I am a beginner with laser machines. I recently purchased an Ortur Aufero Laser 1 with the LU2-4LF module. I am using a MacBook with the Lightburn free trial. I followed the setup to the letter. When I use Lightburn, the laser connects, but the axes are flipped and mirrored. Furthermore, it seems like the machine keeps trying to print outside the range of the rails. This results in a grinding noise and the machine stopping. The machine is connected to my MacBook Pro through a USB-C port using an adapter. Any ideas?
Thanks for the reply. The settings you described are the ones that I first used. Moving the laser manually also produces some strange results. Clicking “up” moves it left, “down” moves it right, etc. I’m starting to wonder if the machine itself is defective.
UPDATE: I have attempted to connect the laser to another Mac, this time with an older MacBook with a USB2 port. The axes are still rotated, and the machine continues to attempt to print somewhere outside the range of the rails, but the image that is printed is no longer mirrored. The settings are identical to the ones I used with my MacBook Pro.
Note: Some of the photos are in the subsequent post.
Laserissue1 = an alarm that pops up but then seems to resolve by itself
Laserissue2 = the origin settings from the initial setup
Laserissue3 = the origin settings from the device settings
Laserissue4 = confirming that the start is from absolute coordinates
Laserissue5 = an image of the project
Laserissue6 = after the burn, but letters are not mirrored anymore for some reason
Laserissue7 = accidental duplicate
Laserissue8 = the laser when it returned to Home, note the remaining space on the rail
I am assuming that the front left is the point furthest away from the machine itself and to my left. However, whatever I think is front left is not relevant, no? The machine should know where that is, and it also shouldn’t be trying to burn outside its working range. It also refuses to connect to the software if it is powered up before the software is open. Note in Laserissue4, it says “disconnected”, but the photo was taken immediately after setting up the laser using the wizard. I think I got a lemon here.
Your laser looks like it’s oriented upside down, meaning 180 degrees rotated from expected orientation.
If you turn the laser around, does this resolve the axis flipping issue?
The homing issue is interesting. Revisit the placement of the limit switches. Are they situated in a location where they are easily cleared? Is there any obstruction?
What are the limit switches? There are definitely no obstructions because I can manually move the machine through both axes from end to end with no problems. What do you mean by turning the laser around? As far as I know, there is only one way to assemble this machine.
Physically lift the machine, turn around 180 degrees, and set back down. This isn’t about the way the machine is assembled, just the orientation with respect to your perspective.
If you do so does that resolve the perspective of the axes being mirrored?
Limit switches are physical hardware that are used to communicate to the controller that something has reached the expected end of travel. In the case of lasers, these are typically used to allow the machine to determine the position of the laser head in a repeatable way. It does this by moving the laser head toward the limit switches, one on each axis. Once the laser head reaches the location of the switches the controller can determine that the resting position is 0,0 or something equivalent, just a designated position for that home location.
If you have these for your machine they would likely look like a button or lever that is mechanically activated and makes a clicking sound when activated. If you manually move the laser head toward the switches they should physically activate.
Can you determine if your machine has these switches? And if so, are they activating correctly when the laser head approaches them? And does your machine go through a homing process when first turned on?
I don’t think it has limit switches. I couldn’t see or feel anything. No, it doesn’t home properly. Again, the machine moves, but it looks like it’s trying to go somewhere outside its limits. It simply wiggles for a moment when I turn it on, and then suddenly stops.
The machine is meant to home to the bottom left. Bottom-left in this context is the top-right of the machine in your photo because of the orientation issue. Did you turn the machine so that the USB ports are facing you?
When you turn on the machine, the laser head should start moving toward the position of the USB port. If it does not, in what direction does it actually move? Please use directions in reference to USB port being front-left.
Take a look at the video to see how the machine should behave.
When it homes, it moves away from the USB ports, along both axes. Imagine that it attempts to move diagonally away from the USB ports, towards the outside of the machine.
Can you go Console window in LightBurn (enable this in Window menu if not currently available). Then type these commands one at a time and then return the results here:
$I
$$
$#
Also, when you got the machine, did you have to plug-in the connectors for the stepper motors into the controller? Or it was pre-connected?
Thank you. I will try the commands later because I’m away from my machine. As for the assembly, virtually everything was already done. The only thing I attached was the laser unit itself.
I discovered the problem. The unit was not assembled correctly. I contacted Ortur’s customer service department and they noticed a loose screw in one of my photos. However, I now fear that this has permanently altered the functioning of the machine. It homes perfectly now, but the shapes it burns are all crooked, and it’s still trying to burn way outside the limits of the axes. Thanks for your help!
The screw literally fell out, tripped the switch and caused it to be set in an “always ON” status. I disassembled it and secured the screw from the photo, but the machine is still trying to burn the projects way out of bounds.
