The Laser Window lets you select the laser you're using, see it's connection status, send jobs to the laser, and control a few different things about how jobs are run on the laser, including how the job is positioned, and the order things are cut.
The type of laser you have active will affect how this window looks, and Beginner Mode will change it too, so don't panic if yours looks different than what is shown here.
The Start, Stop, and Pause buttons will likely get a lot of use:
The Send button, if your laser supports it, will let you send the current job to the laser as a named file, so you can run from the laser itself.
The two Frame buttons are used to preview the position of the job on the laser.
The first is a standard rectangular frame, also called a 'Bounding Box'. This is the smallest rectangle that will fully contain the shapes you're sending to the laser.
If my current file was these four hexagons, the green rectangle around them is the path the rectangular frame would follow:
The O-Frame button, called the 'Rubber Band Frame', traces a path around your design that is the shape of a rubber band stretched around it. For the hexagons file, it would look like this:
This is useful for lining up jobs with irregular shapes where a simple box outline doesn't fit well. For example, a long, thin diagonal shape, or a triangle.
The next two buttons will change depending on the type of laser you're using, but they always do the same things. The first will save the current design as a 'Machine Ready' file, in the file format used by your laser. The second will load and run a previously saved file. If you have a Ruida, these will save and run RD files. If you have a GCode based laser, these buttons will save and run GCode files.
The Home button will tell your laser to execute a homing cycle, where it moves toward the home position looking for the switches that activate when it hits the boundary. Homing is how your laser figures out where it is.
The Go to Origin button tells the laser to jog to the position currently set as the user origin. Most DSP controllers have an 'Origin' button on the panel that you press to set the current position as the user origin. If you want to send the laser to that spot, press the 'Go to Origin' button.
These two controls affect where the job is placed on the bed of your laser. Please read the Coordinates and Job Origin page for details on the different modes, and how they affect the placement of your job.
This toggle switch tells LightBurn to only send the portion of your design that is currently selected. If you run a file on your machine and part of the design doesn't cut all the way through, select that piece, enable this switch, and click Start to re-send just the selected part of the job. The placement of the part will not change.
When used in combination with Cut Selected Graphics, the Use Selection Origin button tells LightBurn that you want the origin of the job to be calculated from only the parts that are selected, not the whole design. This is useful if you have many different shapes in a file, like a large selection of frames, but only want to send the one you've chosen, and want the origin calculated from just that selected item.
When enabled, the Show Last Position button places a cross-hair cursor in the edit window at the location of the laser head. If you jog the laser within LightBurn using any of the positioning tools, the position will be updated. The position does not update live - for example, it will not update while a job is running, because that would encourage you to watch the screen instead of your laser. A laser should never be left unattended while running.
This toggle will enable / disable the path optimizer that plans the cutting path the laser will take. With it disabled, the order will simply be the order that the shapes in your file were drawn in.
This button opens the Optimization Settings window, allowing you to change the various options that control the cut planner.
Although many things can contribute to this, let's eliminate LightBurn by checking for possible machine failures.
Your laser: OmTech
Your controller/ firmware: Ruida KT332N
I have what may be an identical machine with the same controller.
The high voltage laser power supply has a digital display:
If yours has the same display, then you can report the current for each test pulse. If not, then read through this for background and we'll find a different way to verify the beam output.
First test: does the power supply work at all?
TEST button on the power supplyIf the power supply works, the display will read about 14 mA and the laser beam will poke a hole in the wood. If not, the supply is dead and you need a replacement.
Assuming it works, with the power off, plug the green connector back into the power supply.
Second test: does the power supply obey the controller?
Goto ezcad to know more.
Set the KT332N controller for manual pulses (page 35 of the manual). Press MENU ' Laser ' Laser mode: Continue, Enter on the console to save, then Esc back the normal display. When you press the Pulse button on the controller display the laser beam will turn on and stay on until you release the button.
Set the controller pulse power (page 27 of the manual). Press Enter on the console, move the selection to Power, go through the agonizing process of changing it to 25%, press Enter to save it.
Put something disposable under the laser head, press and hold the Pulse button, and the meter on the power supply should read 7 mA (more or less).
If it does not, then something is wrong between the controller and the HV supply, which will require more testing.
If it does, then the controller behaves as expected.
Third test: does the tube current vary predictably?
On the controller console, set other power levels and verify the current changes roughly in proportion to the setting. For example, if 50% produces 14 mA, then 25% should be about 7 mA and 75% should be about 18%. All those numbers are rubbery, but should give you the idea.
Don't run the laser at more than about 75% for more than a few seconds while testing, but you can try 99% to find the maximum current the power supply will put out. The tube or its accompanying paperwork may have a maximum current written on it, although the power supply will probably produce far more current than that; OMTech seems to over-promise the laser power by abusing tubes rated for lower power output.
If the power levels vary as expected, then we can proceed to figure out which LightBurn settings changed.
Looks good to me!
At this point we've established the controller works, the power supply works, the tube (probably) works, so we can eliminate all of that and move on with finding the real problem.
Assuming for the moment that the tube is lasing properly, the next step is to verify the beam hits (roughly) at the center of all three mirrors and goes out through the middle of the nozzle.
Note that a new machine should be properly aligned, but experience shows assuming it's in good shape is a bad assumption.
Using the machine console , change the Continue setting to Laser (IIRC. It might be Pulse or something like that, but it's the other choice) and set the time to 50 ms. Set the power level to 30%, which should be close to the right value.
Then stick a piece of masking tape on the entrance to Mirror 1 (at the output end of the laser tube) and fire a pulse:
The mark should be in the middle of the circular aperture. If not, then there's a problem.
Repeat for Mirror 2 on the left end of the gantry. You may need to increase the power to maintain a toasty mark.
Repeat for Mirror 3 on the laser head, again increasing the power as needed.
If all three marks are pretty close to centered, that's good. In any case, upload pictures to show off your work.
Squash a piece of tape on the nozzle and fire another pulse. It should produce a hole pretty much in the middle of the circular dent in the tape; if not, that's a problem. Again, pix to show off the results.
If all that worked, then we can be reasonably sure:
Report back on what you find!
We'll assume the beam looks OK and comes out the middle of the nozzle, but if the machine continues to not cut, you're gonna need to show your work.
Combining that bit of new information with the results so far suggests that, despite what you think, the settings are not the same, because the machine passes all the straightforward tests.
Upload the *lbrn2 files in your reply so we can take a look at it.
The first time you do something, you ask 'How can anyone possibly do this?' The second time, you say 'Hey, that was straightforward!' The third time, you wonder 'Why doesn't everybody know how to do this?'
You just passed stage 1: welcome aboard!
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