I bought a creality falcon 10w laser engraver last year in December and the X axis keeps on losing size. Even after repeated calibration in lightburn in machine settings tab. the machine corrects and cuts like it should for a few passes then starts losing size again.
I have checked the belt tension and its just tight enough to allow the x axis to move under gravity. i need to recalibrate the x axis everytime re start the machine and this is extremely frustrating. Has anyone experienced this issue and actually found a solution?
Any help regarding this issue would be GREATLY appreciated!
Scale it uniformly to fit the platform and run it as fast as it will go in Line mode with optimizations turned off and power set to mark a sheet of cardboard. Any differences from the design will be informative; a photo will let us look over your shoulder.
If that rules out mechanical problems, other gotchas come into play …
Sorry for the late reply with the test pattern you sent me.
Please see the attached photo.
I hope it is clear enough as i had to paste 4x A4 papers together to get a good visual with the burn set at such high speed.
The right side of the circle begins downward after a movement from the far right side that would have taken up the backlash shown by the mismatch of the ends. Measuring that distance will give you an idea of the backlash you’re looking for.
These mismatches suggest the backlash has some mechanical resistance:
Those circles are drawn counterclockwise around the ring, each with a different starting point, and the longest motion is in the Y direction. The backlash is smaller, suggesting the loose joint isn’t very loose.
I finally founf the problem with my X axis and i really hope this bit of info helps others in the future.
I disassembled the entire X axis and went through every component only to find it was the drive belt! The creality falcon comes with the Xaxis already assembled and I assume the belt had been in a certain position in storage for many months if not years.
Even though the X axis belt was the first thing i tensioned when looking for the error of losing sizes, I never noticed that the small wires or fibres inside the rubber toothed belt were actually broken! So there was a fair amount of actual elastic stretch in the middle of my belt that allowed the drive pulley to go out of pitch in a certain position along its track.
I replaced the belt, re tensioned it, re calibrated the X axis in lightburn and its been holding perfect size for the past few days.
Thank you for your input and I appreciate you going down the rabbit hole with me.
