Redsail Laser Cutter not returning to home

[Callum Angus]

I'm very new to all of this so please excuse my my lack of knowledge.. I have just bought a redsail x700 which was working great until today.

I finally got it to fire and it was cutting great. Then I had to switch the machine off as I was going out for the afternoon and when I have come back to it this afternoon it starts up with the laser in the middle ish of the deck (not the top right where it used to go back to..???

Can somebody please tell me how I get it back to the top right where it used to go before I give up all hope.

Thank you in advance
Callum

[Bert Kemp]

if you have a Datum button on your control panel try pushing that when the machine is on. should send laser head back to home position.

[Callum Angus]

There is no datum button.... I have an origin button but that is it.. Is there any way of posting a picture to the forum?

[Callum Angus]

image.jpg
This is the control panel

[Jerome Stanek]

Where was the head when you started the last file? On mine the head will return to the last start position.

[Callum Angus]

Because I'm new to this and I have t got my head completely round it all yet and to make it easier for me I have been aligning the piece of material, moving the laser over the top of it and then clicking origin. Once the cut is finished it will return back to that point... Now that is fine but I've done that and I am say in the middle of the bed at the time, when I press the up arrow the laser will only go up half the way back to the top of the machine.. And the same when I press the right arrow. It's like the machine thinks the bed has moved all most??

[Steven Yates]

There are some settings in the control panel which determine which axes are brought to their home positions when the machine is reset. Maybe these got changed somehow.

I'm not at home right now so I can't look at the menu to tell you the exact path to find them. I can look later today and give more details.

[Callum Angus]

Perfect. Thank you so much!

[Steven Yates]

After looking at the documentation, it looks like you need to go into the Integrate menu, and then choose Back Set, and then Init Back.

The X and Y Axes here should be set to Open and the others should all be Close. This way the lens assembly will move until it hits the limit switches, and then will move to the last place you had pressed the Origin key.

Leaving the U axis set to Close insures that the table will not raise to the limit every time you turn it on. This is a good thing because you don't want to refocus every time.

The Manual Back option in Back Set can be used to return an axis to its limit switch manually. This is important to be able to raise the table back up for thinner material after cutting something thicker, because it will not normally let you raise the table much above the position it was at when you turned the machine on. There is also a shortcut for resetting the U axis without digging through the menu. Pressing the decimal point key at the main screen is the same as choosing the U axis in the Manual Back menu. It will raise the table until it hits the limit switch, then lower it by the Focus Length setting in the Laser Set menu. Just make sure there is nothing on the table that may crash into the the lens cone or the frame. Of course it you don't have a powered table, none of this applies.

[Steven Yates]

Because I'm new to this and I have t got my head completely round it all yet and to make it easier for me I have been aligning the piece of material, moving the laser over the top of it and then clicking origin. Once the cut is finished it will return back to that point... Now that is fine but I've done that and I am say in the middle of the bed at the time, when I press the up arrow the laser will only go up half the way back to the top of the machine.. And the same when I press the right arrow. It's like the machine thinks the bed has moved all most??

This is the way I work with my RedSail as well. There are no rulers along the edge to align a piece to, so I just put the piece wherever I want it, move the lens with the arrows, and then hit Origin. This is different than when I was working on some Epilogs, but it works well.

If you move the lens with the arrows after setting the origin, pressing the Pause key will return the head to where you had last set it.

[Clark Pace]

See if this works. Use your arrow keys to go to the top right and then on the control panel touch origin

[Callum Angus]

That worked a treat!!!! Thank you so much.

I don't have a motorised bed I don't think.. How would I check that?

also after eveytime I move the bed up and down do I have to reset the focus length???

[Clark Pace]

That worked a treat!!!! Thank you so much.

I don't have a motorised bed I don't think.. How would I check that?

also after eveytime I move the bed up and down do I have to reset the focus length???

I have the x700 also and it does not have have a motorized up and down.

My x700 came with a .375" piece of acrylic that you use. You put the material down you want to cut. Put the acrylic piece under the cone and adjust the height. If you can't find the .375 then you can cut a new one.

[Steven Yates]

If you received a tool to turn the front right screw to raise and lower the table, then you probably don't have a motorized table. If pressing the U+ and U- keys (3 and 4) raise and lower it, then you do.

I haven't verified this anywhere, but I think that the focus length setting is only to tell the controller how far to lower the table after resetting it, and is meant to be used as part of an auto focusing system. If the material you are engraving would hit the limit switch, you could determine a setting for this that would lower it just the right amount so it would be in correct focus. Since the RedSail has the limit switch mounted where the frame of the table hits it, rather than on the lens tube it doesn't really work. I think this is just a feature of the controller that RedSail decided not to take advantage of in their hardware design. If you don't have a motorized table, then I think this setting is meaningless.

[leland huang]

Usually laser head always moves back to machine origin, top right/left. When you hit origin button after you move laser head to a position, then laser head will move back to that position after it finishes the job. I think you didn't turn off the machine, but only switched off the laser.