First little text program to test out the 45 watt laser and I keep getting a z travel exceeded warning not sure why? Am I to use the plate to set the z zero like a router bit but with the laser? I haven’t tried that cuz I didn’t want to crash I have done everything in the diode laser utilities went extremely well
Adding a screenshot to show what I getting and the program stops
Appreciate any help thanks
You’ll find the answer here!
Yes I followed along with the video several times and still getting the same error message.
The only thing I see different that you were doing was setting up a custom laser with custom settings
Describe the steps you take to Z zero on your material when lasering, maybe there’s a workflow issue we can figure out…
I line up the laser to the lower left corner of the workpiece and then 0 x and y then use the 21 mm gauge to set the z zero
That’s where you’re going wrong… The 21mm block is only for initial calibration
After the initial calibration you have to zero to your workpiece with the tool that’s in the spindle, NOT the laser.
So are you using the plate then to x y and z with the workpiece?
Yes, you do NOT use the laser for XYZ zeroing at all, it’s all done with the spindle. However you arrive at your XYZ zero, as long as it’s done with the spindle it will “transfer” to the laser when you deploy it.
Excellent thank you I’ll do!! but it’s getting a little late today 
I have been struggling to understand how the calibration process works also - this discussion is good and the discussion finally gets to the calibration process - it would be good to place this on a video - with as much detail as possible.
Did you see this video?
Yes several times. THe difficult part is understanding the correlation between the tool height setting and how this relates to the laser height . The location setting is clear. I think it needs to state somewhere that you reference everything with the tool bit using the plate or other tool and the laser will take all its references from that calibration . Thanks
That’s exactly how it works. If you try and do an XY or Z setting in the touch plate utility a message will come up telling you that you have to use a spindle tool.
Rule of thumb is: Always use your spindle tool for XY setting.
So I have a problem similar to this, I upgraded my system to a EX controller and deployable 45 watt laser. When I go to setup my laser and run xy calibration ( utils 5) then laser xy calibration my spindle drives up to the Z limit switch. Thinking I have to calibrate my z first, So I first calibrate my tool x,y,and z then the laser to the 21mm block using utils 5, then laser height calibration ?
When doing the calibration your Z just goes straight up and hits the limit? It shouldn’t do that… are you able to use this machine for cutting and other non laser work?
Eric yes the spindle was working fine last time I used about 2 weeks ago. Yesterday I homed system and set X,Y,and Z for spindle before trying the laser
Can you walk me through the steps in detail that you take to get this error?
Eric I will be out in the shop on Thursday and will try it again then, After homing system and setting spindle x,y,z should I try and cal. laser height or x&y ?
You only need to calibrate XY and Z for the laser once. Those settings are stored in there after you do it.
Follow the steps I laid about above and report back, no need to re-calibrate the laser for that.
Never have gotten the laser to cal or deploy let
