I have just started encountering a problem engraving onto wood where my entire image will shift vertically (with the path of the laser) mid burn. Everything was working just fine until had to switch over to a new laptop to control my emblaser2. The new laptop is running A fresh copy of Windows 10 and a new installation of LightBurn. I suspect this is a software problem. Anybody seen an issue like this before?
Why do you suspect it’s a software problem? If you save the gcode to a file you can use an online gcode simulator to prove that it is (or isn’t) the generated gcode.
1 Like
You’ll have to bear with me, I am new to all this. I don’t even know where to begin diagnosing problems. The reason I thought software is that the hardware seemed to be doing what it was supposed to be doing, but the inputs were being knocked off in one axis so to speak. The changes I made were the laptop, the version of LightBurn and the OS. I will try to run the gcode in an simulator (open to recommendations of course). Of course I am also willing to consider that it could be hardware problems too.
Thank you for your help, I have run the gcode and it all looks good. So I figure my problem is either in the way the laptop talks to the burner, or the way the burner is interpreting the gcode.
Check that the rails aren’t sticky anywhere, and that you aren’t trying to go too fast - If you’re engraving an image, stock Smoothieware (which is used by the Emblaser 2) has a maximum speed of about 800 gcode instructions per second. At 0.1mm (254 DPI) that makes exactly 80mm/sec. If you try to go faster than that (or finer at that speed) it can cause drops where the image shifts.
1 Like
I’ve been in contact with darkly labs and their initial response mentioned speed as well. Your explanation really helps me understand what the issue could be. I am trying a test right now to slow the laser Down at lower power and see if I get a clean burn off of it. I may be just pushing it at too high of a speed. Thanks for your help.
Just to update, yes I slowed down my laser and it is burning properly. So the problem was I was pushing smoothie past where it could handle. Computer talking to laser. Thanks for the help!
2 Likes
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.