Here’s the info dump:
I am using a Universal Engraver 3000mW blue CNC engraver. The instructions are chinese and some very broken english.
Currently I am using Lightburn 0.9.20 and I’m on GRBL 1.1h
When I type $$ in the console here is what I get:
$0=10
$1=100
$2=0
$3=0
$4=0
$5=0
$6=0
$10=2
$11=0.010
$12=0.002
$13=0
$20=0
$21=1
$22=1
$23=0
$24=200.000
$25=1000.000
$26=0
$27=5.000
$30=255
$31=2
$32=1
$100=84.000
$101=80.000
$102=250.000
$110=4000.000
$111=4000.000
$112=5000.000
$120=200.000
$121=200.000
$122=400.000
$130=584.000
$131=495.000
$132=40.000
I have tried very hard to solve this issue without making my own post, so I’ve messed with many settings to varying degrees of success. I should note that I have gotten decent looking burns in the past on certain settings, but the speed was always under 100mm/m and the power was at 100%. Some burns take 16 hours or more, and they don’t look perfect.
The laser controls fine and outlines the area I want, it just simply isn’t burning wood at 100% power and at 100mm/m. Going slower is not the solution I think, I must be doing something wrong. If any other information is required I am more than happy to provide it.
You do not have this firmware setting and the one in LightBurn set correctly. They need to match. This number identifies the laser increments of power or range of control. Your firmware is set to a range from 0 to 255. In LightBurn, you have this ‘S-value max’ set to 1000 increments. This mismatch need correcting. Change one or the other so they match.
Here’s the info dump:
I am using a Universal Engraver 3000mW blue CNC engraver. The instructions are chinese and some very broken english.
Currently I am using Lightburn 0.9.20 and I’m on GRBL 1.1h. I believe I am using a COM5 controller, but I will attach a picture.
When I type $$ in the console here is what I get:
$0=10
$1=100
$2=0
$3=0
$4=0
$5=0
$6=0
$10=2
$11=0.010
$12=0.002
$13=0
$20=0
$21=1
$22=1
$23=0
$24=200.000
$25=1000.000
$26=0
$27=5.000
$30=255
$31=2
$32=1
$100=84.000
$101=80.000
$102=250.000
$110=4000.000
$111=4000.000
$112=5000.000
$120=200.000
$121=200.000
$122=400.000
$130=584.000
$131=495.000
$132=40.000
I have tried very hard to solve this issue without making my own post, so I’ve messed with many settings to varying degrees of success. I should note that I have gotten decent looking burns in the past on certain settings, but the speed was always under 100mm/m and the power was at 100%. Some burns take 16 hours or more, and they don’t look perfect. Now it isn’t working at all.
The laser controls fine and outlines the area I want, it just simply isn’t burning wood at 100% power and at 100mm/m. Going slower is not the solution I think, I must be doing something wrong. If any other information is required I am more than happy to provide it.
(I know I’m double posting in 2 different categories and that’s a horrible thing to do, but I thought I would post in a different area and at a different time since I have not gotten any replies on the other one and this is an urgent issue)
Thanks for the reply! Unfortunately, I turned the $30 to 1000 and it it still not burning wood at 100% power at 150 mm/m. What else can I change? What other information would be useful? Also, what speed is considered normal? Whenever I have got it to work it was <100mm/m, is that very slow?
One of the things I just tried was putting the $31 to 500 just to make sure Lightburn wasn’t keeping the power low for some reason. Still nothing. It thinks it’s firing at 100% power, but something is still set up poorly.
I looked through this, and it lines up with changes I’ve already made. I just tried unplugging everything that was in the controller and plugging it back in, and that actually did make a difference for some reason. However, it’s still taking me an hour to fill+line a very tiny burn. I tried going at 450 mm/m and it was barely legible, and at 250 it’s still awfully faint in some areas. I’ll send a picture of the burns, and they’re all at 100% power. That does seem like I’m still not getting the full power of the laser, right?
In this pic, the top one is at 250 mm/m, the second is 150 mm/m, and the third is 150 mm/m at 0.13 interval. That third one took an hour to do. I’m trying one at 150 mm/m at 0.25 right below, as you can see.
I would guess that your hardware has a PWM that has 255 values, setting the software to 1000 would only allow your PWM to go from 0 to 25% power. Try changing the software to 255.
These number can be anything, this is just setting a control ‘range’. The idea here is, the larger the number, the more fine control to you power settings. That’s all.
The key bit is these 2 numbers, “$30 and the S-value-max”, must match as @Hollonb is saying.
So the Com 5 controller takes any number up to 1000 (if you set it to 1000) and then adjusts the actual PWM value to match the percent power you’re calling for?
$30 is the setting for Maximum spindle speed in RPM, as in turning a router spindle. Grbl was developed for CNC milling work, then added support for lasers later in the development of this firmware.
For laser use, the $30 setting provides the number of increments available for adjustment, thus finer control over energy applied to the surface of your material. ‘Zero to 100’, ‘Zero to 250’, or ‘Zero to 1000’, only changes the number of increments of output control. Just adding to the number of ‘spots on the dial’, if you will. You can set it to any number you want, but LightBurn need to know what you set it to. That is why these must match.
Yes, I have tried 255 and 1000 and there is no difference. I still do not feel like I am getting the full power of the laser, even though I have the max power to 100% while the min is hard set to 20%.
For clarity, when you change this, where are you changing the settings? I assume you mean changing both firmware and in LightBurn. Is this assumption safe?
These are the settings for the burn I’m trying to do. I cannot up the speed any more than this, the burn will look bad if I do. I’m going to run this on a piece of oak today, but the burn time is 14 hours. Is that way too high or is that reasonable for a laser like the one I have?
Also, side note, I set up lightburn so that the dimensions in lightburn are representing inches, so the 6 13 and 19 you see on the bottom and sides are in inches.
