I am having issues with my Blue CNC 15W diode engraver. It is causing the engravings to appear differently. I’ve attached a photo of what is happening. It’s as if it is stopping at random points. I have tried refocusing the laser as well as cleaning the lens but with no avail. I’m not sure what could be wrong.
Tate, Didn’t say what Software you are using so here are several things to try: 1. if you are using lightburn create a square of say 50 x 50 mm and burn it, and watch the tracking of the laser to see if it pauses, make sure the board is flat (hard to do with some plywood) and you have hold downs securing it flat to your work surface. I found that my laser was doing the same thing because the laser focus was off slightly due to warping of the wood. Also, the wood itself can impact the engraving process as it changes texture/etc on the grain. You may also be going too fast when engraving, since you didn’t mention what speed/power you were using. Try slowing the laser down and see if that helps.
I’m using the most up to date version of Lightburn. I usually burn at 100% and 150 in/min. Before these issues arose, I was able to get virtually perfect results every time. Now, however, the laser does not burn dark at all on that speed. It takes slowing the laser all the way down to about 75 in/min to get decent results, but even then it appears to “cut” out at times.
Since someone will eventually chime in about the fact that diode lasers “SERIOUSLY” don’t like being driven at 100%, it might as well be me. I’m curious how long you’ve had your laser? If it’s fairly new and this just started then the suggestions Rover100 made are spot on. If you’ve had it awhile the diode may be failing. I’ve not unheard of for new lasers to fail. Is the 15W input or output?
I think I’ve had it for maybe 3 years. I didn’t use it for the first year or 2, though. I really only started using it for 2 or 3 months last summer. During that time, though, I had it running nearly constantly as I was engraving something pretty much every day at 100% power. I fear the laser also may be failing.
The issue was the pine wood I was using.
Okay, any chance you have anyone close to you that has a laser power meter? I looked these up and they aren’t cheap but if you can find one or borrow one you could test the output power of your laser. First, you may want to revert to an older version of LB, and re-try the same burn just to feel confident it isn’t a software control issue, then you can focus on the laser itself.
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