Hi. I’ve watched all the 1F laser videos for setup. My laser works and is operational, but… the M3 S10 command to set the XY used in the video does not work. I saw the comment to NOT home the machine, so I’ve tried that too, still doesn’t work. On a fresh restarted, cancel homing, the m3 s10 will fire the laser for half a second and then become unresponsive to the command. rinse repeat.
This is super frustrating because I have a precision operation I need to do and the only thing I think I can try is fire it full blast the laser to mark a spot and then use calipers to measure an offset for use in Vcarve. Still not precise enough.
This has apparently been a known issue for 7 months. Is there an ETA for the fix? Are there other work arounds for me to try?
Does the laser stay on when you M3 S10 as long as you don’t move it? Also the gamepad controller works really good for this. You can power on the controller, I don’t home, then M3 S10 and use the gamepad controller to move X,Y, and Z to my starting position and then zero X, Y, and Z and the laser never turns off while moving that way. Then M5 to turn off the laser after I zero. The fix isn’t there that I know of when jogging by the touchscreen with the laser on.
Hobbes443. I had the same issue with my laser intermittent firing / unable to be commanded on.
Mine started out only firing at M03 S25. Then I had to fire at S100. Then nothing. At S255(max power) I got 3.3 volts to the driver but no out put to the laser.
The driver turned out to be bad. After talking to jtech they sent me a new one.
I would reach out to them to see if they can assist you.
I would just message them on face book or their customers support.
I think this topic would be worth a pinned comment on your Lightburn video, explaining the command and that some lasers might need some trial & error to get correct. That video was my first introduction into laser usage, even though I decided to go with vcarve instead of lightburn.
Im experiencing a similar issue. My laser does turn on (with M3 S15) command, but only if it is issuer right after a boot up. However without a reboot it stops responding to the M3 SXX commands. Anybody else with a similar issue?
It’s still the same for me. Mine fires at m3 s20, but really only after the reboot. So basically one chance to zero it out. After that, another reboot. It’s super frustrating and really needs to be fixed.
It’s okay that each laser has a diff sXX value that needs to be discovered, but the reboot, don’t home, to able to issue the command thing? Known issue for at least 7 months now.
It is the latest so it should work for you. When you have it working after reboot it should go off when you move it with the screen. When this happens click on the m3 s? that is listed under MDI that you had entered before. Then hit play and the laser should come on again. If it doesn’t check to be sure dynamic power is unchecked and saved. When the laser is on you can move it around without it going off using the joystick controller. To make small adjustments press the blue button.
It appears it was this “dynamic power” setting that was keeping mine from working correctly. After unchecking that, even after a homing i could reliably m3 it.
two things here, 1) I can’t recall seeing this setting mentioned anywhere related to the laser, or anywhere actually. Except for the hint based on the name of the setting, I really have no idea what that setting is all about. I use a router and not a spindle so I assumed the whole section didn’t apply to me.
That said, when using the laser, functionally i guess it’s my spindle and now that setting applies?? but 2) what other effects does turning that setting off produce? If I’m laser engraving a picture that has variations of light & dark areas my understanding is the laser would vary it’s power to produce that image. Does turning that setting off negate that ability?
Yes, Rod it does negate that ability. It will fire at 100% continuosly if left unchecked. I know dynamic power is mentioned somewhere in the forum because that is where I learned about it.
So did this resolve the issue? I have the same issue as you described it. I can run gcode with no issue, but I am unable to execute the MDI command to properly align the laser head.
Oh. Hmmm, do you home the machine when it starts up? If you do, try NOT homing it.
I don’t home the machine anymore, or rarely at least, and never with the laser. In the past (and maybe still??) there was a problem with homing and using the laser. “Fixed” I’ve been told.
Also try toggling the Use Dynamic Power (not sure of exact words here) in the spindle settings. IMO you always want this on with the laser, but temporarily turning it off could help with this issue.
I have tried not homing, but that didn’t do it. I have read about the Dynamic Power, but haven’t tried that yet. I will try that “fix”. I appreciate the response.