I have been running a Genmitsu 3018 Prover with a 10 watt Endurance laser without any issue. I use Lightburn with a GRBL controller ver 1.1 and have set the board dimensions to 250 X 150 to allow for the increased laser dimensions. Everything had been going well for over a year until last week, when engraving, the laser started triggering a limit switch, well away from any of the physical switches. It happens around the 3-4 minute mark. It would then restart further over on the x axis and carry on, albeit well out of place. I’ve searched the forums for a similar issue, and so have checked/replaced wiring and all the limit switches. As far as I remember I haven’t changed any settings. I have tried running without limit switches being enabled, disconnected them from the board to avoid false readings. Is it likely that the board is causing the problems? It is the stock Genmitsu board that comes with the 3018. Any advice as to what else I could try would be gratefully received.
Many thanks.
Edit: I miss read you
The switches are triggering withotu being “touched” by the frame?
This would imply some electrical noise on the wiring
Replace the wires between the switch and the controller. I would replace the switch too because it could be subject to vibration.
When I bought my 3018 (about three years ago) I quickly realized that I should have spent the extra money and get the one with limit switches pre-installed. Live and learn. Most of the articles I read about adding them suggested using shielded cable when wiring up the switches, especially the ones around the spindle, due to the RFI it can generate. I ganged all the shielding wires together and grounded them at the controller end. It must have worked because I haven’t had any false triggers.
Three years of flexing could likely break the wires of the pre-installed ones too.
Mine also came naked, so I installed 6 switches. I figured I did not trust the software limits to stop a direct drive lead screw.
“6 switches”
Same here, and after visiting Sam Perry’s website I also discovered I needed a 3D printer, “but honey, I really need that Ender 3 to make this work”. There was also that issue with the silk-screening being flipped for the X and Z pins.
I read about that, but my board did not have that problem.
Instead of reading X Y Z, it would read 2 Y X ??
Well, if you tilt your head, and squint your eyes, a 2 kinda looks like a Z, don’t cha think?
Hi.
I’ve replaced the cables and switches, even the Genmitsu control board as the usb connection plug was flexing badly so thought maybe that was the problem. However, when I ran the unit after reassembly the same problem arose. This time coupled with the laser head raising itself at the start of the burn, before the machine triggered the stop alarm, after a few passes, even though nowhere near the limit switches.
I’ve tried it with different cuts, engravings etc but with the same result.
The laser head raising at the start of the cut, can’t find any mention of that online.
Again, any ideas before I bin the whole contraption please?
Okay, so somehow the relative z movement only tab had changed in device settings. I don’t remember doing it, but I must of as I assume changing the board wouldn’t change the settings in Lightburn. Once switched on then the laser head stayed in position and didn’t rise up.
Still, the cut/engrave reaches a certain point on the bed, then makes a sound like the carriage has hit the stops, even though it is a few centimetres away from any of them, and then motor struggles to move the head before losing its position and sending the carriage off to a random position, before hitting the limit switches. It’s different each time.
Could it be the motor, x or y axis jamming at a certain point, although it’s not always the same line, and the programme loses its sense of position?
Cheers.
It’s Chinese, the basics of their language is right to left. One doing the silkscreen likely knows a little bit of English… however the engineer who did the board probably did it like everything else…
X, Y, Z → Z, Y, X. This was how my CNC3018 was setup. The silkscreen was wrong.
I’d ensure there is plenty of power getting to it. They should not halt with a limit error is there are no limit switches and the software is disabled for that function.
Mine also look like a bird nest. No coaxial cables, just cheap Chinese wire and they work fine. I have both an original spindle model and one that I mounted a 500W spindle. Both work fine …
Software is looking at these inputs to determine if it’s been exceeded… Just like software is used for soft limits. Trust one, but not other… ?
Ditto, I’ve got three of these, the last two I did get them pre installed… 
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