Hi guys. Sorry if this has been brought up before, but I couldn’t find the specific answer. I am new to both lasers and LightBurn, but I did do quite a bit of research before purchase, sorry if I’m not quite there yet. I have maybe 4-5 hrs burn time on my Sculpfun s9 laser. I initially did 2 tests of a small 1x1" and 3x3" photo using Laser GRBL. Spent the next 5 days trying to learn LightBurn. D/l’ed it 3 days ago and love it. The layers, the design applications etc. So, I’ve only done 4 engravings with LightBurn before today, a wood power/speed chart, 2 painted tile charts, and a 2 layer painted tile image. It was a bit dark, and the framing left a small but noticeable outline even at .25% power. Today I tried again, and based upon my previous settings I changed the framing power to .1%. I kept the speed at 1200 mm/min and power at 9% as opposed to the 7% I used earlier. The image was barely viewable which seemed odd based upon my test tile. I figured I must have sprayed the paint heavier for this tile. However, when I tried to do engraving on 1/8" balsa, no power and/or speed combinations would work. It would not make a mark.
I checked my $30 and $32 settings and they are correct at 1 and 1000 respectively. I set up some square test fill layers, and again nothing even at 500 mm/min and 90% power. That should have probably started a fire with 1/8" wood. To make sure it wasn’t the laser itself, I ran the same image in Laser GRBL and did get an image with varying power/intensity. I also changed the power for the laser to frame back to .25% and still no power. I made absolutely no other changes anywhere. I’m really confused as to what could have happened. Any thoughts and ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much,
Brad
I don’t see anything wrong with the config. Looks like you didn’t click on your laser in the Devices window. Just check that it shows as GRBL and not any other variant in the text description that appears toward the bottom of that window.
If you use the Fire button in Move window and change power, can you see the laser get brighter and dimmer as you raise and lower power?
You may want to check the cable from the controller to the laser module and make sure that there’s no damage to the wire or connectors and that it’s well seated in the plug at both ends.
Yes, it is GRBL and I can get differing power using LaserGRBL. I could before today in LighBurn as well. There is absolutely a difference in laser intensity. Max allowed looks like 20%…huge difference between 2 and 20. I’m pretty stumped as well as to what happened. I’ll try some more tomorrow and will post if I find a solution. Thank you for responding.
Any image d/l from say imagr, or any test pattern I make (I just made 2 layers of squares at 1/2 " each, 1 at 30 power and one at 60 power both at 1200 mm/min) doesn’t output enough power to even mark. Weirdly enough, just testing my fire at 20% marked my surface board. So it is modulating power, but not when I do jobs
I just tried an image I tried in LightBurn and used it in LaserGRBL and it worked. Varying power levels. I just don’t understand why LightBurn can’t control the power levels anymore for me. It worked fine 2 days ago and today…nothing. So confused because I made no changes at all.
Your units are set for inches/minute. Your current setting of 1200 in/minute would put this over 30000 mm/minute which I’m sure you’re never reaching but also likely too fast to properly engrave at those power settings.
OMG…I am totally that much of an idiot. I am so sorry to waste your time. I changed them trying to design a clock last night. Thank you so much dude. So sorry…my GOD I’m a moron. Thank You
