Hi, I’m using Lightburn 1.6.03, I need to change the direction that my Z table moves.
In the menu Edit->Device Settings->Z Control->Reverse Z direction, nothing changes when I enable/disable the option. The Z motor keeps using the same direction.
Am I doing something wrong? Is this a software bug?
Best regards
Is the laser you’re using: a MKS SBase v1.3 running Smoothieware?
It may help if you post the firmware you’re using. I would confirm what pin you have your z axis is connected to and refer to this: Your guide to installing Smoothieboard in a Laser Cutting machine | smoothieware-website-v1
Yes, I’m using a MKS SBase v1.3.
I updated LightBurn to v1.6.03, when using Lightburn v1.2.01 I did not notice the problem. I did not change anything on the firmware I’m using.
Either way, isn’t the setting supposed to invert the direction the motor is rotating?
It’s useful to know that reversing the z axis in LightBurn works for you in an older version and not in the latest.
If you enter $$ in your console window with your laser connected, what is your $3 value? You may need to change it. Please refer to this pocket guide: https://www.diymachining.com/downloads/GRBL_Settings_Pocket_Guide_Rev_B.pdf
To make it working in the correct direction, I had to change the direction on the firmware config.txt. Now it works in the direction it is supposed to, but the Lightburn setting still does not change the direction.
My Z stepper is connected to stepper pin 2.2
Entering $$ at the lightburn console gives me an error.
Are you following the right-hand rule?
I don’t understand what do you mean.
What the right hand-rule has to do with the lightburn Z direction option not producing any effect?
IMHO if the motor was incorrectly connected, the homing and move comands, would not produce any movement. If they are moving as supposed, in my opinion it is correctly wired. If they are moving, it proves that lightburn can send commands to Z stepper correctly. Only the Z direction option does not produce any change…
First what is the correct direction? Defined by the right-hand rule positive movements
.
Is your Z axis positive (and negative) movements defined by this rule?
My apologies, in Smoothieware, the command to show the current configuration settings is M5303.
Reversing the Z direction in LightBurn tells it that all Z moves use negative values instead of positive - that’s it.
Most lasers use Z=0 to mean the laser is touching the material (or the laser bed), and positive values move the laser further from the material. If yours does not work that way, you enable the Negative Z switch. It does not affect the jogging window - only Z moves emitted by LightBurn when it’s controlling the Z as part of a job.
My machine is using Left-Handed coordinates. But either way, I was expecting that the option inverted the direction. But it has no effect!
That makes sense! Thanks a lot for the information.
I think the tooltip for the option should give that information to the user.
The text, as is, in the tooltip, at least to me, it seems redundant. It does not provide any useful information to understand what it does.
It’s hard to fit all that into a tooltip. 
The documentation page is also a little thin on detail though, so I’ll make a note for the docs team to add the details I shared above.
I’ve already got the answer I was looking for.
But the command M5303 does not show the configuration.
Smoothieware can be a pain in the butt.
You can often type cat /sd/config.txt to display the config to the console, but the best option for editing the config in Smoothieware is to remove the SD card from the machine, mount it on a PC, and edit the contents of the config.txt file from there.
They don’t make it easy to edit it from software.
I think only the last sentence is enough.
“It does not affect the jogging window - only Z moves emitted by LightBurn when it’s controlling the Z as part of a job.”
The help window and description does make you think that Z axis direction is reversed, not just + or -. Was wondering why I had to put in neg. Z offset to make it move up.
Are you sure? Usually your machine should move with axes defined as X on abscissa and Y on ordinate ( maybe yours on the III quadrant?).
Pretty sure. Left Hand coordinates!
