Not sure whats going on now. Using lightburn and a longer 5W laser. When I go to start a etch the alarm goes off on the laser. It then goes to the bottom left unit and the motors start railing out and whining and I have to shut it off. Heres the console.
Starting stream
Layer C00
ad:1057
ad:1050
ad:1029
ALARM:3
Reset while in motion. Grbl cannot guarantee position. Lost steps are likely. Re-homing is highly recommended.
On or near line 0:
Job halted
Stream completed in 0:00
ok
SimpleLaser 1.1h [‘$’ for help]
[MSG:‘$H’|‘$X’ to unlock]
[MSG:Caution: Unlocked]
ok
[MSG:Send $H]
ad:1019
ad:1015
ad:1010
Trying to do a full factory reset on everything as this wasnt happening this morning. I cleared the backup files so lightburn should be clean. Not sure if i can factory reset the longer laser itself or what to do at this point.
The laser halted abruptly, sometimes due to another Alarm or Error, or, often, the computer losing connection to the machine. Rehome the machine to ensure the machine reports its coordinates correctly. See Connection Troubleshooting for help if this happens repeatedly.
If it has a motion sensor, make sure the frame is secured to the platform so it can’t move around as the laser head accelerates.
And, as always, discard whatever junk USB cable came with the thing and get one with ferrite cores on each end. The cores may not contribute much, but they make the cable expensive enough that you also get better build quality. Following the Connection Troubleshooting link will explain some of the issues.
I tried another USB cable, the same one that works from my printer and still nothing. After this last crash I cant even connect to it anymore, anytime i connect it just white screens on the LCD and wont connect. Deleting device and adding it back manually didnt help either. Very close to just returning this thing and buying something nicer.
@ThatEngineerGuy
Please put some barrier between your laser and the carpet flooring please.
A tile, metal plate, something fireproof
Given that you are diagnosing and the machine is not behaving normally this has a high risk of fire.
I knew that was going to trigger someone lol. It was raining so I couldn’t use it outside on my patio where it’s been so it was there for the video only.
Which definitely suggests a communication problem. While switching this cable and that cable sometimes works (and is the cheapest alternative), it doesn’t eliminate all the possible problems.
Turn off the laser (power = 0%), run a long engraving pattern, and slightly wiggle the USB connectors while it runs. If the controller consistently crashes when you do that, either the controller or the PC may have a damaged USB jack. In particular, the USB cable sticking straight up out of the controller just screams “Trouble ahead!”
Power glitches can cause similar issues, which setting the power to zero can expose. If it operates without failing at zero power, that suggests a bad power connector somewhere, an inadequate power supply (a factory dud happens), or a broken cable.
There are, unfortunately, many places where glitches hide. You’ll find more of them in this guide:
It’s written for Sculpfun lasers, but the glitches are common to any machine using USB.
This things wild. I brought it to work so i could call support and debug it. Using the laptop ive been using. I did the 0 power test you mentioned and it seemed fine, tried a test print and it works now lol. Safe to say it will probably break on me again so Ill use it for now while i search for the replacement. @ednisley
