I know there are posts about this issue but I can’t find an explanation that makes sense to me.
I run my laser in a work shed about 100 feet from my router. I’ve never had an issue with ‘losing internet connection’ in two years. I was about 1/4 of the way into a burn when this happened. I tried restarting and it just made a mess of the project. (Then I found the post about doing that and hope I never have to use that.)
So here’s my questions. If we don’t have to be connected to WiFi or the Internet why did losing that connection shut down my laser?
Should I just turn off WiFi? I don’t hook up my direct connection when out in my workshop but use that in my office.
Thank you for any answers or pointers. I’m getting better with LightBurn and think it’s an incredible program.
The ‘file’ is not sent to the laser for local storage there. Grbl is usually a ‘streaming’ operation and the grbl commands are sent one at a time via the usb port.
You are doing it via wifi and if you lose the connection for some reason, the laser will stop, no more instructions. There is also no way to know what instruction the laser executed last.
There are options for writing the grbl code to an sd card, placing that in the machine and let it read the instructions off the sd card. Your laser has to support this…
Jack,
I’m taking my computer out to my workshop. Maybe my explanation wasn’t very good. I searched through the forum and then asked my questions but didn’t get any answers which I understand because I guess not many people have this issue.
I searched Youtube.com and found a video on the power management for the network adapter and that’s what I thought was the reason for the loss.
Everything I’ve read in here says we can run LightBurn without an Internet connection. Is that correct or is there something I need to set to do that.
That is true, most DSP type controllers have a USB and an Ethernet connection. Most grbl have only a USB. We are seeing more wifi availability, but I have only used an Internet bridge to use it via wifi on a DSP controllers Ethernet interface.
I assume you are using USB? … therefore not using a network connection, I doubt that would be the cause of the issue.
I know you know what you have and how it’s connected, but I am clueless.
Can you confirm your method of connecting… USB, wifi or?
I understand you’ve operated before with this connection?
Lots of people have this problem, you just ‘asked’ google incorrectly or couldn’t tell what from what…
Nobody comes here and it works like tv shows or at the push of a button. You don’t learn by osmosis. It takes work plus time to figure it out…
The concept is very simple. The technical application of that simplicity can be frustrating and seem non sensible.
Don’t work frustrated and if the explanation is not understandable to you, speak up… you probably aren’t the only one.
Ask if you have a problem and don’t let it keep you up at night
Yes, I have always used a USB connection. This is the only time this happened. I promise it won’t keep me up at night and it’s time for some much needed sleep. Thank you.
Like others have said, there’s some complexity in this. Some lasers do use storage on them for their jobs, some are streamed continuously from your computer to them. Yours is likely the latter based on the information shared, so a disconnect, reboot, or computer going to sleep during the job would be likely to cause engraving troubles.
Some laptops “turn off” USB ports to save power, which can cause the same behavior over USB. (I checked your forum profile, and what computer you’re using in your shop isn’t listed; could you share information on it please?)
LightBurn itself doesn’t need internet to run, and I suspect this may be a case of correlation and not causation; they’re not simple machines so let’s see what can be done to get you back up and running quickly and simply
