I was hoping to see GRBL version information with the $I so that we could determine how to configure your laser. It’s concerning that it’s not reporting anything.
Can you try this. Click “Show all” in Console. Then power cycle the laser. If LightBurn doesn’t reconnect then right click on Devices. Make sure the correct port is selected.
It should have shown you some bootup information for the laser.
I’m finally certain that your machine is an Eleksmaker A3 Pro or clone.
It’s likely running an old version of GRBL. In which case you’d have to configure the device type in LightBurn to GRBL-M3.
Even better, you can update the firmware on the Nano to a newer version of GRBL and use the better “GRBL” device type. However, you may lose the ability to use Benbox if that’s a concern. I believe you can always change back if you want.
If you can provide the requested information in the previous post hopefully we can sort it out.
In the boot it says benbox, I ASSume that means it is benbox… Yet I don’t know lasers this is the 1st time for me lol
So I tried GRBL-M3 like you suggested…This time I restarted Lightburn Well it works sort of
now the laser won’t shut down, I hit the fire button twice or the reset.
Also it show 1 of 49 passes and when I run gcode it goes but after 6 mins it’s just burning a hole
in the wood, I believe it does 1 pass then repeats it … right ??? But it doesn’t look like that
I hope this is easier then the 1st problem
This is before I changed to GRBL- M3
Hit the laser button it fired
Tried the $I again same response
$$ and then ? with the ? it just continued till I hit stop
Waiting for connection…
benbox laser 3.1(c) mul 2015.06.06
start
ok
ok
Waiting for connection…
Waiting for connection…
benbox laser 3.1(c) mul 2015.06.06
start
ok
ok
M3
G1 F100 S0.1
ok
ok
S0
G0
M5
ok
ok
ok
$I
$I
ok
$$
$$
ok
?
?
ok
?
ok
?
ok
?
ok
?
ok
?
ok
?
ok
?
ok
?
ok
?
ok
?
ok
?
ok
…This last character is an arrow pointing up
This is the console when hitting start
Head moves as if working but no laser
Not sure if it might help
Essentially, open laserGRBL. Go to Tools->Flash GRBL Firmware.
Pick Arduino Nano as Target. And suggest you first try v1.1h custom firmware.
Keep in mind that this will require some post flashing setup. Minimally for work area if you want soft limits to work. Possibly also for homing direction.
Some things you’ll want to note before making this change:
Does your laser go through a homing process when you power-on?
If so, to where does it home?
What are the coordinates when you are homed? Check this using Get Position in Move window.
What are the overall dimensions of your frame? This might be in your documentation.
Not surprised that comes up blank. It uses the same mechanism as $$ to get the information and that didn’t work either.
laserGRBL is a different program entirely from LightBurn. It is also quite popular for laser burning and is free and open source. You can find it in the link I included.
Okay. That could make this simpler although you still want to get the configuration correct.
$20 is used to enable soft-limits. It’s up to you if you want to use this. This can prevent crashes if setup properly.
$130, $131 set X and Y size of your engraving area respectively in millimeters. These will need to be setup for the soft-limits to work.
This should match the dimensions you enter for LB workspace size (again in millimeters). They should all be in agreement but determined by your physical dimensions.
Since your system doesn’t have limit switches and setup to home it should be assigning 0,0 to wherever the laser head is at startup. As part of your startup procedure have the head be at front left.
Ok
Don’t think I completely understand soft limits or how to set up and how much do I need them.
Soft limits… I think is when it gets to the end (limit switch would stop it) soft limits stop it a little earlier
This morning I was moving it around and it seamed to know its limits(it would either stop just before or at the end, if I hit the go button (move to position set at x0 and y0) it would go to the front left(later I changed Something, (I don’t remember) it would go to the back right)) then moved it with the x and y arrows say 5 inches then moved it back 1/2 " in both by hand, when I hit the go button again it would hit the end and try to go further(vibrate)
I hope that made sense
Work area $130=400 and $131=300 don’t look the same
This is probably for another thread (I haven’t checked the forum for that yet)… I tried to burn txt It would go to position, the laser would lite but wouldn’t burn!