Test fire?
Now that the power panel on my laser doesn’t work and I control everything through Lightburn, how do I fire a test pulse so I can make sure my mirrors are correctly aligned?
Found what I was looking for, thanks!
Can you help me found how to do fire a test pulse ? I have a button on the panel, but now don't work anymore.
Hi everyone, here's the blog that describes how to do a digital test-fire (test pulse).
The advantage of the digital test-fire is that it is an exact duration and power, so you can get consistent pulses to test how quickly you material darkens under a consistent pulse.
Folks, my "Test Fire Macro (TFM)" in Light Burn (LB) worked fine for months and months. I use the macro not only to align mirros but to also burn a spot to correctly place my material. Over the last week or so, when I use the TFM, the laser fires a burst and never stops firing. It just keeps firing until I intervene. Sometimes the "Stop" in LB screen works and sometimes it does not work. If it does not stop firing, I have to physically hit the "On/Off" button on the machine. When the "Stop" in LB works the MG2 returns to normal and is ready to run another command.
I have a K40 with a MG2, I use and external 24 VDC brick and power my air pump from the "Mains" outlet on the back of my K40. I also have a small 5 volt DC/DC converter inside my K40 to power my LED lights. The converter uses the 24 volts from the brick. I do NOT use the 24 volts from the K40 PSU.
Has anybody ever run into an issue with the MG2 where it just keeps firing the laser and never stops?
Hi Eligio, that's an unusual issue! Can you please advise if the regular laser job (eg. a cutting or engraving) suffers from the same issue, or is it just the TFM?
Assuming it's just the TFM, can you please:
- think what else is 'different' in terms of when you run the TFM versus the laser job - could this be the cause? Maybe you have something else turned on/off, or have some other mode in operation?
- check that your Test Fire Macro code hasn't been corrupted? Right click on the macro button and compare to the code on our website - is it all still there?
Regards,
Dan
Hi Dan.
I am not sure if I found the issue with the TFM that keeps on firing. I checked the macro and it is ok. The problem appears to be related to a possible bad left key on my touch pad on my laptop and/or the LO signal path. I switched to a standard mouse and it seemed to go away. I went back to the touch pad and it came back. I then went back to the standard mouse and it went away.
On Aug 7, the laser started firing at the beginning of a job and when the carriage was moving between objects. The blogs mentioned loose LO path wires as a possible cause. I checked all the wires and they seemed OK. I then noticed that if I pushed the wires attached to front panel "Laser On" switch, I could make it stop firing when moving from one object to another. All the wiring connections in the LO path were crimped so I recrimped them all but the problem persisted. I then proceeded to solder every connection in LO path.
After soldering every connection, I have not had a repeat of either the TFM continuous firing issue or the latter firing at the start of a job/while moving from object to object while using the standard mouse.
I plan to go back to the touch pad mouse on the lap top to see if it might still be an issue.
I will update in a couple of weeks.