My First Experience's With The 40W Ray (Not Good)

Snapmaker Ray
1

Hi, hope this does not sound like a rant, and if anyone has any suggestions, tips I would be grateful to hear them

I currently have an A350 with the 10W laser upgrade and have been using it very successfully for the past year, engraving coasters, chopping boards etc. I thought I would treat myself to an “upgraded” machine so hence I ordered a 40W Ray with and enclosure.
Machine and enclosure arrived and were duly assembled. Everything went well and both the quality of the equipment and instructions were what I had come to expect from Snapmaker. Connected up the machine to my computer and loaded the latest version of Luban
I then went on to run some tests, this is when things went seriously downhill, I stupidly expected things to be similar to the A350 with a dot indicating the centre of the beam. I was presented with the red cross-hairs, assuming that the intersection of the cross-hairs was the centre on the beam.
I positioned the centre of the supplied test board on the intersection of the cross-hairs and started the job only to discover that this is not the case; the intersection of the cross-hairs is offset from the beam by approximately 22mm in the X Axis and 2mm in the Y Axis. WHAT IS THE POINT OF THE CROSS-HAIRS?. This resulted in the test piece being cut partially off the test board. It is nearly impossible to engrave things in a tight space, making the main reason for buying the “upgraded” unit pointless.
As mentioned previously I do engraving on wooden (Bamboo, Acadia wood, Pine, Beech etc.) boards and use 40 – 50 % of the laser power with a speed of 600mm/min, this gives me the depth and colour of image I need. I have tried numerous samples and test grids and have yet to get anything comparable in colour or depth.
If I could send this unit back I would, but the returns policy makes it impossible. I cannot and will not recommend this unit to anyone until these issues have been resolved
I am at my wits end and feel I have wasted nearly £1600 on something I can’t use. Any help would be much appreciated. If not up for sale she goes !!!

2

Place the 40W laser on the 350 and you have the same problem. The crosshair isn’t the exact 0 point. You can turn on the laser to place it on the right place. On the touch screen in control mode, you have on the bottom 3 buttons. The most right is Laser power. Use these, turn the laser on at 1% or less and you can place exact. Works only with the doors closed.

3

It should be relatively easy, if it does not work like this you should reach out to support:

Screenshot_20240420_100508
Screenshot_20240420_1005081080×1248 157 KB

https://wiki.snapmaker.com/en/snapmaker_ray/manual/set_xy_work_origin

https://snapmaker.formcrafts.com/support-ticket

4

Maybe in Luban. Not in all the other programs like Lightburn.

5

But this is what we talk about?

For lightburn there is a post in the forum anyway.

6

You have 1000%.

I have Luban used 1 times and I have ban it. Not intuitive at all.

Octopi with Prusaslicer for 3D printing Lightburn to laser and Deskproto to mill. Only Octopi was new for me.

7

deskproto is better than fusion?

8

Deskproto is cam software. Fusion is a 3D cad program.

9

Hi
Thanks for your response
Using the Ray, how do you turn the laser dot on as there is no touch screen ? I can only get the dot when I run a boundary check, using this method it is very difficult, nearly impossible, to position the workpiece accurately.

10

Can you send codes to the Ray? The laser power is set by the S parameter. From 0 (off) to 255 (full on). Try x0 y0 S10 to place the laser at the x and Y origin with a power from 10/255. For a 40W is that 1,57W. S7 is approx 1W.

11

I think you have to calibrate the offcet directly in Merlin.
Ther is an g code for programing offcet of the tools compered to pointer i just don remember wher ,

12

My offset is perfect. For 40W, 10W, 1,6W and rotary. I need nothing to do to calibrate.

13

To all who replied, my apologies as my job sends me away for long periods often with no internet access.
I will read and digest the replies and get back with an update
Thanks, your assistance is greatly appreciated