Fire laser not working

Have read a lot of topics discussing this but not really found an answer.

Lasertree lt-4lds-v1. generic control board.

Unit fires and cuts when running a job fine,

Laser fire test/focus button does not fire laser (set to 5%)
Framing (with shift key) moves the motors but doesn’t fire the laser so cannot focus / find centre of item.

$32 = 1000
S value max = 1000.

anything I haven’t thought of as to why.

button worked on previous 5.5w generic chinese diode laser on same board

cheers

Have you enabled the laser in the Device settings?

:smile_cat:

When the generic board first connects there’s a ‘welcome message’ that shares the build date and the GRBL type and/or other controller info. Please copy and paste a handful of those lines into a reply here.

I’m not familiar with this generic control board but we should be able to develop the answer to your question with a little more information.

Maybe you mean to ask the OP if they have enabled the Fire Button in Device Settings?
I’m only guessing because the laser is purported to be working and I’ve seen this style of ‘subject-reduction’ before. :slight_smile: It’s fine when someone has lots of context to fall back on but it can be easily misinterpreted by someone less familiar with the vernacular.

When not active or available the Fire button shouldn’t be visible. The description implies the Button is presented and doesn’t work.

I’m open to the idea that we may be looking at an early GRBL or other GCode controller that won’t allow the Fire button behavior. The welcome message should tell me what I might need to know next. :slight_smile:

Hi everyone.

I have enabled the laser fire button and set it to 10%.

It did work on my previous 5.5 laser that was connected to the same board.

The only main difference is the lasertree is a 24v laser and the board is a 12v, therefore the laser has a seperate psu with the gnd, pwm connected to the board.

Thanks again

Ok, New Data!

Just to clarify for myself, on the old laser, the three pins were probably +12V, PWM, and Ground at the controller and the laser module.

Further, on the new laser module, Ground and Pwm from the generic control board and +24V and Ground also from the new module power supply?

In the Console window there is a switch that says “Show All” - turn that on (green) and test the rectangle framing behavior with the laser enabled. All the GCode sent when fire-framing will show in the Console window. If you requested the rectangular frame it may be a dozen lines of GCode. Please copy and paste that result into a reply here so we can see if it’s requesting 10% laser power as commanded. The request should be immediately after the G0 move.

Hopefully this upload as on my mobile atm

Have tried it on 10% up to 20% and there is an output when pressing the fire button but its not a stable output (kind of flashing) so can try to focus but would prefer a steady one

This is amazing. I think I know what’s going on now and it may take some doing to get around.

The PWM control has % power which is controlled by S value max in Device settings and interpreted by the controller based on $30 in Machine settings.

There is also a base frequency. It’s produced by the controller and LightBurn doesn’t have access to it.

If the frequency of the PWM signal is mismatched between the laser head and the controller you’ll get that pulsing when framing and firing as the laser head is unable to interpret the steady signal produced by the controller. The behavior is similar to two stacked mismatched frequencies - similar to the sound heard when tuning ajacent strings on a guitar.

I’ve gotten hung up on the VIGOTEC firmware variant before. The adjustment may be in a configuration file separate from the Machine Settings. I’m just hoping it’s not in the firmware itself but I’ve tinkered with a few builds. It should be doable if it’s in the public domain.

In that Console window please request the Machine Settings report by typing:
$$
then press enter.
Please copy and paste that report ( or the output in the absence of a report ) into a reply here.

I’ll have a look for the firmware build info.

The manual for the laser module says 0-5kHz for the input frequency.

edit: This board?

Hope this is OK

Cheers
Andy

I assumed this was a typo.

$32 should be set for 1.
$30 should be set for 1000

I just saw your settings. This is ok.

Its like this one but without the blue and red chips

Hope this helps some.

If it’s got the ATmega328p chip on it, the same as the square diagonally on the blue board, you may be able to flash it.

Will dismantle the cover later and post a photo


Right arm…

:smile_cat:

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So it looks like it has. What and how would i need to flash. Thanks.

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The hex file may work as is.

If it misbehaves, the source code can be optioned to match your board. If you can document any misbehavior you observe that will be incredibly helpful.

The instructions here are fairly clear but if you have concerns please do ask.
https://docs.v1e.com/electronics/xloader/

The XLoader link will allow you to download and install xloader on your windows device.

If this doesn’t work we’ll have to step back to the Arduino ino tool.

It’s more complex but it’s hugely powerful.

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