One Laser Hydra 13 and Lightburn 2.1.04

[huskyhousesawdustco (Tammy)]

OneLaser Hydra 13 – Raster Engraving Skew

My Hydra 13 has developed a progressive X-axis skew/stepping during raster/image engraving. Cuts and vectors are fine. OneLaser and I have been troubleshooting for about a month, including hardware/alignment checks, with no cause found.

I’ve tested multiple speeds and LightBurn 2.1.x versions. Today I even installed LightBurn 1.5.01 and created a completely new file with a freshly imported image, and it still skewed.

The strange part: an older raster image/project originally created in LightBurn 1.5.01 still engraves perfectly on the same machine, even when opened and run from LightBurn 2.1.04. But if I freshly import an image, it skews.

Ruida mainboard firmware is RDLC-V7.17.07.

Has anyone seen this behavior or have any idea what could cause an older raster job to run correctly while newly generated raster jobs progressively skew?

[ednisley]

@huskyhousesawdustco

progressive X-axis skew/stepping during raster/image engraving

It’s likely the Ruida PWM Rising Edge Valid configuration error, shipped directly from the factory to you:

Fixing Skewed Engraving - Configuring a Ruida Controller - LightBurn User Guide

Triggering the problem depends on the exact pattern / timing / layout / moon phase, so that “it used to work” does not ensure future performance.

Some background:

Image shifting and bunching up but cut out is OK

Red-Black 90w Laser Ruida controller engrave 400mm/s 25% Fill 450mm/s 20% Cut 25mm/s 65% Birch ply held down pins belts are tight so are stepper motors When doing a engrave/fill and cut I get the fill shift while the engrave bunches up, cut out in just fine. This is repeatable, and all come out the same, like it was meant to be, how do I attach image?

Before changing anything, save the original settings:

Laser cutter drift - help would really be appreciated

Ed, you were right. I’ve checked the backups from earliest to now. 22/11/23 x true y false 13/7/26 changed to true from your advice but I failed to see they were different 16/7/26 changed both to false from Nicholas’ advice. Today both false - still cutting as it should. Clearly I have read your initial comment, got giddy reading the x=true and changed the y to match. I never tried both to false until Nicolas told me where I’d gone wrong. I’ve backed up th…

If that’s not it, we’ll need screenshots of the Machine Settings → Vendor Settings X and Y axis configuration to get started looking over your shoulder.

[huskyhousesawdustco (Tammy)]

Thank you! They are currently both set to false. I asked OneLaser to confirm if this was corrext or not with no response. I will make that change and let you know. Thanks for you help and quick response. I’ve been working with OneLaser for about a month now and have gotten nowhere. They just push back to hardware. My fingers are crossed!!

[ednisley]

@huskyhousesawdustco

They are currently both set to false

False is the usual setting for both, so don’t be surprised if the situation doesn’t change for the better.

However, we’ve seen several oddball machines around here and, well, ya never know.

[jkwilborn (Jack Wilborn)]

@ednisley

False is the usual setting for both

If they weren’t needed, they wouldn’t exist. So False is the usual setting is likely true.

Don’t even know, without looking, what mine are…

[huskyhousesawdustco (Tammy)]

This reply maybe a duplicate. Sorry if it is. The machine sets showed it was set to true. I went back to an August 31st copy I had and it was set to false. I went to my original machine settings when I got the hydra and it was also set to false. I reloaded the original settings file then changed it to true and it’s been working.

[ednisley]

@huskyhousesawdustco

• August 31st copy … set to false
• then changed it to true and it’s been working

That’s a tangled tale if I ever saw one!

True is definitely unusual, but if it now behaves properly that’s the only thing that matters.

Apparently you can’t depend on getting a machine with a good configuration from the seller / factory / whoever, which is discouraging.

Maybe report your findings to OneLaser: their opinion, if any, would be interesting.

[huskyhousesawdustco (Tammy)]

Well bad news. I am back from vacation and have been running the machine and it started up again. Yeah I’ve been working with OneLaser. They can’t seem to figure it out. It’s odd that the 3 files I ran after changing that setting seemed to work. I’ve been cutting material all week. Today is the first time I have run an “image”. The first time I ran it, it was a smaller size but seemed to be fine. This time it’s larger but scewing again. So frustrating! Anymore ideas?

Thanks,
Tammy

[Rick292 (Rick)]

@ednisley

Configuring a Ruida Controller - LightBurn User Guide

Hey Tammy I have been frustrated with 1Laser as well. I have even had a comparison cut from the LA Hobby guy that proved my machine is inferior to the one they sent him. They seem to be more marketing than maker friendly. I would discourage anyone from buying a 1Laser. Best2U

[ednisley]

@huskyhousesawdustco

They can’t seem to figure it out

Perhaps we can do better around here. I undid the Solved to start from scratch.

• Grab screenshots of the Machine Settings → Vendor Settings X and Y axis configurations.
• Take a good picture of the X or Y axis stepper motor driver, whichever one lets you see the data plate on the side and the DIP switch setup, like this:
  
  
• Upload one of the failing LightBurn lbrn2 files

Then the hive mind can start poking at the evidence.

Edit: This may be a case of an incorrect motor driver setup, along these lines:

Engraving and cutting aren’t aligned and engraving is skewed or tilted

[IMG_4462] Finally it worked out, and it was the simplest thing. It was just as you said, I had to just make sure that all the switches on both step motors are exactly the same. Apparently, It was just one switch. [IMG_4461] [IMG_4460]

To diagnose that, we’ll definitely need good pictures of all the switches on both motor drivers.