I have an Ortur Laser Master 2 (with 20W laser) and I’ve been engraving leather for a few months. However, the other day, the prints did not come out as neat. See photos below.
I thought it could be a difference in the leather, but I’ve printed in a few different pieces of vegtan and never had an issue. Now I tried in different pieces as well and the problem is consistent.
Not only is the design not engraved in some parts, but also the parts that did burn, didn’t burn as deep as they used to.
I did not change any configuration between previous successfull prints and these ones.
To troubleshoot, I unscrewed the lense and cleaned it up with a q-tip. It wasn’t cracked. Just had a small dark dot and a visible translucent stripe that got wiped out with the q-tip. Looks pristine now.
I also removed the preferences (just in case I messed something up).
I did update LightBurn recently, but I’m not sure if it was right before this.
I can’t say for sure it’s the software, but I’m not sure what it is right now or what else to check. I have not used the laser enough to be wear and tear.
Is it possible to downgrade LightBurn to see if a previous version did not have this problem?
By the way, I’m printing at 1000mm/min and 20% max power.
Do you have any suggestions?
Thanks in advance.
EDIT: I reverted to 0.9.24 and the result was even worse. Do I have a problem with the laser?
Thanks. I contacted them after initiating this thread, but I thought maybe someone might have gone through something similar and could give me a hint so I wouldnt have to take photos/videos and stuff. This is the busiest forum I know. Besides, it could very well be a software issue or maybe I could have pressed the wrong button, but since I downgraded and reverted configs, I think it’s unlikely.
Not regularly, no.
I cleaned the lens after finding the problem. It had what looked like a foggy stripe and a tiny tiny dark dot. After cleaning, it looked… well… clean.
I don’t know about mirrors, but I’ll look into. Thanks for the tip.
If I increase the power. Basically doubling from 20% to 40%, it will burn, but I’ve burned at 20% to this point, so what could have happened?
In my experience things like this are usually a cleaning issue or alignment issue. Smoke from the jobs slowely builds up on the mirrors, and any dirt on them will make the reflection worse of course, which will reduce the power.
Also Vibration as the machine runs can just wobble the alignment out, I’ve had it on the last mirror where the laser goes down and through the lens, as this part moves the most. Check your alignment is not catching the edge of the lens tube.
Oh and also clean the end of the actualy laser tube, there is a glass plate in the end, use a cotton bud stick with some glass cleaner, be gentle cleaning al these parts you don’t want to scratch them
To save you going on a wild goose chase, the Ortur is a diode laser and as such doesn’t have mirrors. Hopefully that’ll save you wasting time and effort looking for them!
Hallo
Wahrscheinlich hat sich bei deiner Action die Linse etwas verkannte.
Linse rausschrauben. Im Gewindeteil ist ein Plastikröhrchen welches die Linse fixiert. Die herausziehen, in dem du mit einem Wattestäbchen VORSICHTIG von vorn nach hinten diese heraus drückst, aber ohne Gewalt. Linse mit Spiritus reinigen, Linse mit Brillenputztuch vorsichtig trocknen. Ich nehme dazu eine Pinzette. Linse nicht mit den Fingern anfassen. Die Linse richtigherrum wieder einsetzen, das Plastikröhrchen wieder einstecken. Linse wieder einschrauben. Fertig
In the meantime, I contacted Ortur and according to them my laser has power degradation. I will get a replacement part. Until the new one arrives, I’ll try to squeeze as much work as I can out of this one.
Thanks everyone. This has been a very educational adventure.
