Issue with 'Return to Origin' on Fox Alien XE-Pro (20W Laser)

LightBurn Hardware Compatibility GRBL
1

I have a Fox Alien XE-Pro with the 20W laser, and I’m running into an issue with the ‘Return to Origin’ function in LightBurn. When I click the ‘Return to Origin’ button, the laser moves to the top right corner of the machine, even though I start my job at the bottom left.

Here’s how I’m replicating the issue:

  1. Open my project in LightBurn.
  2. Click ‘Home’ Setting: (Start from: ‘User Origin’).
  3. In the ‘Move’ tab, I click ‘Clear Origin’, then set ‘Origin’.
  4. I move the machine ‘Up’ and then ‘Right’ (away from the bottom left).
  5. I click ‘Go to Origin’.

At this point, instead of returning to the bottom left, the laser moves all the way to the top right corner and triggers the alarm switches.

Heres the console output I copied while performing the above steps:

Waiting for connection…
Grbl 1.1h [‘$’ for help]
[MSG:‘$H’|‘$X’ to unlock]
error:9
G-code locked out during alarm or jog state.
[MSG:Caution: Unlocked]
ok
[VER:1.1h.20190825:]
[OPT:V,15,128]
Target buffer size found
ok
Project loaded in 44 milliseconds
ok
<Idle|MPos:-15.6299,-15.6299,-0.1181|Bf:15,127|FS:0.0,0|WCO:0.0000,0.0000,-0.7087>
ok
Starting stream
[MSG:Pgm End]
Stream completed in 0:00
<Idle|MPos:-15.6299,-15.3799,-0.1181|Bf:15,127|FS:0.0,0|WCO:0.0000,0.0000,-0.7087>
ok
Starting stream
[MSG:Pgm End]
Stream completed in 0:00
Starting stream
[MSG:Pgm End]
Stream completed in 0:07

2

It’s likely that your machine position after homing is not 0,0 or your machine is configured with a negative coordinate system. Negative coordinate systems are common with CNC based machines which I assume yours is.

If using LightBurn 1.6 or newer this can be remedied by enabling the “CNC Machine” option in Edit->Settings. This is more involved in previous versions.

Find more information here:
For 1.6 or newer: Device Settings: Basic Settings - LightBurn Documentation
Legacy: GRBL Configuration - LightBurn Documentation

3

I also tried that setting. Up and down commands became inverted. And still the same issue with returning to origin. It would still go to the top right.

It’s so frustrating because I revert back to using Lasergrbl and seems to not have this issue. But Im really trying hard to figure out light burn because of its superior capabilities.

4

Up and down. As well as left and right commands became inverted.

5

Disable the “CNC Machine” setting and then please provide these items:

  1. Full screenshot of LightBurn with Laser window in view
  2. Screenshot of Edit->Device Settings
  3. Can you confirm that your machine homes to the bottom-left?
  4. Run these commands in Console and return the full output:
$H
$I
$$
$#
?
6

LightburnScreenshot
LightburnScreenshot1910×1019 262 KB

DeviceSettings
DeviceSettings673×743 82.5 KB

  1. I can confirm that when I press Home, it goes to the bottom left. (then if i press return to origin, it’ll start heading to the top right)

  2. Here is the output:
    [MSG:Pgm End]

Stream completed in 0:00

ok

$H

$I

$$

$#

?

<Home|WPos:-15.6299,-15.6299,0.5906|FS:0.0,0|WCO:0.0000,0.0000,-0.7087>

ok

[VER:1.1h.20190825:]

[OPT:V,15,128]

Target buffer size found

ok

$0=10

$1=255

$2=0

$3=1

$4=0

$5=0

$6=0

$10=0

$11=0.010

$12=0.002

$13=1

$20=0

$21=1

$22=1

$23=3

$24=100.000

$25=1000.000

$26=250

$27=3.000

$30=10000

$31=0

$32=1

$100=400.000

$101=400.000

$102=400.000

$110=5000.000

$111=5000.000

$112=5000.000

$120=300.000

$121=300.000

$122=300.000

$130=400.000

$131=400.000

$132=100.000

ok

[G54:0.0000,0.0000,-0.7087]

[G55:0.0000,0.0000,0.0000]

[G56:0.0000,0.0000,0.0000]

[G57:0.0000,0.0000,0.0000]

[G58:0.0000,0.0000,0.0000]

[G59:0.0000,0.0000,0.0000]

[G28:0.0000,0.0000,0.0000]

[G30:0.0000,0.0000,0.0000]

[G92:0.0000,0.0000,0.0000]

[TLO:0.0000]

[PRB:0.0000,0.0000,0.0000:0]

ok

ok

7

I see a couple of potential issues.

  1. When you enable “CNC Machine” in Edit->Device Settings, you should also set origin to Top-Right. This should address the issue with inverted controls. This by itself may address the issues you’re having.
  2. However, I notice also that your machine is configured to report in inches.

I suspect this is also going to be a problem but not directly related to the issue at hand. Unless someting has changed I believe LightBurn depends on this being configured to report in millimeters for the machine to work correctly. Note that this is unrelated to the display or speed units that you can configured to inches without issue.

I suggest first making the CNC Machine change. If you have issues with scale, then change $13 to report in millimeters by issuing:

$13=0