Before jumping into the issue, here is a bit about my setup:
- I have the try-before-you-buy version of LightBurn 1.7.08
- I am connecting to the laser using the steps here:(Setting up xTool S1 with new xTool device type in LB 1.7 and Beyond)
- I have had my xTool S1 for about a week
- Set to buffered transfer mode
- When burning, I used Stucki, Dither, and Grayscale (this is what XCS used).
- Various speed and power settings: (P 50% S 225 mm/s, P 20% 120 mm/s – XCS setting, Pmax 20% Pmin 5% S 120 mm/s)
- My firmware is: V.40.32.014.2025.01 B8, V.40.32.009.2122.01 B1, V.40.32.012.2224.01 B4
- File format for images attempted were JPG & PNG
For the past week, I have been going through the paces to learn what I can of LightBurn and the laser, experiment with different materials, etc. Initially I set up the connection to the laser according to directions on the xTool website… not great. The materials test kept cutting out triangles rather than of squares. I stumbled across an article saying I should ignore what is on the xTool website and follow a different set of steps to set up the connection. Worked great - all squares!
I cut a few things out of 3mm plywood and engraved some text. I also engraved a black and white (not greyscale). Today I decided to try the photo attached to this post. The first attempt to “print” did okay at first, but about a third of the way through the photo, the laser head stopped (laser still firing!) and burned a hole through the workpiece. I read a bit more and followed a recommendation to turn the speed and power up and tried again. Same issue. Tried another image (quick ChatGPT image) and it made it about 90% the way through the image, the laser stopped and burned through the workpiece. Upped the speed and power a touch and the second attempt with the ChatGPT image completed. Switched back to the arches image and it failed within a few passes on the image. I decided to give it a go in xTool Creative Space and the image printed exactly how it should have. Went back into LightBurn to give it another try but using grayscale and settings Pmax 20% Pmin 5% S 120 mm/s. Again, another fail.
I did all that and didn’t see any errors/alarms pop up in the Console. This is what was displayed in the console:
Starting stream
M109 S1
M96 S0
M110 X1Y1Z1
M7 S0 N0 D10
M9 S0 N0
D10
M17 S1
Layer C02
M15 A0 S2
M15 A0 S2
M2036 S1
Job halted
Stream completed in 1:33
ok
M108 ok
ok
ok
M9 S0 N0
D10
I stopped the print after a few minutes of the laser not moving (burned hole through workpiece then turned off the beam). Also the ring light stayed solid purple/fuchsia – I’m connected via USB, for what it’s worth. I attempted to attach the GCode but the file was be too large (thoughts on how to share it?)
How can I fix this problem? Any questions or clarification needed, please let me know. For anyone who made it this far down the post, thank you!!