Lightobject.com Support Forum

I just purchased the X7. Quickly had it setup and running. Anything I create within laser cad weather its a cut or engraving comes out perfect. However almost anything I import (jpeg, BMP) It shows up fine in the software and imports and looks correct on the X7 Screen. But when it runs it looks like it's skipping lines thus causing the image to be really stretched out. I have messed with almost ever setting, disabled BMP optimize, change offsets, changed engraving settings. Nothing seems to make a difference.

Any suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks!

I have new patch for the X7 and I will post it at download area soon.

Marco

Great thanks Marco! Do you have an idea of when? if it's still a while do you have a previous patch that I could use to get it working?

Just posted the update patch. Let me know if it fix your problem


Marco
(@Cancun)

Marco,

I updated the DSP with the new file. A few of the files that did not previously work now work however the majority of them still do not work. I attached some work I did prior to getting the DSP. I did the files attached with Mach3 and the engraving plugin. Here are some steps I have taken and what has resulted.

1. I have imported a vector file and ran engrave. It works fine for the first 30 lines then becomes completely distorted however it shows that it is fine on the LCD screen. I have tried to import this same file from many other softwares as DXF, AI, Jpeg, BMP all gets the same result. I have even traced the lines within laser cad and still get the same issue. The first 10% of the file comes out great then it progressively starts skipping more and more lines.

2. I import a bmp and just run the engrave and it works as expected. The image comes out in black and white. I take that same file in lasercad and use the tools to dither the image. I run that on the DSP and now it has very large line gaps and the image is stretched out.

3. This issue still only appears to happen with imported image files. I can create a graphic and engrave fine from within lasercad. While I think the update did fix a few issues that I had I am still having the same problem. I will read over the forum again maybe I am missing something in the software.

This is perplexing just because it works fine with everything other than imported images. I also noticed that I do have better results on very high resolution files. I will post some images of what is happening as soon as I can.

Thanks for the quick response on the update!

These where done on Mach3 prior to the DSP.

Can you send me the file and let me try it
I want to see if I can duplicatethe problem

Marco

Here is a file that I ran before and it worked and now it is way stretched out on the Y axis.

Here is a link to the actual file https://drive.google.com/folderview?id= ... sp=sharing

Here is some more info after testing, I might be getting close to figuring out what the issue might be.


I tried to slow the speed down and here is the result.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6gKe ... authuser=0

I will test it on Monday when I go to work.
Just want to confirm with you that it is X7 DSP, isn'tit?

Also, can you tell me where or how soon it happen because the file seems big and take long time to finish.

Marco

I do have the X7. It does not take very long to finish on my machine just a few minutes. I use laser cad to scale it down to about 100MM tall. Here is the example again of the 2 different speeds.

https://plus.google.com/photos/yourphot ... 5121797373


I will do more testing at the 500 Speed setting and see if the images are consistent. Thanks for all your help.

Marco here is an example of what it does
The bottom part completed at 500MM/s 10% power and a 0.05 scan gap. The top image is the same settings only changed power to 20% and it started skipping lines like crazy. Hope this helps with understanding what the issue might be. It seems to be speed / power related.

Thanks,
Larry

I downloaded the Ninja pictures and tested it on 500mm/s and 1000mm/s with my 60W laser and has the power setting set at 50% and 60%, it came up fine

I don't think it is DSP issue but something else. The most suspicious cause is the interference from the LPSU. Double check the grounding and avoid too closed distance between the HV cable to the signal wires


Marco

Marco,

I tried moving motor signal cables further away from laser + lead. Grounds are good.

However if you read my posts that does not really make sense. I can engrave anything at any speed that I can create in lasercad. A square a circle a line. All powers all speed work fine no issues, And no issues with cutting.

When I import an image of any file type. I can only go around 10-18% power before the Y axis starts skipping lines. This does not happen on all images just most of them.

If I had an interference issue I would have more erratic behavior. Cutting works, Engraving objects from lasercad works, only importing images does not and that's mostly how I intended to use the machine. I hooked up an Oscilloscope and the motors are doing what they are told. The DSP is telling them to jump. The motors are not skipping or losing steps. I can record the scope output if you would like to see.

We have 4 laser machines running Synrad lasers and Mach3. We wanted to migrate all of the machines to the Reci laser tube and DSP control of simpler and more affordable operation.

When the Y axis skips lines it is also losing it's Origin. I am not sure what else to try at this point.

I will keep testing to see if I can get any more helpful info.

That's why I asked you to send me your work file and let me tried but you just uploaded the finished image and the Ninja file
I can't tell without the image you're having trouble with. May be it is DSP issue may be not. In order for me to duplicate your problem, I got to test the same file you did. I have tested the Ninja with info I posted previously and seeing nothing wrong with that.

To me, it doesn't make sense that by changing output power rating from 10% to 20% would cause the missing steps. The DSP only output the PWM from 0.5V to 1V (ideally), the actual power output is coming from the LPSU (laser power supply). So, if it is not caused by the interference from the LPSU, where is the problem coming from. I started to pull my hair now... strange. If the problem is obvious, I don't think the supplier can sell a card at all.

What type of motor and motor driver are you running? Servo or stepping motor? On my machine, it is running with stepping motors and 1000mm/s seems is the limit I can go. I don't think I have any issue like yours even with 100% full power output from the machine. What power is the laser tube? Check the HV cable see if it is 'sparking' somewhere.


Marco

Marco,

I was able to figure out the issue. I am using clear path servos from Teknic.com. I moved the ground for the servo to the output port on the DSP and the problem went away. The DSP does not provide dedicated ground outputs for the Step an direction ports so I was using one of the laser output ports to ground the Step signal.

Thanks for your help. This was a tough issue glad it's fixed.

One final question the DSP I ordered only came with 4 of the connection terminals. Is that normal? It didn't come with a power,limit,laser and one other. I Had many from older stepper drivers that worked ok for now.

Larry:

Great to know that your problem got fixed. I'm hopefully if you can post the connection of servo as I believe that it is not singular case. Many folks are using servo and I never used servo motor or drivers. Your input is greatly important and appreciated


Marco