Laser shuts off during etching

Community Laser Talk
1

I am etching small wooden boxes and after a few minutes into the etching the laser shuts off but the machine keeps moving. I took out the box lids and put a scrape piece of wood and the laser etches the image. when I place a new box lid and hit start the etching goes for a few minutes and shuts off.

I have ruined two box lids and I cannot figure out what I am doing wrong. I have the same settings on the scrape wood as I do the box lids. I have a x-carve 1000mm with j-tech 7w laser

$0=10 $1=255 $2=0 $3=3 $4=0 $5=0 $6=0 $10=115 $11=0.020 $12=0.002 $13=0 $20=0 $21=0 $22=0 $23=3 $24=25.000 $25=750.000 $26=250 $27=1.000 $30=1000 $31=0 $32=1 $100=40.000 $101=40.000 $102=188.976 $110=8000.000 $111=8000.000 $112=500.000 $120=500.000 $121=500.000 $122=50.000 $130=284.000 $131=284.000 $132=100.000 ok
2

Are you suggesting that the simple act of changing the substrate you are burning has the effect of turning your laser off? This is not possible. The laser knows nothing about what you are wanting to burn. There has to be something else going on and your observation is a coincidence.

Do you happen to be using a USB extension? Do you have a sleep of the USB ports as part of energy savings settings in your OS? Is this a large picture where the laser could be overheating after several tries and that is the coincidence? I am now just guessing…

More information please.

3

Do you see any error messages in the LightBurn console window when the job stops?

If the laser is shutting off but the machine is still moving, I would assume one of the following:

  • The laser is overheating and shutting itself off (I do not know if the JTech lasers do this)
  • You have a loose wire or bad connection somewhere
4

I wasn’t saying that. I was sharing the inconsistency of the laser.

I attempted it a few times after my post after restarting everything. And it still shuts off part way even on my scrap

5

I was not seeing error message but I took a break and can check later.

I will recheck my wiring.

This was the first etching of the day and was only on for a few minutes.

6

What power settings are you using for the engraving?
Watch the tube when it stops working. Is it lighting?
Check the tube. Is it hot? Might be warping.

7

He has an X-carve machine with a diode laser - no tube.

8

I was able to figure out there was a loose wire in the back of the controller.

9

Was referring to the metal tube after the last lens. Not there either?

10

Nope - Diode lasers are solid state, and the whole unit sits where the lens tube on a CO2 system sits.

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