The variation is curious…are you using the ‘Start’ button in LightBurn each time?
What does the job look like in the Preview window? (Alt+P) do you see the issue and the variations?
Please attach the LightBurn project file (.lbrn2) and the Ruida (.rd) output file (use the ‘Save RD file’ button in the Laser Window).
Hi Nicholas, yes, I use the ‘Start’ button, I have not changed anything to my knowledge, just changed my laptop (work upgraded it for me Mac laptop (M4 chip) Mac OS: Sequoia 15.5. I have Ruida controller, and have ‘Ruida’ chosen in Lightburn.
Did some more cut tests this morning. See attached photo of 5 different scale image cuts (marked the card only with a low power setting) Small one went fine, wierd variations on each one after that as you will see.
Now, to top it off, when I press start, I get travel of the laser, but no beam!! No beam at all, even nothing in the tube. So I tried to use the Laser interface panel and select one of the inbuilt files, presto, it cut it perfectly. Went to use Lightburn again, this time, not even any travel of the laser, it just stayed in the home position and made a ‘beep’ as it does at the end of a job!
Now it gets interesting, turned laser off then on, went to cut the same file in Lightburn, laser traveled perfectly around, but very, very weak laser coming out of nozzle. Barely noticeable, so I turned up the power to get it to make a mark (all jobs are being cut on big sheets of thin card) I did notice, the travel was not very smooth, seemed to go fast, slow, fast slow, and the marks show this as well, darker in places, but, the images were perfect!! When I look at the interface, the trace of the laser shows gaps, never seen that before, see the pics I attach of the laser screen and the preview in Lightburn. I saved the RD file on the last cut I attempted (On brown card, see pic of cut) This is the cut with virtually no laser power at all, very weak!
Thank you, any help will be much appreciated, regards Richard
I have images but cannot see where to attach them? Regards RIchard
The machine display shows it’s using a USB connection:
Ruida USB never works well, so using the machine’s Ethernet connection, rather than USB, will solve the problem.
USB problems seems significantly worse with LightBurn 2.0, regardless of the PC hardware.
Previous discussions:
I wouldn’t go quite as far as saying that, since I know there are many people who use their machines with LightBurn over USB cable.
That said, funnily enough I happened to be using my machine with LightBurn 2.0.04 earlier today and noticed LightBurn freeze until I disconnected the USB cable, which is not normal, but it wasn’t the USB cable I normally use so it may have been a bad cable, but need to investigate further.
Ethernet is certainly a better option though and I recommend the LightBurn Bridge setup.
When connected to Ruida by USB cable, the more controlled ‘Send’ or “Shift+Send” (Starts only after successful transfer) is a far better option than ‘Start’. ‘Start’ is known to be occasionally less than reliable (the controller might start the job before it has received the entire file which could be bad if there is a transfer glitch during the tail end of the file) which is one of the reasons why the option exists to disable the ‘Start’ button in the UI:
So I recommend that you follow @ednisley’s advice and look into using the superior ethernet connection, but remember you also have the “Send” option over USB cable which you should start using immediately and if that is not working for you - the files by USB flash drive method - both which are more reliable options than “Start” (That is, if you were using the “Start” from LightBurn… “Start” from the Machine is fine).
Aaaand you get another debugging path:
- When the LightBurn
Previewlooks good and - The machine doesn’t produce the expected result from the file stored on the machine and
- Running the stored file twice produces the same result
Then:
- The file was damaged in transit and
- It’s time to get with the Ethernet thing.
OK, got that sorted with going Ethernet, all fixed. Now, a huge loss of power comparison between the Ruida stored file of a circle, which will cut according to the ruida LCD interface, at 95% power, giving a reading of 22 ma on the meter, and cut through 9mm MDF, compared with a small square in LIghtburn, set at 12mm/sec speed, 80 max power, 60 min power, which will give me a ma reading of over 30ma! and not quite cut through 3mm mdf. I will attach pics of both the ruida controller on the first cut (successful) and the Lightburn interface on the second cut (unsuccessful)
The 4 mm/s speed is likely below the controller’s Start Speed, which will limit it to the Min power level. That should have no effect, because the Min and Max power levels are equal, but it’s worth keeping in mind.
Does the machine display show the 80/60% power during the cut?
Does it behave the same way when you Send the file and start it from the machine? Twice?
Is the machine’s Flash file system full? Use the LightBurn File List to delete a handful of files you don’t need and free up some space, then try running the failing file again.
That is strange.
But really, the only way to properly compare is with the same speed and power.
Thank you for the responses, what I did was duplicate the setting on both Ruida controller, and Lightburn. What I am getting now is exactly the same cutting result, so that is consistent. I saved the Lightburn file as a RD file to thumb drive, went through the UDisk import/save on the Ruida controller, and found the LCD Ruida interface had captured the cutting speed, max and min cutting power exactly.
I would be interested in any thoughts on the cutting result I am getting, which I do feel is a little low. The cut also appears to be on a slight bevel. Please see attached pic. of a piece of 9mm thick MDF. Your opinions would be appreciated. Mirrors clean and aligned prior to cut.
I forgot to mention, the laser tube is 150w