Odd failure and issue with Lightburn on MAC OS

[Pappatoad (Todd)]

Hello I just experienced an odd situation that I have not had before. I am running the latest Lightburn on Mac OS 15.7.1 and have been fine until today. I had a second window open from Lightburn for reference on settings on another project. I hit frame, and I was not on the main window where the laser was actually connected to and it caused the spinning wheel to come up. I was able to save both projects and restart Lightburn, restart my computer, and restart my laser just in case. One of the projects for some reason will stop engraving about within 10 minutes and less than 20% completion. It varries within this timeframe. I tried to change settings around and duplicate the text that was being engraved and it constantly failed. I do have another project with the exact same text and settings and it runs completely fine. I am wondering if my file for the one project got corrupted. If so, does anyone know the best way to take the project information (basically the images and text information on the table to be burned) and move it to another new file. I can recreate the layer settings so that is not an issue. I am hoping that I dont have to recreate the entire project.
Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Todd

[Pappatoad (Todd)]

Scratch the other project burn being successful. It is like the laser is turning off whenever it feels like it now. Lightburn shows the laser active and running but the laser is not. I will have to troubleshoot some more and report back. Thought it was Lightburn, but might not be.

[Pappatoad (Todd)]

Well it is a typical technical gremlin. I cannot duplicate the issue today. Everything was turned off and left off overnight and the same exact project that kept failing yesterday worked just fine today. I had used the laser about 3 times yesterday with the first two being short 30-40 minute sessions and it would be powered completely off afterwards. The longest session was 2.5 hours troubleshooting this project. But the laser was actually in use for about 80 minutes during that 2.5 hour timeframe.

[ednisley]

@Pappatoad

Mac OS 15.7.1

If you are using a USB connection, that would explain everything going on.

Basically, switch to Ethernet and things will immediately improve.

Some previous discussions on the USB world of hurt:

Random Letters Missing During Laser Cut – Only Works Fine One Letter at a Time

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Laser stops running after a few seconds

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I am operating macOS Sequoia 15.5 on Apple M1 system. After installing v2.0.00 and trying to cut the laser will jump and cut a line that does not exist on the workspace? I tried multiple times to cut different images and the same occurs each time. I did the update and the same issue. I have reverted back to 1.7.08 and no issues. Any suggestions would be appreciated, [IMG_8505]

[Pappatoad (Todd)]

My laser is not equipped with an Ethernet port. So sadly I am stuck with usb.

[Pappatoad (Todd)]

Plus I am not finding a good way to take the usb b type from the laser into an Ethernet adapter and then to my switch for network acccess to my computer. I find references for people turning usb print servers into laser usb connections. I even see that Lightburn has a device to do the same type of thing but it appears to only go from the computer via usb… to the Lightburn light bridge… then Ethernet to the laser. So this is the reverse order of what I believe I would need. Has anyone been successful in using a usb to Ethernet print server device to connect a usb laser to you network via ethernet?

[ednisley]

@Pappatoad

sadly I am stuck with usb

Ouch!

Make the best of a bad situation by getting a known-good USB cable. Paying enough for one with ferrite slugs seems to also buy better QC on the internal wiring.

And, if the machine is more than a meter away, an active repeater cable may be worth investigating.

Some discussions:

My Cherokee Beast

WOO HOO !!! I got everything working right , FINELY !!! What was the problem? It turns out to be the USB to Controller board cable was faulty. That was the only thing I failed to check and that was it. I have a bad habit of buying one to use and one to loose. When I thought about the cable being bad, I got the cable out the spare controller kit and that one worked. I feel really stupid sitting here thinking how I spent 4 to 6 weeks crying and trying to fix this thing and never though…

USB Cable Issue

I have just purchased a Gweike Cloud RF laser, using with Lightburn. The supplied USB cable works fine but it’s very short. So I bought a nice long one, 5 metres length. USB C to USB A, I use Macs. It’s a good quality cable, but I don’t seem to be able to make a connection when I plug in to the laser and to my Mac? Any suggestions/fixes most welcomed. I came across a really useful post by @BillieRuben who seems to have knowledge of these machines and setting up, any idea Billie ? tia