So,
Another update. Today I updated Lightburn and renewed my license. I also plugged the printer directly into a USB port on the motherboard, no hubs or extension cables.
I printed the same file on Lightburn and XCS.
Here are the two results (ignore the one glue line - I was using scrap wood):
Looks like the top one has no overscan and is using M3 constant power so it stops and burns deep before going the other way. I assume XCS.
The bottom one I can assume is Lightburn using M4 (since there’s a bit of gradient for the power ramp) but also the artifacts are easier to see because of it. Which happens to look like belt/stepper bounce from not having enough overscan to reach engrave speed after a sharp turnaround. Think ghosting/ringing in 3d printer terms.
The acceleration on the D1 might be too high (nothing you can do about it, as they don’t allow changing). Another thing that could be causing it, is how it’s ran. Are you using buffered or synchronous? There might be a bottleneck if it’s waiting on ok responses. Using XCS actually sends the entire file to the machine and runs it locally, whereas Lightburn streams each line via serial to the command buffer.
Generate the same project in both, export the gcode, and upload here for analysis. See what the difference is in the generation.
The top picture is actually Lightburn with constant power turned off.
The bottom, one which is much cleaner, and correct, is XCS with all the same speed settings, and power settings.
That’s what I’m saying, light burn does not behave correctly and this all started a few months ago I printed flawlessly for years.
I am familiar with what you were talking about, however. I live breathe and eat 3-D printing and a very familiar with acceleration. I have all my 3D printers tuned to eliminate that.
Another thing, why can’t light burn simply work around this issue and somehow put things in a buffer or is there some proprietary hardware that doesn’t allow Lightbourn to send everything at once? It makes zero sense for this professional software to perform so poorly when the free stuff works great.
I might add, the new ecstasy software is absolutely amazing. It’s 10,000% better than it was a year ago.
This is interesting, but I should have noticed that myself and got them backwards. I run all my projects from the machine itself and get the ringing artifacts so I should have caught that. My bad.
I wonder if one of the problems is the cable you’re using. Have you tried any other USB cables? I know the one that comes with the XTool is a bit iffy.
As another user here has pointed out.
However, you can always use my wireless solution if you want. Which is how I always run things; just do up the project, export gcode, drag/drop onto the sender. When it says ‘ok’ hit enter to close, walk to machine, bap the button to start.
Edit; also has a feature request to vote for.
Thank you!! That’s super exciting - so the wireless gcode method will load the entire code into the buffer of the machine and take the host PC completely out of the equation? That’s the best of both worlds…
Quick question, will I still be able to frame everything up like normal, and the gcode will simply start where I have the laser?
I’m just used to tracing the outline manually with the low powered laser by hand - then verify with the frame feature before manually setting to my start position. Then I hit start.
Depends on if you’re using current position, user origin, or absolute coords in Lightburn. You’ll likely want current position, then yes it’ll work as you expect.
Personally, I made the effort to make a repeatable origin so I don’t have to frame or guess. I just know it’ll be correct every time. 
I have a redesign in mind, but currently I have a board underneath my D1 Pro with corner feet mounts to make the machine not move around. Then I have two squares that line up with the front and left of the board to make my absolute corner.
My workflow is basically make a simple representation of what I’m engraving with a non-output layer (I use layer 27 usually, because when non-output it kinda matches the background grid), shove it into the lower left corner of the workspace, do up my project, send to the machine via wifi, and tap the button. No fiddling or fudging with lining up or framing and I get exact results each time.
If it’s a complicated object, I’ll either scan it or take a picture, and import the image and scale properly, or other methods to make my virtual lineup. Also makes for a highly repeatable mass-production run. Just swap out materials and keep hitting the button.
That’s a nice workflow for sure!
Yes, current position is what I use since I manually set it.
In my situation, I make wooden plaques and each one is a different size.
Since I route the edges of the plaques, I have to measure the printable dimensions of each plaque every time. I then take these dimensions and make a rectangle in Lightburn and turn it to “off” so I can see it, but it doesn’t print.
I then design my work inside that printable rectangle.
Next, I take the plaque, set it in the center of my printer and then fire up the laser on 1.5%. I then manually trace all 4 sides by moving the gantry with my hands. This ensures that all 4 sides are straight - and it will match my invisible frame.
Then I highlight the entire design including the invisible frame and hit the frame button and watch as it frames with the low power laser. If all went according to plan, and it usually does) it will make a perfect trace around the edges of my routed plaque’s printable face.
Then I manually put the dot in the lower left corner of the printable face so it matches my print origin corner in the software - then I hit print.
This is a perfect workflow for me - so I hope that will translate when when I replace hitting START in Lightburn proper, and start using the above wifi method.
I’m actually excited again. There’s no reason to troubleshoot and try and fix the system resources that are causing the hiccups over USB if I can use this new WiFi method and let the machine handle the workload at once.
Sounds like it should be the solution you’re looking for.
Thanks again - I know what I’m doing tomorrow!!
Update:
So, the WiFi method you shared works absolutely perfectly. I can even use it while the machine is wired for framing purposes.
Buuuut, when I first set the WiFi method up this morning, stuff started acting really weird. Everything printed via wifi was really light, everything printed via usb was different between xcs and lightburn even though the settings were the same in each instance.
I got fed up and uninstalled Lightburn and ALL preferences. Reinstalled. And BOOM. No matter what method I use (Lightburn USB, Lightburn WiFI or XCS) it all prints perfectly AND consistently.
Most importantly, the Lightburn USB etching you see here was under FULL system load with three monitors of action and streaming going on.
So strange! But I’m super happy now and have lots of options!!
Thanks again!
Here are the before and after pics From just today.
Glad to hear you got it resolved. I guess sometimes the ol’ “turn it off and back on” method even works with software. 
My guess is there was some setting that accidentally got changed and couldn’t figure out which one it was.
