This is to let you know you are not alone. We have had our lasers (xTool D1) about the same length of time and I have the same problems that you do. The default acceleration and speeds seem to be hard coded into the firmware of the D1. My laser fails when beginning or ending traversal moves, often when switching from engraving to cutting. I have included a crude cross hatch test grid that I have been using to test if changes I make improve the D1s performance or not. For me each row prints fine, but when it switches rows that is another story. The next row can be shifted in either the x-axis, y-axis or both. grid fill cross hatch slower.lbrn (60.5 KB)
Things that have helped me were reducing the belt tension about 1/3 of a turn, wiping down all of the rails with a lint free cloth and applying a very thin coat of silicone oil to the rails. You might not believe that what actually makes the most difference is increasing the room temperature to 75 to 85F. It takes several hours for the D1 to warm up but then it actually seems to work. I have not (yet) had a failure when it was hot. Until xTool lets us lower the max acceleration I am going to be sweating when Iâm cutting.
Note: I was using the test file on heavy mat board and in places it did cut through.
Thanks for the info, Iâll try that out. I have it mostly working for my current project, but it was a TON of fussing to get jumps out of laser path and going 80 mm/sec. I cant tell you how happy I would be if your tips get this working until firmware update.
It definitely accelerates faster than the burn settings on traverses, I think it is going for 100mm/sec.
I do not have fast whitespace travel on.
As much at I like this hardware I am considering returning it. I can always buy another one if they fix the firmware so we can adjust machine settings. I have tried to press tech support on a timeline for firmware update, no direct answer yet.
If you canât control acceleration settings for rotary youâre pretty much going to have a bad time. Rotaries are finicky even under good conditions.
Do you know if the native Laserbox software is able to change acceleration and uses the same GRBL configurations? If so, maybe itâs possible to change the setting from Laserbox and have it stick?
I havenât gotten âLaserboxâ software to connect to xTool D1.
The âLaserbox Basicâ software does communicate, but it does not have the option to change hardware values.
I sent xTool support a copy of my lightburn file and test burns.
They have not directly addressed or acknowledged that the hardware settings are not writeable.
Their latest reply is below in full, but they mention that:
We will release a new software and firmware version in the near future.
Low light positioning and offset compensation function will be added, when the new version is released
I do not understand how either of those could effect this problem, am I wrong?
I replied to them that:
I need to know if the new firmware will allow me to write hardware values to the controller.
I have attached a picture of the settings panel that should be writable in lightburn. (Edit > Machine Settings)
When you write to machine settings, it says it is successful, but nothing changes.
When you read the values back from machine controller they are still the defaults.
Hopefully I will get a clear answer, Iâll share if I do, thanks for all the help.
The first image in their reply below is the burn they made from my test file, the second is one I made
Dear
We will release a new software and firmware version in the near future.
Low light positioning and offset compensation function will be added, when the new version is released
Please update and use it in time, hope it will be helpful to you, if you canât solve it, please contact us
And please confirm if the shift derection is Y axis or X aixsďź
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P.S. I can edit any post but the first one⌠if anyone wants to edit my misspelling of losing in the thread name they are welcome to loosing is almost what is happening I guess, but not what I meant to type
It seems theyâre calling whatâs causing the âshiftingâ as offset compensation but that sounds odd. And unless they explicitly say so I wouldnât expect them to allow for grbl configuration changes. It seems this is a deliberate choice that some vendors make and not a bug.
I waited too long to return it, I hope they fix the firmware so I donât have to do a brain transplant.
I do like the hardware.
I bought an Ortur Laser Master 2 Pro S2 SF to get me through for now, hope it brings me joy
They sell the D1 as LightBurn compatible, logo and all. In my opinion until they unlock hardware settings thatâs⌠a bold sales pitch.
I can still use the xTool D1 with good results for simple scanning tasks on single images with few excess motion issues, though more than I would like. Certainly frustrating to go back and forth between software when Iâm convinced I could just stay in LightBurn if those darn hardware values would stick. Thanks again for the help while I pulled my hair out.
Well, given that itâs never worked as expected you could probably press them for a return. But thatâs your prerogative.
There are other manufacturers that lock out GRBL changes as I recently discovered. Atomstack does this same thing but have worked out their GRBL configuration to work well enough as to not absolutely require changes. I assume xToolsâs strategy is similar here.
So are you using Laserbox Basic with the D1? Are you saying that even with Laserbox Basic youâre not getting the performance that you expect from the machine? Iâm wondering then if you still have some hardware issuesâŚ
photo engraving is mostly just LightBurn and it works, except for occasional laser jittering that drills little staggered holes. jarvis and stucki have higher likelihood of this problem. Adjusting textures just a little can often eliminate this. very odd.
for a single vector shape, flawless with LightBurn. add more and you never have any reason or consistency on if or where it will lose alignment.
Now the fun stuff. I do plates of 24 business cards, all unique graphics. that ends up being 300 elements.
I do my layout in LightBurn (with some gimp pre processing of elements when needed)
I include in burn a vertical line covering the left framing line. It prevents fast whitespace traverse on empty horizontal rows. This is KEY (laser scans back and forth making dots, does not vector up. silly but it works)
I export each layer to individual .svg files
I import the .svg files as individual layers in gimp.
I tweak the text and QR codes to be true black and fuss with shading.
I export layers to a single flattened .png or .bmp
I import that one image into LightBurn, burn from bottom to top.
That usually works, occasionally I have to adjust textures that cause the the same jitter as photo engraving.
Thatâs elaborate. I had considered the idea of using placeholder objects to avoid the fast travel but though it overly cumbersome. Sounds like you made do.
Have you tried using LightBurnâs in-built convert to bitmap instead of making the roundtrip to Gimp? Iâm assuming it doesnât have the flexibility that you need to avoid the problem scenarios.
I might be able to make it work, I suppose if I converted text and QR codes first, blackened them, then converted to bitmap again with all of burn⌠hmmm⌠if it works that would save some fus. Iâll definitely try it.
I do think the hardware is pretty well constructed, and the combining diode is powerful for a diode.
I am interested in researching a brain transplant if xTool comes back with bad news, I donât really want to be the first to do it thoughâŚ
Are there other elements of the design that require dithering to be applied? Could you set the image to threshold mode to force everything to black?
A hardware swap probably wouldnât be so hard, especially if you went with a board meant for lasering (rather than a generic 3d control board).
It would be interesting to see if you could just flash your own firmware onto the existing board. Iâd be surprised if there werenât efforts already underway to do this. Do you know what processor and USB chip is in the D1?
Yes I have many levels of grey that I need to preserve in the image so i can adjust badly contrasted ones.
That might be the better way to do the text layer, iâll try it.
EDIT:
I will have to play with the .bmp export more, but I think I may be understanding your meaning.
I think you are saying the .bmp can have the stucki/newsprint/greyscale and enhancement effects flattened to B&W pixels for the burn if I do it correctly. I will work on this.
I am about to do some modifications to my âtankâ so Iâll be pulling laser out anyway today.
Iâll see what I can see and take some good pictures.
That is certainly the right place to start isnât it.
Not a day goes bye that I dont love lightburn more (I just started using masking tool, powerfull)
I definitely cant use Laserbox Basic now⌠too spoiled. Nice work team, I wonder what Iâll learn tomorrow.
I think you are correct, no plan to unlock hardware values.
The latest from tech support is below.
I sent them the picture, they asked about this before and I have checked belt alignment a few times during this ordeal, always perfect, I havenât adjusted that one from factory other than belt tension.
support (support)
Jan 10, 2022, 5:52 UTC
Dear,
D1 does not support change configuration on Lightburn.
In this case, please check whether the X-axis synchronizer Wheel on top of the frame?
May I have this picture on your machine.
â
Looking forward to hearing from you and have a nice dayďź
Here is an example from when it vibrates the head for no apparent reason when it should be scanning at a consistent speed. note the âdrilled holesâ. (donât mind where I burned too deep through my test ply )
I would have hit stop if I had been standing there, it canât be good for the steppers. It canât be good for anything on the poor machine.
I have had it shake the set screw loose and drag laser on table, thatâs always nice.
Is it ok if I make a new thread in this channel for âFlashing xTool D1 Firmwareâ?
It looks proprietary. Just took these pics, I havenât looked for info yet but I will before making a thread.
The board is marked âmakeblock LBD_CtrlBoard_V1_1â (makeblock makes the xTool D1)
Iâll remove the board and get pics of the chips if I canât find the details you asked about online.
Those soldered wires on board above belt come about as close as physically possible without actually touching the belt. no marks at all but I may still do something about that if I keep this board.
â
loosing is almost what is happening I guess, but not what I meant to type 
