Hi, I’m very new to CNC and LaserBurn. I am testing a newly-acquired CNC3018.
My first test was to print some simple text. It worked but there were lines joining adjacent letters. I searched for a fix for that and found that I should issue the command $32=1. I did this and, yes, the laser goes off between letters. But now the laser has no effect on the surface (bit of plywood), as if the power is way too low. So, I searched for a solution to that and found stuff that I don’t understand and which talks about settings that I cannot find.
So, is there a step-by-step “idiot’s guide” for newbies that explains how to avoid the lines between letters without it affecting laser power?
Read the LightBurn docs. Really good stuff in there. 
Thanks - I have the 200+ page user guide. Is there a section in about this specific issue?
Yes.
The docs cover many settings within LightBurn. You failed to say which setting is giving you heartache so I can’t point you in the right direction. But it’s in there.
As a start, use the Material Test found under Laser Tools. Enter some reasonable speed and power settings there and LightBurn will create a grid that you can use to further narrow down your correct settings.
I don’t believe changing $32 would decrease the overall power output. First thing that comes to mind is if your $30 is set the same to S-value max in Lightburn? Can you take a screen capture of your device settings and copy your grbl settings using $$ into the console?
You’re right. $32 turns on (or off) laser mode. Should be on
Thanks to all who replied - nice to know that this is a really responsive forum!
I have found something that looks relevant in trouble shooting on page 166. It says to ensure my LightBurn S-Value Max setting agrees with the controller’s. It does, they are both set to 1000, so that is not the cause. So, I went to the Cut Settings Editor (because there was a picture of it on the same page) and found max power was set to only 20%. I changed it to 100%. That helped but the result was still not great. So, I lowered the speed (was 6000 mm/m) and then it worked nicely - a fair bit of smoke so I suppose I could have got away with less than 100% power.
Nice work!
I’m gonna say it again… Run the Material Test under Laser Tools. That will generate a grid of speed and power settings where you can see the effects of each.
Plus: You don’t want to run your laser @ 100%. It dramatically shortens it’s life. Stay under 80% is conventional wisdom.
Will do, 80% max - thanks for the advice.
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