Unable to get WeCreat Vision 20W laser head to move down on Z-axis to work area

WeCreat Vision 20W diode laser working fine with their MakeIt! software. Able to create files on Lightburn but after connecting from Windows 11 laptop, despite clicking on “Enable Z-axis”, the laser head does NOT move down to the material but burns wide marks instead. Read thru internet recs & watched multiple videos, nothing seems to work to get Z-axis working. Help!

The way my homemade laser works is I focus laser, then I enter a Z offset in the layer. Are you entering an offset?

I tried the 100mm offset but this set the laser head only a few mm off the 3mm basswood. I tried it again at 90mm offset and tried to cut out a small piece of plywood, but the laser head did not follow my 100% power at 7mm/sec, and instead moved around 1mm/sec, blasting a small hole in the surface but a wide hole in the bottom layer of 3mm plywood. I’m now quite gun shy and afraid of it starting a fire. Is there a driver I can download that will allow the Lightburn program to coexist with my WeCreat Vision 20W, get the Z-axis and moving rate correct, and not threaten to burn down my garage?

So I guess your machine has an auto-focus that I am not familiar with.
Need someone with more brains than me like @thelmuth to give you an answer.

I don’t know anything about autofocus or z axis movement, sorry.

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