I’ve looked through the forums for an answer to this and cannot seem to find one that works for me. I initially setup the 45W laser following Eric’s video on youtube, and everything worked as expected, the Z 0 height was set just above the parts that we were cutting (around 6mm not sure). It has been a few days since we used the laser since then, and we started it up again today, and every file that we load seems to have the same issue, that the laser z axis 0 is above the part we are cutting by about 2 inches. We even went back to the old files we were using a few days ago when things were working fine, but now we are having the same issue with those files too. We use fusion 360 for our design and manufacturing, and we’ve tried changing many settings on there, but like I said, the original files that we used a few days ago were working perfect right after we set the laser up for the first time, and now those same files are having this same issue with the Z height. We have shut down and restarted the machine numerous times, each time we home the machine, do a MTC, touch off on the touch off plate, then use the tool height measuring plate to measure the height of the spoilboard, after that is set, we go through the util menu and set the laser height with the 21mm block on the edge of the laser just like eric’s 2 minute youtube video. As soon as we get done with the process of touching off on the 21mm block, for a split second the Z DRO gets set to -1.9” and then it raises up like normal. Because of this, when we get down to 0 on the Z DRO, we are still up in the air about that 2 inches. After this, we use the util menu again to switch back to previous tool, and we jog the spindle back down to the spoilboard and the Z axis is set at 0 when we are on top of our spoilboard as it should be.
In the acorn wizard, we are setup with the 45W laser, and there are not many options to change other than the “Nozzle Z offset” which we have set at 45w Nozzle.
Also, we wanted to reset and start over again with the initial setup, so I went into the acorn wizard and selected “None” as the laser type. During this the laser was armed, and when I wrote these new configurations to cnc 12, the laser turned on and started burning a hole into the spoilboard. Just a warning thanks.
It sounds like you have calibrated the laser correctly.
Try this:
Put a tool in the spindle and make sure you run your MTC to measure the tool. After you do that use the touch plate to zero to the top of a part, any part, it doesn’t matter.
After you do that drive down to Z zero and make sure your bit is on top of the part. I suspect it will be (if not, we have larger problems!
Now go to the UTILS menu and go to Diode Laser Utilites and then “deploy laser” (I think that’s what it says I’m not looking at the menu at this exact moment)
This should deploy the laser. When it deployed jog down over that same material until the DRO reads Z 0. When it does the nozzle SHOULD be above the material around 6mm (it’s different for every laser but close enough)
If that’s not the case your Z height for your laser is improperly calibrated and that’s where we need to focus our efforts.
Thank you for the quick response, here is what we just did.
Turn on machine, complete homing cycle.
Noticed that the tool was still set to T99, so I went into the UTIL menu → Diode Laser Utilities → Switch to previous tool.
Clicked MTC, did a tool change with a 1/4” bit that we have set as Tool 1. The tool touched off on the tool height setter as usual.
Placed the corner touch plate on the corner of a 1/4” material atop our spoilboard. Then we went through the process of touching off. The spindle raised to a height of 2.000” on the Z DRO as usual.
Brought the spindle down to Z zero, and it is just skimming the work surface as it should be.
Went into the UTIL menu → Diode Laser Utilities→ Deploy Laser. Screen says “X Y offset applied” and then the laser drops down slowly.
Jogged the laser down to the Z zero, and the nozzle sits above the part about 2”. Side note: When I jogged down the laser until the nozzle was just skimming the work piece, the Z on the DRO reads -1.572”.
Ok, this tells me that everything is working except the Z offset of the laser. You need to re-run that again. Be sure to put the little block between the BODY of the laser and the spoilboard, NOT between the nozzle and the spoilboard. That may have been where you went wrong…
I turned the machine back on, homed it, did a MTC with the same 1/4” bit, and then I touched off on the touch off plate onto the spoilboard. Then I took a video from there. The spindle is touching the spoilboard at Z zero, however, after going through the laser height calibration, the laser still rests about 1.5” above the spoilboard at Z zero. Notice in the video, once the laser is done with the height calibration, right before raising back up, the Z gets set to around -1.1920. Is this normal?
I am having a similar issue today. Got it to work, started over to make sure all was well with my process and it started up again. I am not positive but I think I have traced it to air pressure. Going to increase the air pressure to make a FORCEFUL deploy that really bottoms out and see what happens.
Well, that was only part of my problem. Air pressure at 50psi and it deploys quickly and consistently. It seems someone forgot to turn on the air valve when he shut it off earlier. Now I am back to it only not working in one way. It does not apply the Z offset so I am on top of the workpiece.
My fix after multiple resetting of Z height of laser, multiple resetting of workpiece zero manually is finally to set the workpiece zero manually, then jog up .265 in (about 6.8mm) and then reset to zero Z manually. THen run the job. That gets it done. I have no idea where my z offset went but this woraround seems to do the trick.
Don’t want to hijack this thread, but I reset laser height and workpiece zero twice after fixing the air pressure. It seemed to go to zero to cut rather than use the offset. Zero exactly.
MTC (if needed) with .25 endmill - tool 1 and let it go to touch plate
Use XYZ plate on workpiece and set XYZ with tool #1
Deploy laser (Util 5, 3)
Set laser to workpiece zero Z height using manual process (Z only) using ‘paper method’
F10 to set Z zero
Use ‘GoTo XY Zero’ to make sure laser is in proper XY location over workpiece
Put on orange sheild
Load job
Cycle start
Then my laser goes to exactly zero to start. It does not go to 6MM high, it is on the workpiece.
I have previously used the profile generator to set the laser height using the aluminum block on the spoilboard to the base of the laser. My profile has 45W laser set as the Z offset (the 3rd box on the profile screen).
Is it my process I am using to set the zero height of the laser? It is clearly user error I am sure. My workaround is to ‘re-zero’ the laser about 6mm higher and then run the job. My toolpath was saved in Vecric Pro using AVID EX machine profile and the EX post processor. Air pressure is good at 50 psi to the box and the laser deploys quickly and with ample force to hit the bottom with a thud.
You only use the spindle tool to set your XYZ zero, shouldn’t do it with the laser.
Really you don’t even have to bother to deploy the laser if the offsets are calibrated correctly, the G code will do that for you.
Rule of thumb:
Set your laser offsets (XYZ) using the calibration utilities ONCE.
ALWAYS use your spindle to set up your workpiece, even if there’s no spindle work being done on the work.
Based on that, I thought if I reset using tool 1 and the plate for XYZ it would sort itself out. But not so, it still goes to Zero with the laser after setting XYZ with the plate. I did not reset anything else because I thought the laser setting would not change that I did with the 21mm block and my problem was with workpiece Z. So how to I now reintroduce the Z height gap?
Your laser is “offset” from the spindle in XY and Z. In simpler terms the laser is to the left or the right of the spindle, behind or in front of the spindle, and in most cases LOWER than the spindle.
When you set up a piece of work you do it with the spindle. When the laser deploys it “offsets” from wherever your spindle is by the amount the laser is relative to the spindle.
So, for everything to work properly you have to start with your laser being calibrated correctly: https://youtu.be/-hA91cyZlIc
NOTE: on this video it shows the process for a 15 watt laser. The process is the same for a 45 watt laser except that instead of putting the nozzle on the work, you put the 21 mm block between the laser body and the table.
Again, you only have to do this laser calibration ONE TIME.
Once you have done that make sure you’re on a spindle tool:
That is any tool that is NOT T99. If you’re on T99 that means you’re on a laser tool and you need to go into that menu to “switch to previous tool”
Once you do that you NEED To makes sure that the tool in your spindle is measured. This means after you installed it you could have pressed the MTC button and it would have been touched off to your tool height setter. As long as that has occurred anytime after you have inserted that tool in the spindle you are good.
Now set your XYZ on your work WITH your spindle tool, NOT your laser.
Now your work is setup. When your laser deploys it will apply the XYZ offsets for you automatically and it should cut in the right spot.
Here’s another video of me making sure that the laser is being deployed all the way, since Gbeck214 mentioned that this was an issue he was having. In the video, I went through the process of setting the laser height using the UTIL menu. I started off at the spindle Z zero, which was calibrated to be the height of the spoilboard. Once the laser deployed, I showed myself pushing the laser back up against the force of the actuator, and when I let it come back down, you can see that the actuator is fully extending itself. I did this again after setting the height of the laser as well.
As Gbeck214 said, his solution to this issue was to manually set the laser Z zero at about 6mm above the workpiece. I’ve thought about doing the same thing, and I’m sure this will work fine on jobs which I am only using the laser for, however, this will surely screw up the Z zero of the spindle on jobs which I am switching between the two. This seems like only a bandaid, since the real issue lies within telling the machine the proper height of the laser IN RELATION to the spindle.
You’re doing everything right in your video, but by the looks of it you have a Z offset (z zero) set for something other than your spoilboard, so when you put the laser on your spoboard you’re going to see a negative Z value in the DRO because you’re “in” your material.
You need to do the next steps… set your Z zero on your material, again making sure you’re on a spindle tool when you do it. if you want to check before running a job you can deploy the laser and then drive down to Z zero and see if it lines up.
