Power fluctuations or bad power supply. Anything that might disrupt power to the controller can cause the controller to reset. Do you have something else on the same circuit as your power outlet that’s coming on intermittently? Check voltage at the power supply if you have a meter.
Static discharge knocking out USB connection. Is your machine properly bonded and grounded? Is your laser on a surface that might result in extra static? What are the environmental conditions like?
In general it sounds like your controller or connection is likely getting disrupted. Look for anything that might cause that.
Doesn’t sound like it’s an issue specifically on the PC side, GRBL settings, or cut settings. This type of thing is usually electrical.
What happens when the job fails? Are there any indications of the failure in LightBurn? What does Console say? What is the state of the laser at failure? What do you need to do to recover?
Thanks, I have tried it in various locations and the failures are constistent. So different PC, different power points. I’ll try another PSU, but I highly doubt that’s the cause.
When it fails in LB it just stops w/ laser off. In GRBL it stops and sometimes keeps the laser on burning a hole.
Console show <?>OK
o<?>H<?>OK
o<?>H<?>OK
I can upload some photos if it helps, but no errors or anything I can think of to debug.
30yrs taking apart and building electronics, minimal circuit design. Most circuits are fairly forgiving of both V spikes and sags.
I’ve got a decent lab PSU I can use to categorically eliminate power supply.
And I’ll get a console output or screenshot.
S9 is stock, just got it last week, and I tested it out on a small job which finished, so then I tried a larger SVG design on a cutting board, it failed and then I lost the position to accurately complete the job.
I haven’t recovered one, but I’m trying to address the consistent failures before focusing on optimal recovery technique… however I believe LB has the ability from the preview dialog.
If you have a bench supply that’s perfect. For whatever reason these controllers are extremely sensitive to anything that would disrupt the signal stream.
The issue you’re seeing is almost certainly not related to any single configuration issue or a cut setting. Especially since you’re getting the same issue with lasergrbl.
Watch out for the possibility of static discharge. Static builds up from the movement of the wheels and travels through the usb cable and resets USB if the machine is not dissipating the charge elsewhere. This is more likely to happen with engraving operations than cuts in this case.
Stop means using the LightBurn stop button? If so, not certain but that might change things. Does LightBurn show that the laser is Connected or does it require reconnecting?
Ok… not certain if that changes anything. I would have expected a full disconnect or possibly an alarm condition. It may just be that the Sculpfun controller just behaves differently than when I’ve seen the issue.
When was the photo of the meter taken? Was this in the middle of the run?
The laser module itself running at 90% power should be drawing something like 2.7A if you assume 3A at 100%. If you add controller and steppers to that I would assume around 4A draw. Curious why so low.
Other thing I’m noticing is the number of scattered “ok” messages. Not sure what that’s about.
Was this a grayscale image? If not minimum power makes no difference to the power level. Are you using v1.1.03? If so, you shouldn’t have min power represented except for grayscale imges…
I’m curious about this. Maybe measure current draw with the laser module unplugged… that will tell you what the background current draw should be and you can isolate how much the laser is drawing.
Would also be a good test to see if the job finishes without the laser module plugged in.
I still don’t sense any smoking gun here though… I still suspect a connection issue but the symptoms are odd.
