I have read some good reviews about Lightburn. My problem is I am a true blue newbie. I have read the instructions written by someone in the Lightburn forums.
I have a Mac, running 11.0 software. I have no idea how to have Lightburn recognize my SM2. I know the article was well written for Windows, but not Mac ( Unless as a newbe I missed something entirely.)
So if someone would be kind and generous to do a step by step guide and maybe a screenshot or two would great for a visual learner.
Also the article talks about connecting the computer to the SM2 by usb. I have no clue on how to do that so that Lightburn recognizes the SM2.
I have some Problems with lightburn,too - I use it in Linux. It does not connect to my snapmaker. At the moment I just use it for generating Gcode and pass this code to luban.
Do not run projects directly from lightburn. There is a serial buffer issue, weird things will happen. Instead export the gcode and run from the touchscreen.
Note:
Run boundary will not work
Door detection will ruin the job if the door opens.
I use Lightburn with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Linux.
Had a problem with driver and machine not connecting.
Tried several so called solutions. None worked.
I finally found this site How to Install CH340 Drivers - learn.sparkfun.com which not only has a working driver but also has extensive explanations for several OSâs.
Run boundary works fine ( I have a A350 ) and the burn also succeeds.
Note that the tutorial mentioned above also explains the steps to take ie add membership to group etc.
Am willing to help if someone wants to try this.
What settings are you using? Are you using absolute coords or user origin? I used to have run boundary working but recently it just moves the laser off the workpiece and freezes. I need to try and figure out how to get this working again.
Both work. If youâre going to use absolute coordinates put the machine into G53 machine coordinates mode. It boots up into G54 with whatever previous offset you were using.
M1007 will return the current workspace and offset if you want to check.
It would be good to practice and get familiar with the concept of different workspaces and offsets and using G53, G54, and G92.
Also note that sometimes Lightburn generates code in relative, G91, mode. If your gcode that lightburn generates contains a G91 anywhere then you cannot use the touchscreen run boundary function as it assumes everything is G90 absolute mode
I was doing pretty well with running boundary and the engrave job via lightburn over usb and using user origin. I began to have an issue where the second layer did not engrave in the right location, so I tried absolute coords. Now run boundary doesnât work at all. The laser moves to a location and freezes. Lightburn shows busy and the only way to fix it is but restarting the machine and lightburn both.
Will any of these commands help me get to the bottom of this?
Are you on the latest version of lightburn? There was a bug awhile back where it dropped the connection making it appear to freeze.
Also when you say run boundary, thatâs snapmaker touchscreen terminology which is throwing me off. You are using the frame or rubber band function in lightburn over USB? Or are you transferring the .nc file to the touchscreen and running it from the touchscreen and using run boundary?
If youâre having offset issues where you canât run on the same location twice it sounds like you need to learn more about how offsets and work coordinate spaces work. They are deterministic in how they operate although snapmaker goes out of their way to make it as confusing as possible by silently changing things behind the scenes without notification or explanation. M1007 is how to peer behind the scenes to see what the machine is thinking itâs doing. The other commands will change the machine state to be what you need if itâs not in the state you need.
I was on the latest lightburn version, but rolled back to latest known working version today to see if that would help. It doesnât seem to have made a difference.
Ok so youâre in native machine coordinates and thereâs no special offsets. When Selected Origin=1 then youâre in G53 machine coordinates, and Origin 2 is G54 Workspace Coordinate 1. Snapmaker confusingly added 1 when they report compared to Marlin, which calls in its documentation machine coordinates â0â and workspace 1 as â1â - snapmaker calls though â1â and â2â, respectively.
I recall from my uses that I donât trust the lightburn âset originâ button - it doesnât play nicely with snapmaker. Iâm still on version .9.something though and havenât checked the changelogs on the newer versions.
âUser Originâ typically refers to being in G54 workspace offset where coordinates X/Y/Z 0/0/0 corresponds to a manually set location in the machine where you want the Lightburn user origin to be.
If thatâs what you want to do then jog the laser in X and Y to where you want the user origin point to be and then issue the following commands (or make it a macro)
G54 ; Enter workspace 1
G92 X0 Y0 ; Set current location as X0 Y0
If youâd rather use absolute coordinates in lightburn then make sure the machine is in machine coordinates by sending G53 and then position the art in Lightburn at the exact machine coordinates youâd like.
Yeah, Iâve never used the âset originâ button in Lightburn either. I always set it from the Snapmaker touchscreen.
I tried the Code you showed in your post, and that produces the same issue. The laser fires (I pressed shift and then the square frame button in Lightburn) then moves to the corner of where it should be framing, and then freezes completely.
In the video it shows current position, but the behavior is exactly the same for user origin and similar for absolute coords (with absolute coords the laser moves to bottom left corner of the bed or X0 Y0 and freezes there.)
You would have to put it in a zip file. Doesnât appear to be anything wrong with your gcode or project.
Congrats I guess. Youâve either found a bug in Lightburn or the Snapmaker controller. I havenât seen that happen in awhile and I think Lightburn fixed their issue.
I was hoping youâd show the terminal in Lightburn again. Usually you wouldnât have to close everything. Disconnecting the serial port and reconnecting might work. In the past there was a series of gcode commands you could send that would also recover it.
In the console when it freezes whatâs it say?
This area:
Something about the stream closing?
Aside from doing framing, if you set the laser power at like 0.5% (so it doesnât actually burn, but is otherwise visible) for the project layers can you run the file normally? Is this a frame specific problem? Or does the toolpath fail as well?
I see no reason you shouldnât be able to transfer that gcode onto the touchscreen and run from there, but run boundary wonât be useful.
Honestly, I donât really ever frame or run boundary - if youâre confident in your measurements itâs superfluous.
