Hi,
I am not sure where to go with the troubleshoot, but I have a funny felling this issue relates somehow to the machine settings I am using. It is not obvious though.
I have Monport 40.
My Mirror alignment check passes.
My Test Button works. With Ammeter all the way to max, I get with test button the meter measure up to 17mA, and my birch will give slight smoke and make clear mark.
I have Lightburn, and it moves my device beutifully, just no power visible.
I have checked the troubleshoot section (S-value=1000, $30=1000)
and my $110=8000.000 and $110=8000.000 mm/min as per stated to set in the Monport user guide. I also gave it a go with much lower values, hence that seems to be issue for some, but no impact on outcome, except it slowed the general speed of the head with very low numbers. Burn was equally bad. Ammeter gets max 5mA. momentarily. I also changed the settings from mm/sec and to mm/min and back, tried to burn from preset material test, as well as manually defined one. My manual test included squares with Constant Power Mode on and off, no impact.
Below are my current settings.
I have read all of internet by now, but I still do not know what happens. I run Mac. I am considering loaning a windows machine form someone to confirm if this is Lightburn related, or my device…
no one really has any hints? I have now cleaned lenses, aligned everything once again, I run my test closest to the upper corner where beam is least scattered, even if it would be due to beam scattering, and. I still do not get power out from neither LaserGRBL nor LightBurn. If I max power and slow down enough, I get at best dark brown marking to plywood. Not even dreaming of cutting through. Also to note is that limiting the power from my ammeter to minimum definitely burns the painters tape if not careful, but turning it to max does not really increase the power from the nozzle either (almost similar black mark to plywood from nozzle either way). Also: the clear buzzing sound I get when running the laser with test button is not there when I run the cut form light burn. it still feels like something limits it all down, or that the beam keeps cutting off. I have put the “continuous power” on in line, but has not had any impact.
My water pump is running, and that at least should be ok (based on display - water protection ON).
The acceleration settings in $120 and $121 seem unusually low. Because GRBL reduces the power output at slower speeds, perhaps the machine cannot reach the commanded speed in the distances available.
The RepRap calculator shows it requires 15 mm to reach 8000 mm/min = 133 mm/s. If your test patterns are about that size, GRBL will throttle the power down during nearly the entire motion.
Increase the acceleration settings to 2000 mm/s² and see if the situation changes.
However, if the machine is not rigid enough to handle higher accelerations, increasing those values can introduce other problems: watch for mechanical issues.
Also, be very certain the LightBurn units are mm/min, rather than mm/s: the machine cannot possibly reach 8000 mm/s and GRBL will be desperately throttling the output to compensate.