I have one lens setup ( 4" FL ) that when installed, the lens nozzle is below the Z home position. When I use this lens, I home the laser, lower the table, then install the lens, set the origin where I want it and go. For cutting, this works fine, just need to remember to remove it before shutting down for the day.
I tried to do a focus test with it, I set the start Z at 32mm and end Z to 44mm, all was fine until the test finished and the Z tried to go to 0mm,
Don’t do that! Can you make it so the Z just stays where is was last. X,Y is not an issue.
The Z doesn’t return to zero automatically - it returns to the height set as ‘Material (mm)’, at least if you’re using absolute Z moves instead of relative moves. If you have it set to only use relative moves, it should stop at the same height it started. Which setting are you using?
I lowered my Z axis home switch to match the 4" lens so it wouldn’t crash for some test,
Lets say I set the Z height to 25mm before the start of the test and set the user origin, relative Z is off.
I run the test from 30mm to 40mm, runs OK.
At end of test, the Z returned to 0mm not 25mm.
I would think whether or not relative Z moves is enabled or not, Z should stay where it was last or at the very least not go higher than 25mm.
I don’t know if Ruida treats Z home the same as X,Y. When cutting, at the end of a job, X,Y return to the origin I set, Z stays where ever it was. I do very often move the table down after homing to accommodate thick material, never have a Z issue.
One last observation, my Z axis is dancing all over the place to do the test, It burns the nomenclature first ( usually ), doing some numbers, zips to another, backs up to fill in a 1/2mm step ( .5 ), back to another number… the whole time the Z axis is bouncing up and down. In my case, I don’t thing the Z is as accurate as X,Y. Could be better is it started at the close end, did the numbers and the line and moved to the next, only one Z move per line that way.
If you enable “optimize Z moves” in the device settings it will only move the Z when it changes, and leave it wherever it is in between shapes. It retracts after every move by default for safety.
And the Ruida mostly ignores the Z - it’s generally assumed that lasers will be used for flat work, and the Z is kind of set & forget for that reason.
I recall I had this issue before and you answered it. I looked through my old post and could not find it. I remembered there was a setting but couldn’t find it. I’ll look again.
Is the retract something you are doing or the controller? For the focus test, I would think it unnecessary. If it must do that, is there a setting that will make it complete the whole burn for each Z level at one time?
The retract is something we’re doing, and it’s a global setting, not something we tweak per job. Optimize Z moves should be all that’s necessary. Try with the 0.9.17 version (just released) and see if it still does the extra retracts.
