DSP works!

[bing1982]

Good news! Finally got my DSP installed and fully working (apart from the Z table, but at least I can use it now!).

I'm trying to go through the calibration setup in LaserCAD, I'm up to the point where it says you need to draw a 100x100mm box and cut it onto the paper, but when I send the file to the laser, it comes up saying 'beyond size!' on the DSP panel, and if I click start it acts erratically. The page size was showing as 1200x900mm by default, which I changed to 300x200mm. Anyone have any ideas on why the problem is happening and how to fix it?

[NickWL]

Fiddle around with your zeroes - try top/bottom/left/right - there's a middling-fair chance that you'll find changing one of these sorts out the problem.
Or not.
Nick

EDIT:
Just to clarify a bit:
'Beyond size' doesn't mean your piece is too big, just that some part of it is going to 'cut' beyond the boundaries you've defined. For example, a 1" square printed from its top edge downwards is fine if your printing starts somewhere in the general direction of up and centre but will give the error if you start your print ½" above your bottom boundary.

[bing1982]

Cheers for the reply, I've been playing around with a couple of other settings without any luck so I'll try doing these now.

[bing1982]

Ok, so had another play around, the left and right buttons for the laser head became reversed before that last massage, I've rectified that now in the options. The page and machine limits are set to the top left as that's where the limit switches are. I've tried the other combinations and nothing solved the issue of 'object beyond size'. It gives me an option to continue, and if I click enter, the laser head now resets itself to the home position (regardless of where it is), and proceeds to move as if it's drawing the square, but the laser doesn't appear to be firing (is this because of the error message?). Also, after it reverts to the home position, it draws the square starting from that corner even though it's in the middle of the page on LaserCAD. If I press the 'Laser' button on the DSP, it test fires the laser.

I've got absolutely no idea so any help is extremely appreciated

[Tech_Marco]

Most likely the "Position relative" not being set up property. Need to match the home position limt switch
After new settings save, need to do two things:
1) Hit RESET to take effect on new setting
2)Need to bring drawing within the range area. If you don't, most likely the images is out of working area

Marco

[bing1982]

I've found a button on the toolbar that says 'position relative' what gives me the option to move the blue point on the square around which doesn't solve it.

When you say match up the home switches, I've gone into the System Settings, then into Work Space, and got Machine Zero and Page Zero set to Left_Up, jit OK and then Reset on the DSP, and it's drawing the square but starts at the 'home' position rather then from where it should be on the page. No matter where I set square on the page, it still starts it from the home position, and the DSP still says 'beyond size, continue?'.

[bing1982]

From looking around on the forum, I've found my Y axis max acceleration was only on 3000.00 and from a post I saw, I upped it to 6000.00

I think that is slightly too high though, so I'm going to try lowering it a wee bit, and up the X axis a bit as well. Hopefully that will solve the issue, if not, any other ideas I can try?

[Tech_Marco]

Give it a try ane no harm to the controller.
Usuallt X is set to 8000~10,000 while Y is set to 4000~5000

Remember that you need to move the laser head a little far from the side. Also, make sure the laser is running inside the bounday but not heading out. You may need to redraw a new image and test again. I am pretty sure it is setup issue, but no hardware or DSP. You need to do more test, and use analysis thinking to get this problem solved

BTW, set yoir origin mode to "Key"


Marco

[bing1982]

My X was set to 10,000 and my Y was set to 3,000. I increased the Y to 6,000 but going to try reducing it to 4,500.

Is the origin set on the DSP panel? If so, I had 2 options, machine zero or soft, so I set it to soft (read it on another thread last night).

When you say move the laser head in from the side, no matter where I put it, it reverts back to the home position and starts from there. Like you say though, I'm also sure it's a setup issue and nothing is faulty on the machine. I'm going to be playing around with the settings again later and I'll post with how I get on.

[NickWL]

Try putting the laser head somewhere well in from the top left corner (say and inch or two) then press the ORIGIN button on the DSP control unit.
This will move the workpiece origin well away from your end-stop switches and just might solve the problem.
Nick

[bing1982]

Right, I'm not sure if I'm either A) getting to the bottom of this or B) getting more confused.

It seems that no matter where I put the square, the laser head goes to the back of the machine, and about 2/3 of the way to the right and tries cutting from there. But from what I can see, it looks like it's shorter then it should be, in that the X axis moves roughly 10cm, but the Y axis moves 6cm.

I've also tried moving the head a couple of inches into the work space, press 'origin', then when I press reset, the laser head goes back to where I set origin, but when I try cutting that square, it goes to the same point that I mentioned above. No matter where I set the origin, it always starts from the same place. But it resets the origin to the point where the square is starting to be cut. I also keep getting the error message on the DSP panel each time.

I honestly don't know what else to try.

[Tech_Marco]

Take a video and show your setting and work even with the limit issue.

Move the laser head to the center area, not just a inch away. Why gave yourself so mch trouble by not moving the head farther away from the edge



Marco

[bing1982]

I tried moving the head to various locations, and each time was the same result.

While I've been waiting for a file to upload to YouTube, I found that I had saved a file on the DSP, so deleted that and it is now trying to cut in the right place without any error message!

But I've now got a new issue, the laser doesn't seem to be firing as there is no markings on the paper (it was doing it before when it was trying to cut in the wrong place). When i press the 'laser' button on the controller, sometimes it fires the laser (by the marked sheet of paper), and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes there is a high pitched whining noise coming from the control box area, I think it's either the PWM supply or the 24V power supply. Any ideas on what the noise could be and if that is why the laser is temperamental in firing?

Marco, and NickWL, thanks so much for helping so far, I really appreciate it!

[bing1982]

Actually, scrap what I said above, the laser does seem to be firing, but there seems to be no markings on the piece of paper! i'm looking in the settings but I can see anything that could be causing it.

[Tech_Marco]

That I told you before you need to re-draw a new image after you set your "Position Relative" as the original image was out of boundary and it would show the error even though you set the page right.

Now, what you need to do is to check your power setting on the layer. I suggest you go over the manual if you haven't done yet You may set 10% to 15% for checking. Make sure you have water running on your tube.

Marco