Inconistent homing / Laser hitting limit switches

LightBurn Software Questions
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1

Hi,

I’m just getting started in my Laser Journey (hello everyone!) and I got an Ikier K1 Pro Max 24/48W with an extension kit (from Ikier) bringing its working area to 410x750mm.

As any beginner would, I started by “playing around” with the move commands, and immediately ran into some weird behaviours… Here’s a short description of what I’m doing:

  1. Home the laser (LB > Home) → Laser comes to the lower left corner, as expected

  2. Send the laser to position 0;750 (upper left corner), then 410;750, then 410;0, then back to 0;0 → works fine.

  3. Send it to position 205;750 → Works fine

  4. Home the laser again → the laser comes to X=0 (as far as I can see), but stops at about Y=150 (roughly measured between gantry and limit switch. Console states the following:
    Homing fail. Could not find limit switch within search distance. Defined as 1.5 * max_travel on search and 5 * pulloff on locate phases.

  5. Send it back to 205;750 → Laser hits the Y limit switch.

  6. Home the laser → Same behaviour as 4

  7. Home it yet again → Back home

It looks like - at some point - the laser loses its position, but I don’t understand why, and even more why it is consistent. If I repeat this process, the exact same thing happens…

Does anyone have an explanation?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Stan

Messages from console when limit switch is hit:

ALARM:9
Homing fail. Could not find limit switch within search distance. Defined as 1.5 * max_travel on search and 5 * pulloff on locate phases.
ok
Grbl 1.1h ['$' for help]
[MSG:'$H'|'$X' to unlock]
[MSG:Caution: Unlocked]
ok
Starting stream
ALARM:1
Hard limit triggered. Machine position is likely lost due to sudden and immediate halt. Re-homing is highly recommended.
On or near line 0:
Stream completed in 0:06
[MSG:Pgm End]
ok
Grbl 1.1h ['$' for help]
[MSG:'$H'|'$X' to unlock]
ok
ALARM:1
Hard limit triggered. Machine position is likely lost due to sudden and immediate halt. Re-homing is highly recommended.
Grbl 1.1h ['$' for help]
[MSG:'$H'|'$X' to unlock]
ALARM:1
Hard limit triggered. Machine position is likely lost due to sudden and immediate halt. Re-homing is highly recommended.
Grbl 1.1h ['$' for help]
[MSG:'$H'|'$X' to unlock]
ok
2

Post Lightburn device>settings
image
Also type $$ in console window and copy/paste here the output.

3

Here is the device settings screen:

image
image694×771 26.2 KB

And the console output when typing $$:

$$
$0=10
$1=25
$2=0
$3=7
$4=0
$5=0
$6=0
$10=1
$11=0.010
$12=0.002
$13=0
$20=0
$21=1
$22=1
$23=3
$24=200.000
$25=2000.000
$26=250
$27=4.000
$30=1000
$31=0
$32=1
$33=1
$34=10
$35=1
$100=100.000
$101=100.000
$102=1600.000
$110=50000.000
$111=20000.000
$112=1000.000
$120=4000.000
$121=1000.000
$122=500.000
$130=410.000
$131=410.000
$132=120.000
$140=30000.000
$141=20000.000
$142=1000.000
$143=2000.000
$144=1000.000
$145=500.000
$150=6000.000
$151=6000.000
$152=1000.000
$153=1000.000
$154=500.000
$155=500.000
ok
4

Hi!

A few observations
Alarm 1 tend to be touches of the switches after homing and during a job.

I am assuming you have an extended Ikier.
Have you triple checked the Y axis belts?

Something else that seems a mismatch is your Edit > Device settings shows 750mm Y
But your settings only 410
$130=410.000
$131=410.000 (This is Y)

1 Like
5

Your laser does not lose its position at any time. You just configured it incorrectly. As Gil already mentioned, in your firmware, the workspace size is set to 410x410 mm. This is what your laser expects as maximum travel. But since you told him not to care about these limits ($20=0), it just moves further (to 750 in Y).
So you moved the head far beyond its known workspace. When you now tell the laser to home, it searches for the limit switches, but only moves 615 mm in each direction (1.5*max_travel, 615 mm in your case). Since it could not find any switch, it raised an alarm. At this moment, the position is undefined, not usable for the laser. Position is now unknown / unsafe.

So: set
$130 (x maximum travel) to your actual x-travel distance (better measure than trust any manual)
$131 (y maximum travel) to your actual y-travel distance
and
$20 (soft limits) to 1

2 Likes
6

@misken and @gilaraujo : Thank you for these very enlightening inputs… the machine (out of factory) indeed has a 410x410mm dimension, so it totally makes sense.

Any hints on how/where to set the correct values ($130, $131 and $20)?

1 Like
7

You can input those values in Lightburn console window.

Example: $131=750
8

Will it then remain as a permanent value?

I’ll try this anyway, but here in Belgium, the day is ending, and Friday is apero and drinks day, so I’ll make sure to stay away from the laser until tomorrow morning :smiley:

1 Like
9

Yes, it will.

Here in Germany, the wife is doing the same and the kids are allowed to watch some TV, so there is free time for lasers :wink:

2 Likes
10

All of it while you (and others) are kindly responding to noobs who just bought a new toy and are trying to figure out how the hell it works…

Thanks to you all for the support, I hope I won’t get back here crying for help tomorrow morning but… who knows :smiley:

Let’s consider this topic hopfully closed.

Stan

1 Like
11

Hi,

Problem seems indeed solved by inputting $131=750 and $20=1 :smiley:

Thanks again for your help. @misken : I also discovered your wiki, read a lot and offered you a coffee (even if, IMHO, a Paulaner would be a better choice…). Who knows, maybe I’ll end up with a Lightburn license… would be great since I’m still on the trial version :slight_smile:

++

Stan

2 Likes
12

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