What Controllers / Lightburn Versions do I have / need

Total newbie.

I have just bought a CNC3-3018Pro 5.5watt and have preordered a XTOOL D1 20W PRO.

So my questions - What controller type(s) are these two devices ?
I think the CNC3-3018Pro is GRBL, but I am not sure for the context of lightBurn Softwae.

For the XTOOL 20W controller , I have no idea.

I am glad to pay the license for the Lightburn Software, but would like to avoid paying twice for these two devices.

Thanks for you help.

Ken

Both of those devices would be supported with the G-code license.

As you’ve stated, the 3018 Pro will run a GRBL firmware. The xTool will have 2 concurrent firmware running, one proprietary and one based on GRBL. LightBurn will use the GRBL layer. Makeblock claim that their GRBL implementation was created independently from the official GRBL source (GPL3) although I find that suspect. They do have a number of firmware bugs that seem unique to them so it’s possible.

1 Like

Hi berainlb,
Thanks for your fast and competent response to my questions.
Perhaps you can also riddle me this:
It seems I must flash or change the firmware in the XTOOL 20W ( when it arrives ) to work with Lightburn. I have seen Youtube vids where people have had to flash the XTOOL and rendered it unusable.
What are your thoughts.
P.S. I bought the CNC3-3018Pro 5.5w, to get some laser experience to prepare myself for the XTOOL 20W, which should arrive by the end of Aug. ( P.S. I am an American living in Germany )

Guten tag.

I’m not aware of specifics for the D1 Pro. I do know that this was the case with the original D1. I’d be surprised if the Pro didn’t ship with the ability to run LightBurn without a firmware flash.

If you look on this forum the D1 line has a strained history with firmware issues including:

  • inability to update firmware
  • firmware bugs resulting in unpredictable behavior
  • firmware updates that cause the laser to crash and reboot
  • firmware updates changing the behavior of rotary
  • firmware updates that make the GRBL layer seem to not connect

I don’t recall anyone having a case where their machine was 100% bricked by an update. xTool offers a number of different tools to perform the upgrade so generally I think the ability to perform updates is retained from what I’ve seen.

Bottom line, you may want to confirm known good versions of the firmware and stick to those unless you have issues specific issues that need to be addressed.

Thanks again for you quick reply. I have sent this question directly to XTOOL. I will share the response!

Ken

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.