I will try to make this brief, but I feel like and idiot. I have a Shapeoko, use Vectric software and do full 3D carves with no issues, but this thing is kicking my caboose! Bought is slightly used and the previous owner was was using RD Works software. There are still 4 small files from him loaded in the machine, so I know it works. He was just using a flash drive to get his files in. I downloaded the trial version of Lightburn (LB) to confirm compatibility. Not much luck. Here is a screen shot showing my system info from RD Works
This is a RUIDA Controller as evidenced by the control pad and the model number.
When I do my initial connection to Lightburn why does it identify this as a GRBL setup? Shouldn’t this be a DSP controller? What am I missing?
Next, when I create even a simple square and save the file, how do I get it into the machine and tell it to ‘GO’?? I have tried a direct USB cable connection with the computer and also using a flash drive. Obviously the previous owner got a couple files in somehow. Should I not be able to control most everything through Lightburn and not really have to use the control panel on the machine for much? Will someone please take me under their wing and point me in the right direction? Thank you in advance!!! I have watched MANY videos and read posts on here, but I am missing something somewhere.
No idea how or why the Ruida in this laser was “identified” as GRBL. Did you use the ‘Find my Laser’ when this happened?
You will not have success using a GRBL profile. You need to have a Ruida Device Profile defined and configured for this controller. Have a read of our in-progress new documentation as it is better targeted to the first time user to help them get going.
Rick,
I manually installed the machine as a RUIDA and have removed the instance where it was registered as a GRBL machine. I did use the automatic feature which is what identified it as a GRBL controller. I don’t know if any firmware update is needed or not, Ruida doesn’t provide much info.
I still cannot get a file to transfer from the computer to the laser, noir can I get Lightburn to control any function on the machine. I cxan watch the cut preview in LB, but can’t get the file sent to the machine. It tells me the transfer failed and then says that the machine may be busy or paused. All it wants to do is run one of the four files the previous owner has stored in the machine. Any ideas??
Very odd, as I can clearly see, you are showing a Ruida controller. Not sure what failed in the process. @LightBurn, what additional information would be helpful here?
What operating system are you using? Did you install the communication driver on the last screen of the LightBurn install? This section of our documentation is worth review:
If you have never installed LightBurn before, you might need to check the ‘Install FTDI driver’ button - this is mostly used by DSP controllers, like Ruida and TopWisdom, and it only needs to be done once. If you update the software later, you do not need to repeat this step.
Rick is correct - you likely just need to install the driver, as LightBurn uses a different one by default than RDWorks does (works with a broader range of machines).
Install that driver, delete the GRBL device and retry the Find my Laser setup.
