So Snapmaker has updated their firmware to include the IR module and a new A > B alignment feature. Whatever they did to it has broken a few important things for the Snapmaker Ray normal operation.
With every move of the head in Lightburn the console says the position and coordinates are being reset because “disabling motor” expressed as:
[I][PLAT]reset sys pos and WCO because disabling motor
[I][PLAT]reset coordoffset
So with the offset required to work with the ray (I’m talking about having to enter “G10 L2 P1 X0 Y-400” into the console in Lightburn) my home and start position is X0, Y400. If I set the move steps to 100mm and move Y-100 when it gets there it resets back to X0, Y400. Lightburn will show X0, Y300.
Now if I move along Y the same direction it will show X0, Y300. If I move the opposite direction it will say X0, Y500. If I move along X it will say X100, Y400. If I move it back along X it will say X-100, Y400. No matter where I am in the bed, if I hit Get Position it will tell me X0, Y400.
When using the rotary with the IR module (which requires using the crosshair) it’s not aligning with the start position. When I set the crosshair exactly where I need it to be and start the burn the gantry doesn’t move at all to account for the crosshair offset. What’s more strange is once the burn is done the gantry moves back as if accounting for the crosshair offset. This means when I start a burn it starts burning on the edge tapering off the side of, let’s say, a cup rather than the gantry moving up and over to put the laser where the crosshair was located. Then when it finishes burn the edge of the cylinder the gantry moves the head’s crosshair to the location where it was incorrectly engraving.
These two things are catastrophic to production. Single burn projects can be manageable but when doing multiple of the same burn or even a different burn it’s cumbersome having to manually align everything each time. I don’t know who to talk to about it. I don’t know if Lightburn can add functionality Snapmaker added to the firmware or if I need to reach out to Snapmaker and ask them to do something. I’ve posted what’s going on in both Snapmaker and Lightburn forums but I’m unsure that is the proper action to get this resolved. I spent about 20 hours this weekend trying to find a workaround to these issues without any success. Now I’m at the mercy of someone else to get this resolved and I’m afraid my issue is not going to be seen and/or get lost in the forums.
If a Lightburn specialist needs me to do more work like screenshots, pictures or videos showing what’s happening I will do whatever is needed upon request.
I seriously doubt this is going to happen. People that have your machine need to be given time to figure out what is going on.
In the meantime, were the benefits of the Snapmaker upgrade worth the hassle? Maybe you can roll back to the previous hardware version until they sort it out?
Yes the upgrade was worth it and yes I can and have been rolling it back to use another laser module.
My main concern is I don’t think this behavior was a mistake on part of Snapmaker since it does what it says on their software. By adding a new feature and a bug fix with the new IR module this caused issues specific to Lightburn’s software. This is why I’ve reached out here to see if one of the Lightburn techs can provide any insight or assistance. I see Lightburn’s people actively helping and discussing in other threads so I was hoping to get someone to at least ask about the issue I have. This is why I was concerned I would be lost in the threads.
Most of the manufacturers do not share their changes with Lightburn, so LB only learns about the changes when somebody complains. Then LB reaches out to the manufactures for details, which are not shared. They figure that if it works with THEIR proprietary software, they owe nothing to Lightburn. Are you beginning to see how hard it is for LB to solve problems created by the manufacturer?
When Lightburn reports a position, it is simply reporting what came from the controller. It does no math on those numbers except to show inches if that is what you are using. Lightburn sends no parameter commands to the controller unless you tell it to.
You did not say if this was a Marlin or GRBL issue. It makes a difference.
To help us research the problem, create a small box and see if that runs without an error. If it does not, click on the Save GCode button and save it with a .TXT filename extension. Then drag a copy into your Reply box. We are looking for any strange code or formatting.
Looking at the GCode, I am not going to be much help.
;max_power: 255Recommended for $30 is 1000
M2000 L30 P0
G4P5
;USER START SCRIPT
G00 G17 G40 G21 G54
G91
M4
; Cut @ 12000 mm/min, 20% power
M8 G0 X21.5A-30.632“A” & “U” are usually rotary commands, rotary enabled?
; Layer C00
G1 X-25S51F12000
G1 A32.587F15642.12
G1 X25F12000
G1 A-32.587F15642.12
M9
G1 S0
M5
; return to starting pos
G0 X-21.5Y30.632Switch from X-A to X-Y?
Other than the rotary question, I see nothing that might drive the controller nuts. Can you do one without the rotary so we can see what might be causing the [I][PLAT] messages.
In the #2 item about the rotary, I knew something was wrong but I did not know why. It finally soaked in. Are you saying the gantry moves in the Yaxis when the Rotary is enabled? This implies Lightburn is a 3D software, which it is not. I would not expect predictable results using Lightburn if this is what your machine is actually doing. Please tell me I got this wrong.
In my video we are looking down the X axis. It should move along the Y to align where the crosshair was but it’s not doing that. The crosshair will frame the area correctly but then when it starts the crosshair offset is completely ignored and burns off to the side.
Then once it finishes the crosshair moves even further outside the area even past the incorrect burn location (although this is kind of expected since Snapmaker said this was a known issue). I can deal with the strange move at the end but I absolutely need the laser to align with where the crosshair is on start. This is the IR not the blue diode. I cannot turn the crosshair offset off and make alignments with the laser only. I will engrave the surface at 1% power.
My documents do not explain the M2000 L30 P0 command. Do you know what this is?
That F12000mm/m means you are telling your machine to cover 4.5" of travel with direction changes to make a square in about 1/2 second. You are telling your machine to do what it cannot do. Other than this, I see nothing in the GCode that would confuse the controller.
If the controller figures out your commands are not possible, it could be resisting by reporting those error messages. Each manufacturer has theor own way of saying “oops!”
Try using the Run GCode button in the Laser window on the file I uploaded here. Let us know it it causes any error messages…
