I did my first material test on a brand new laser and noticed the circles are not smooth. Did more testing thinking it was location on bed issues since the laserhead was not secured during shipping (the gantry was tied down). Did it at back and at front (see pictures).
Went back to my material test and noticed that it got better on the right - but instead of thinking it was a location thing I started thinking it might be a speed thing so this material test got slower as you went right.
Brand new machine with 5 hours on it and honestly I am not sure what the try. The circles are exact circles so I do not think it is a belt thing since the circles are all identical at all speeds it just has the rough edge the faster it goes.
I did more testing and this ridge effect is on all shapes, ridges on circle start at 15mm/sec and very noticeable at 20mm/sec, ridges on squares start at 25mm/sec and more noticeable at 30mm/sec, diamonds at 20mm/sec and more at 25mm/sec.
Any help appreaicted
I have found a posting here in the forums that has the same ridge effect at Co2 laser cutting doesn't smooth
his solutions was new stepper drivers not sure that is my issues but putting it out there since it is the exact effect I am experiencing.
Interesting- they look like the ridges on US coins… you are drawing these circles in Lightburn and not using someone else’s file that might have a special edge?
New machine, but I would check both axis belts for looseness- they should have some resistance to your finger pull. Look at the toothed pulleys at each end of the gantry to see if any black eraser-like particles that indicate misalignment of the pulleys.
Yeah I drew the circles, then did more testing and noticed it on all shapes the circles just show it at a lower speed then the squares and diamonds (45degree square).
I had thought it was only circles and Omtech said was normal, but it is all shapes and I know it is not normal otherwise everyone would have noticed when they do a material test since the co2 material tests usually do 10 to 30 mm/sec at least
They are not similair to belt teeth. It is weird that it happens at difference speed depending on the shape. I really do not want to have to cut less than 15mm/sec all the time just to avoid these ridges.
Belt tension seems really good, machine is brand new and I think the belt tension is very good based upon what I have read.
The one posting I found that had same exact ridge effect said his solution was stepper drivers, not sure but I am hoping that Omtech tries to fix this rather than say nothing can be done and deal with it.
I am going to try engrave testing next to see if this effect affects that also. All other alignment has been prefect from factory it is just this one thing which is the biggest thing there is since it will severely limit speeds and make everything take much longer
Funny thing you mention that setting. Omtech had me do a firmware update and change some settings (highlighted in yellow on the right setting image). It was set 15mm from factory, and Omtech had me to set it to 8mm.
Something that is interesting is my circle are no longer joining as they did before the firmware update and the settings changes, so new problem has been created (squares are not square any more also).
So it seems, using the original setting or the new ones Omtech requested - the firmware has messed up my alignment somehow. Circle no have a lip at the start/stop point of the circles and can no longer be rotated in the cut hole (they were fine before firmware update), same thing with squares can no longer be rotated 90 degrees and put in the cut hole (again fine before update).
Before changing anything, click on the save to file and put it somewhere you can keep it just in case you need to… like now… you can then reload it anytime… like now…
If you mean beam alignment has been modified, that’s not possible via soft/firmware… you need to clarify on that point.
This should be Lightburn, not anything related to firmware…?
