can see by my layer settings. It was set to zero.. I have also Stated previously that I used a temperature gun and check the temperature of the controller board and it did not exceed 88°F. I’ve also tried with a larger desktop fan above the enclosure with the enclosure open and the fan blowing down on it while it’s burning.
That is a great suggestion, however, to go through and just unplug everything and resear just in case something could be jarring loose in a certain position
It may mean nothing, but I slowed the vid down to .25 speed and on the last transversal run (left to right) there is a noise as the module starts moving right (perhaps 1cm in)..it continues for another couple of centimeters and then reverses direction. The beam is still on at that stage and does not go off until about 1cm..ish in reverse travel and complete stop.
Are module travel and power values seperate and concurrent and perhaps co dependent, like the power went off because its code was out of sync with module position readings.
Would the stream speed be related to the distance travelled after reverse direction.
Would slowing the travel speed by a mesured amount have a predictable effect on the distance travelled when unexpected reverse occurs.
I have went through and experimented with various travel speeds all with similar results. I went through and disconnected everything and reseated everything this afternoon with no improvement in results. My next last ditch effort is connecting it to my desktop machine and hopefully there may be something there by using a different computer
That printout of G1 commands above! Is it from the moves just before Reverse move - Laser off - Stop!
I found this:-
If you need to reverse the direction of a specific axis, you can refer to the table in the GRBL Settings Pocket Guide, which correlates the axis forward and reverse combinations to a single digit from 0 to 7.4
“If the code above is the last to go through the controller, this may not apply as as they are all G1”
And this:-
Additionally, if you encounter issues with the direction signal from the Arduino to the stepper driver or the direction input on the stepper driver, it might be due to a loose wire or a wiring issue.
How did you get on using the PC. If not good we can move on..process of elimination.
Edit
Next:-
Another possible cause could be incorrect pulse settings in the laser cutter software, which might cause the laser head to keep moving even after it reaches the edge of the work area and hits the boundary.5 Adjusting the pulse parameter settings may resolve this issue.5
If the problem persists, it might be helpful to check the machine’s memory and ensure that the file is fully uploaded and not corrupted.3 Additionally, verify if the machine is grounded properly to avoid static discharge issues
I had a similar perplexing experience with my Ortur Lm2 pro when I had my honeycomb beneath my engraving pieces. In the end, the solution was to spray paint the shiny new honeycomb with mat black paint. Problem avoided!
