I’m not sure if my problem is hardware or software. I am having issues running larger programs. So many times the laser will “jump”, usually when scanning images or pictures. I talked to you at one point a while back and we thought it was speed, so I have lowered my speed to 80 or 84. That works most of the time. Last night I ran into a new issue, got half way through the project (40 minutes running) and laser head got “stuck” on one line…kept burning same line over and over. Tried running same project half size and worked fine. I have K40, Cohesion Laserboard, running this project at 85mm, 20% power (50 on machine) I haven’t changed the code to grbl yet. Could that be my problem? Sorry for the long post.
Smoothieware is not recommended for image engraving - it has too much calculation overhead and won’t process GCode quickly enough for the speeds people try to run, so that is most likely why the image is giving you trouble. GRBL-LPC processes GCode about 3 times faster or so, and is recommended if you plan to do much image engraving.
For the “engraving on one line” issue, that sounds more like your Y motor is stuck, which could be a loose stepper wire, or something sticky on the rails or belts causing the motor to skip.
Thank you so much for the response. The laser head did return to the home position ok, and was able to do the same project on a smaller scale with no problems. I will double check to see if something could possibly have gotten stuck, and clean out really well. As far as the stepper wires… I really sound like an idiot, but I have no idea where those are. I have the blue K40… what other information can I provide to help you help me?
Stepper motors are the motors that move each axis of the machine (they’re called steppers because they move in steps). The wires for them would plug into the C3D board in slots labeled X & Y - they’ll be small white plugs with 4 wires each - just make sure they’re plugged in well.
Ok, great, thank you very much. I will check them out.