There is a bug in the latest versions of LightBurn. Version 1.4.01 is stable, and does not appear to have the bug.
A lot of users of the OMTech Polar have reported LightBurn crashing after or during almost every job run. Users of other lasers have reported similar issues.
When running 1.4.03, I could not laser anything near the top edge of the work area. This would cause a red ring error (most likely Y axis limit error, as others have shown that with the panel). I don’t believe the Y axis is the only issue, but it’s worth checking.
After downgrading to 1.4.01, I have not had any crashes at all. I’ve run detailed jobs for over an hour without error. I also tested by putting both Fill and Line boxes at the Y axis limit (very top edge) of the work area. Those completed with no error. Previously, if I was within 5mm of the edge, it would cause an error.
Running LB 1.4.03, it crashed after almost every single job. On 1.4.01, I was only able to get it to crash once, after running 5 or 6 jobs, one of which was 1 hour and 18 minutes to complete. What got it to crash was a diagonal line, and I pressed Stop halfway through the cut.
The LightBurn application is crashing under those circumstances. Using the Start button causes the crash, not Send. Start from is set to Absolute Coordinates.
There are instances where LB would cause a Y axis error that would cause the laser to halt. When using LB 1.4.03, if I placed a cut within 5mm of the top edge, it would cause the Y axis error. This did not occur for me at all with LB 1.4.01. With 1.4.01, I can place objects touching the top border in the window with no issues so far.
It does sound like to me that these would be discrete issues but not sure.
This is very odd. I haven’t noticed anything similar to this. I don’t have a Polar but a crash bug like this should be more apparent on all Ruida based systems I would think.
Do you have a .lbrn file that will reliably crash LightBurn on Start? Do you think this is related to shape placement?
To what corner does the Polar home? I’ll try to reproduce this on my setup. I don’t think I’ve done anything quite so close to the edges of the workspace in some time.
Can you confirm what your work area is set to in Edit->Device Settings?
I don’t know if these bugs are exclusive to the Polar, but a lot of Polar users have experienced them. You can search for Polar on this forum and see other users experiencing similar issues. Not all Polar users have these issues. From what I’ve gathered so far, it appears these issues less likely (if at all) to occur for those that use Send instead of Start. I’m also not sure if any Mac users experience these issues.
After my diagonal line test & stop halfway through, LightBurn app crashed, and the laser status was normal (this was after 4 or 5 other jobs). However, upon restarting LightBurn, the laser status was disconnected until power cycling the laser (I also restarted LB). I repeated the test 4 times, with and without stopping it halfway through, but could not get LightBurn to crash again.
My bed size is 510mm x 300mm.
I don’t have anything that crashes 1.4.01 consistently. I only ever had the one crash, which was after the job finished: the Laser apparently wasn’t responding, and clicking Z focus or other controls made Lightburn app crash, or at least that’s my assumption.
With 1.4.03, it crashed after almost any job. Sometimes I could do 2 or 3 things first, but that was less common. It was more likely to crash with things near the edge(s) of the work area.
Is it required to be that close to the 0 location of the Y axes?
I have never had an error during operation where it has attempted to go out of bounds.
The dsp will load most of the file before running it, so I’d think it’d detect any anomaly.
You can’t use send, without a console.
If you can find a project that consistently fails with one version and works with another… that’s the best way to help the developers figure out a bug…
I kind of doubt this because many of us run the same controller as you …? Although anything is possible…
How are you connected, usb/Ethernet?
Are these vector or scan operations?
I got a console in today, I’ll install it this weekend. But I’m stating that as a known issue because others that have installed the panel already do get a Y error.
Is it required? No. Should it work? Obviously, yes. It works with no issues so far in 1.4.01 on the edges of the work area.
Also, you can use Send without the Panel. The Polar has a start button on it you can press after Send from LB to begin the job.
I understand that. I also find it odd that this controller (which is obviously very common) has these issues so inconsistently. I have to find a project that consistently crashes it though, which will also require reinstalling 1.4.03 as I can’t force 1.4.01 to crash despite some trying.
I’m connected on USB. I’ve read some people speculate that they didn’t have these issues with Ethernet. I may try that as well after moving my laser.
I actually don’t recall seeing anything quite like this or perhaps I haven’t equated the issues.
I’ve not seen any other reports where Polar users have repeatable crashes with 1.4.03 to the point where it’s unusable.
I’d also expect Send to be usable if used with Shift key in addition to the method mentioned by Josh.
I think the Polar controller while logically the same as standalone units is a unique implementation with a different board layout. It may have its own quirks.
A case that crashes one and not the other is perfect. But any that can crash 1.4.03 would be a good start.
If these crash issue and the Y-axis issue are indeed discrete issues I would expect the crash issue to apply to non-Polar machines as well so should be reproducible on other setups. The Y-axis issue may be Polar specific but just speculating at this point.
Here’s a weird error/behavior that happened yesterday in 1.4.03:
I was able to recreate it in 1.4.01 as well, and it causes issues consistently, though the behavior isn’t consistent. The Polar halts when it gets near the top (assumed Y axis error, still haven’t installed my panel yet). I can press the start/stop button on the Polar to continue, and that’s what happens after the delay in the video linked above. However, today I crashed it twice using a new file with a simple rectangle. The first time, it was much like the video. The second time, it was wackier, and went to the right instead of the left, and I pressed the Start button (again, on the Polar) was required multiple times for continued odd behavior.
Power cycling the laser prevented LightBurn from crashing the second time.
Curious. I sometimes get similar behavior where the Ruida display will show some sort of error condition such as “Water protect” or something else similar. I can’t proceed until I address the issue. I typically push Esc on the panel to get out of it. I don’t know how you’d do this without a panel. I haven’t tried the Enter key which is what I assume is happening when you push the Start button on the Polar.
Interesting. You’re right. I may be mistaking it for a different control board that I saw before. Perhaps that was for the Gweike Cloud which I had thought was essentially the same machine. But the board I’m thinking of was not enclosed and was one or more custom PCBs that had many of the same parts as a Ruida but had the manufacturer branding on the PCB.
I ran the file without issue. One thing I noticed was that the Start from mode was set to User origin. I was warned by LightBurn that I’d likely go beyond machine limits so I cancelled, switched to Absolute Coords and proceeded without issue.
One thing to note is that I’m running beta 1.4.04. It likely isn’t a significant difference but I wouldn’t expect a major difference from 1.4.01 either in that regard.
I didn’t watch the video, but I know they’re not the same, even though obviously quite similar. The Polar has always had a genuine Ruida controller.
It turns out you can also get the mainboard version from RDWorks, which I figured out after installing the panel lol.
RDWorks says:
Mainboard version: RDLC-V8.01.68
The connected Panel says on startup: RDC-V8.01.68 HMI-V7.4.50.05
With the panel installed, I ran the rectangle crash test file, and the panel said: hard Limit Prot Please ESC
I pressed ESC and it homed as normal. LightBurn didn’t crash. I ran the rectangle test a bunch more times with 1.4.03, and it didn’t crash at all. The panel beeped with the error, and I could press Stop in LightBurn, or ESC from the Panel and it didn’t freak out or crash. If I press the stop/start button on the Polar, it did get goofy. I don’t know if the panel has any affect here. I reinstalled 1.4.01 and the file that was crashing it every time no longer crashes it at all with the panel installed.
I also screwed around with the rectangle positioning. Within 3mm from the top, it sends the hard limit warning. 4mm or farther away, no issue.
To answer your other question, the Enter key on the panel responds the same as hitting the ESC key. I thought the Start-pause button on the panel might do the same thing as the Start/Stop button on the Polar, but it did nothing at all instead.
I installed the beta 1.4.04 to try it out and behavior is similar now with the panel installed. However, I tried other keys and pressing Pause inside LightBurn after it halts is similar behavior to pressing the start/stop button on the Polar.
I’ll try some more complex stuff again and see if I can get it to crash.
