I'm brand new to lasers and need a little guidence

Resources Getting Started With LightBurn
1

When I signed up for the forum I didn’t get all my info about my laser in the form. Where do I go to fix that?

I have a 15000 mw Blue CNC Laser Engraving Machine 40X40 inch laser.

I have it put together and hooked up and can move the laser. I’ve tried setting the Home position but when I click on the Home tab in the move box nothing happens.

I do not know what firmware is installed but the software that came with the laser has three versions of the Grbl firmware listed. Where do I look and make sure it has the latest version installed?

I have been through a lot of the Lightburn videos but I have a very Mechanical brain and zero Engineer brain so I’m kind of lost. I would like to get this laser set up so I can test it and see if I made a wise purchase or just threw away $850.

Thanks for any help and tips,

Ernie Hodge

2

You can add that info here.

As for the other items, I am not the best resource for GRBL controllers, so let’s see if anyone else has info for you. There is a search that could also help you. There is a lot of info on the forum.

1 Like
3

Thank you.

4

When you first connect to the laser, the GRBL version should be sent to the console window in LightBurn from your controller.

5

I’m going to fire it up this evening and see if it’s the latest version and then see if I can get anything to work in the software that came with the laser. I saw that in another post.

If I can get it working then I’ll see what I have to change in the settings to make it work with LightBurn.

Thanks for the info OZ.

6

I found out I have Grbl v1.1h from 8/25/2019. The software they sent is LaserGRBL.

I used one of their images, which I couldn’t see all of, to to run a test. When I clicked Run the laser moved to sort of the middle and ran a circular pattern with s square area inside. The laser did not fire.

I went into LightBurn and just made a small rectangle in the middle of the grid and when I hit Run the laser hit the side rail while trying to ‘trace’ the rectangle. I hit stop and moved the laser to the middle and hit run again and still no laser.

I changed the setting $32=0 to $32=1 and still no laser. The board on the laser does light up and the fan on the laser runs.

I know I’m part of the problem being new but if I can just get this thing doing anything with the laser I can learn how to do this.

I printed out the settings list from the original software but it has all the explanations with each setting so I don’t want to post that in here. I’ll try and print out those from LightBurn and maybe there’s something I need to change.

Thanks for any help and guidance,
Ernie Hodge

7

Well, this has been fun. Here are my settings from LightBurn:

$0=10 $1=25 $2=0 $3=0 $4=0 $5=0 $6=0 $10=1 $11=0.010 $12=0.002
$13=0 $20=0 $21=0 $22=0 $23=0 $24=25.000 $25=500.000 $26=250
$27=1.000 $30=1000 $31=0 $32=1 $100=80.000 $101=80.000 $102=800.000
$110=5000.000 $111=5000.000 $112=500.000 $120=250.000 $121=250.000
$122=250. $130=200.000 $131=200.000 $132=200.000

Here’s what I got when I hit run and the laser went into the corner
and wanted to go farther:

Grbl 1.1h [’$’ for help]
[MSG:’$H’|’$X’ to unlock]
[MSG:Caution: Unlocked]

At this rate I won’t need a haircut anymore. :rofl:

Thanks for any help,
Ernie Hodge

8

I forgot to add an image. This is where I drew an outline and is roughly where the laser was positioned when it slammed itself into the corner.

2020-10-25_16-58-52
2020-10-25_16-58-52619×593 10.5 KB

9

I don’t see a “homing” message, which means your laser isn’t homing itself. If you have the ‘Start From’ setting as ‘User Origin’ that will likely cause problems because you haven’t set one, and a machine without homing won’t know where it is anyway. If you use ‘Current Position’ it should work wherever you manually place it. If you power up with the laser head at the front-left, that will be treated as the origin and you would be able to use ‘Absolute Coords’ as well.

Since you’re not getting a beam at all, from LaserGRBL or LightBurn, I suspect you have a wiring issue, or possibly a dead laser. Double check the wiring between the laser and main board against whatever assembly instructions were given, and make sure all the connections are secure, in the right way around, etc.

Also check in Edit > Device Settings to make sure the ‘S-Value Max’ setting in LightBurn matches the 1000 you have in your $30 setting in GRBL.

10

I checked and the ‘S-Value Max’ matches the $30 setting. I will set, edit or correct the other things you mentioned and see where I’m at after that. I will report back how things go.

Thank you Oz for your reply and help,
Ernie Hodge

11

I started LightBurn using Current Position and then opened my test file. I clicked on Start and it traced the image in the corner where the laser was positioned. I then used the locator(?) icon and clicked on one of the points on the image, clicked on start and the laser moved to that point and ‘traced’ the image.

The laser does not come on and all the wiring has been checked, is in the configuration that I was given and plugged in tight.

I went back and opened the LaserGRBL software that came with the laser. It connected OK and I opened a test file. Clicked on ‘Send file to machine’ and it went through the motions of burning the image but no laser.

I hope this isn’t some stupid that I’m missing. I can’t use their software video because it’s not the one for the software they sent with the laser.

Here are a couple of errors that I got in LightBurn with probably not good desciptions of what I was doing at the time:

Waiting for connection…
Waiting for connection…
Port opened, waiting for response.
Grbl 1.1h [’$’ for help]
$0=10
$1=25
$2=0
$3=0
$4=0
$5=0
$6=0
$10=1
$11=0.010
$12=0.002
$13=0
$20=0
$21=0
$22=0
$23=0
$24=25.000
$25=500.000
$26=250
$27=1.000
$30=1000
$31=0
$32=1
$100=80.000
$101=80.000
$102=800.000
$110=5000.000
$111=5000.000
$112=500.000
$120=250.000
$121=250.000
$122=250.000
$130=200.000
$131=200.000
$132=200.000
ok
Project loaded in 1 milliseconds
<Idle|MPos:0.000,0.000,0.000|FS:0,0|WCO:50.000,-50.000,0.000>
ok
Starting stream
Layer C00
[MSG:Pgm End]
Stream completed in 0:08
Starting stream
Stream completed in 0:00
<Idle|MPos:477.750,396.025,0.000|FS:0,0|WCO:50.000,-50.000,0.000>

Then I clicked on the Home button that’s in the move panel as a graphic and got this.
ok
Starting stream
Layer C00
[MSG:Pgm End]
Stream completed in 0:08
error:5

Then I clicked the little single tab Home button and got this.
ok
Starting stream
Stream completed in 0:00
Starting stream
Stream completed in 0:00
Starting stream
Stream completed in 0:00
error:8

Then to be honest I don’t remember what I was doing and the console said for help and got this. Port opened, waiting for response. Grbl 1.1h ['’ for help]
error:5
$
[HLP:$$ $# $G $I $N $x=val $Nx=line $J=line $SLP $C $X $H ~ ! ? ctrl-x]
ok

Again I appreciate all and any help and suggestions.

Thank you,
Ernie Hodge

12

GRBL error 5 will always come up if you try to “home” the machine as you do not have homing enabled or the switches installed to support homing. The error 8 seems to have been thrown up because the machine was not idle when you issued the command to it. Here is the full text list for GRBL error codes and other messages.

13

Jim,

Thank you for the link to the error codes.

14

I finally got my laser to fire. Turns out it was the blue power button. The video that came with the laser doesn’t say how to set that so I turned it all the way down. Now it fires on low so I can focus the laser.

I think I can now get into the LightBurn videos and find out how to burn a simple project from start to finish and learn how to set up for different power levels.

I may or may not have more questions and thanks for all the help so far,
Ernie Hodge

15

We have been in the process of completely re-writing our documentation to help with this, at least this is the goal. Start with the link below, keep clicking the ‘Next Step’ button as you reach the bottom of each page until you complete the ‘Making a Simple Project’ section. That should get you rolling with a solid overview of the LightBurn basics. :slight_smile:

https://lightburnsoftware.github.io/NewDocs/BeginnerWalkthrough.html

16

Rick,

Thank you very much for that link. I will start going through that and try and get up to speed and not ask so many questions.

Thank you for your help,
Ernie Hodge

17

Then what the heck will I do. :man_shrugging:

:beach_umbrella:?
Maybe catchup on :sleeping_bed:?
Some sailing :sailboat:?

Questions are always welcome, ask away.

18

OK, I’ll ask more questions later. :rofl:

19

Hi, I have the same laser and am having the exact same issue with this laser firing until I plug it into the computer. Then the fan fires and it runs through the engraving process without the laser on. Please let me know if you’re able to fix. Thanks!

20

Lisa,
I finally got mine where I could do a test burn of an image. When I got done I unplugged the USB cord from the computer and the laser came on. Major safety issue. I’m getting with the man in China that was ‘helping’ me and I hope he can tell me why this happened. I will come back and post in here if and when I get an answer.

This is my first laser and I wish I had gone smaller in size and price. For the hassles I’ve had I almost wish I had stayed out of lasers but it’s a learning process.

So, hook everything up before you plug the laser and board to the power outlet. When you’re done unplug the power and then the computer. For now that’s probably the safe thing to do.