LightBurn send hangs after the job completes

This is my first post so hello from Canada.

I am in the process of etching 45 identical plaques four at a time. As the title suggests, after a few passes running the job, Lightburn just stops and waits for the laser to finish. Yet the laser has already returned to its origin as if finished. I have to close the program and restart it again to run the rest of the plaques.

My laser is an AtomStack A5 30W (5 watt laser) running GRBL 1.1

Any help as to why this happens would be appreciated.

Thanks

SP

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Hi Dave,

Welcome to the forum :slight_smile:

I’m just going to throw a bunch of questions at you all at once just to gather some more information;

When the laser returns to origin, is that after the completion of one of the passes? or just at random?

If you ran the job again would it do exactly the same thing at the same part of the program?

When you restart the program are you able to continue the same job and recover it? (Do you load and etch 4 plaques in one run?)

Are you sometimes able to run the same or similar jobs without any issues at all?

What is the reported status here?

image

Can you see any errors in the Console?

What version of LightBurn are you using?

If you could send a screen shot of your Device settings page that may also be helpful.

Thanks.

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When the laser returns to origin, is that after the completion of one of the passes? or just at random?
It is random. Sometimes after two runs. Sometimes after more.

If you ran the job again would it do exactly the same thing at the same part of the program?
Funny you should ask that. It never stopped mid program. Just at the end of the job. Yet just about 30 minutes ago it did stop mid program. Strange?

When you restart the program are you able to continue the same job and recover it? (Do you load and etch 4 plaques in one run?)
I restart the program, reload the etch file and start over again on the next batch.

Are you sometimes able to run the same or similar jobs without any issues at all?
This has happened on other large runs as well.

What is the reported status here?

image

It stalls at 99% complete yet the laser has already returned to its origin.

Can you see any errors in the Console?
The console shows that it is still trying to complete the last layer.

What version of LightBurn are you using?
LightBurn 1.1.04 but it also happens with the newer version.

If you could send a screen shot of your Device settings page that may also be helpful.
Unfortunately, because I am new to this forum, I am not sure how to upload and display an image. I can after I find out how to do that.

Sorry if my reply didn’t provide enough info for you but I appreciate your help.

Dave

Just to add, it only stopped mid program after three of the four layers were complete. It would not start the fourth layer.

Dave

Hi Dave,

Thanks.

Interesting problem, it seems like the laser somehow just stops communicating with LightBurn?

In Device Settings what is the Baud Rate, and Transfer mode set at?

Might be some sort of electrical glitch - what happens if you disconnect the power from the laser module and run the job again, will the job finish correctly? Or same thing?

I tried with the laser disconnected. Same thing.

LightBurn seems to communicate fine using the above settings.

Check if you got the latest version of lightburn.
Replace the cable with another and try again.
Check for firmware updates for your laser; if that’s available.

Try changing Transfer mode to “Synchronous”.

Then go into your console and toggle on “Show All”. Next time something goes awry, copy and paste from the console window the last commands that were sent to the laser. Also, for context, copy and paste the first 20 or so lines at the start that show the connection being made to the laser.

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Thanks Nicholas. I will do that and post what I find the next time it happens.

Update. I changed the comm setting to “Synchronous” as suggested and haven’t had any issues yet. I report back when I do my next large run.

Thanks everyone!

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