A customer sent me some graphics to engrave. They are very simple, but have wide lines. I traced the png files and began to engrave them. Almost always at the same place, but not necessarily, the laser flashes and then stops. I can engrave other graphics just fine, but these two just wouldn’t engrave. Sometimes I would get a connection error, and some sometimes the project would finish spooling to the laser - and even when the laser then had whatever was left, it would stop. I was engraving at 160 mm/s at 100%. I tried a new different cable, same issue. I even tried a different laptop. Same issue. Installed an earlier version of Lightburn. Same issue. Remember, everything else engraves with no problem. Then, I went ahead and turned the power on the engrave layer to 90% - and it engraved fine. Cutting at 5 mm/s and 100% is no problem. It’s engraving these two graphics at 100% power that seems to be a problem.
Has anyone else seen this kind of thing before? It’s almost like there’s something wonky with how the graphics were converted within Lightburn.
So, it quits when you crank up both the speed and the power, but lower either one and it is good?
Either the power supply is going bad or it does not have enough current capacity to operate at max performance.
Manufacturers use barely good enough parts to keep the cost down. I expect you are out of warranty, so you can do what you want to solve the problem. Just make sure any replacement supply has the same output Voltage and a higher rated current capacity.
It quits after a minute or so at 160 mm/s and 100%, but only on those two graphics. Whatever else I engrave at 160 mm/s and 100% is just fine. Cutting is fine, though I have noticed that sometimes will now have to cut twice to get through 1/8" wood. The laser is definitely losing some power, but I figured that’s just what happens with diode lasers over time with use.
I checked the voltage coming off the power supply and it looks good. Maybe there is an issue with the control board. Just guessing.
