Laser stopped

[Bert Kemp]

OK so I'm engraving a License plate one just finished and I put in another one, same file just hit start again. it starts to run but 5 min's in the gantry just stops but the laser is still firing. I hit stop it goes back to the beginning and I hit start again and the job starts to run again but about 2 mins in the gantry stops again but the laser still firing. I hit stop and this time nothing happens, I hit esc nothing happens, so I turn off the laser and restart it. I notice in the panel the place were it normally says Laser is blank. So I'm thinking somehow it lost the file it was running. So I reloaded the file and the panel came up the way its suppose to. But I haven't tried to run the job again. For one I want to see if anyone might know whats going on and 2 I have to get another license plate since I ruin the last one I had.

[John Kleiber]

Bert,

I think I have the same model as yours. Instead of ruining plates, open the cover and do your run without firing. At least you can determine if the job follows through to the end.

You may also want to push your flatbed settings up again into the controller, you could have a corruption there.

-John

[Bert Kemp]

I'm not sure but I think maybe the problem was a graphic that had a lot of nodes. I don't know how to reduce nodes in x5. I changed the graphic and the job ran not what I wanted to do but it ran and since its a free be I don't think the guy will complain about the change. LOL

[Lee DeRaud]

I'm not sure but I think maybe the problem was a graphic that had a lot of nodes. I don't know how to reduce nodes in x5.

I'm assuming X5 is the same or very similar, but as I recall from X4, you select the 'shape' tool and select some/all of the nodes: that enables the 'reduce nodes' slider(?) toward the right end of the tool bar. It'll be grayed out if no nodes are selected, which may be why it's hard to find.
(Bear with me, I think I've used that function twice in 12 years.)

[Bert Kemp]

I couldn't figure the shape tool out. it seemed to disintegrate my graphic .

I'm assuming X5 is the same or very similar, but as I recall from X4, you select the 'shape' tool and select some/all of the nodes: that enables the 'reduce nodes' slider(?) toward the right end of the tool bar. It'll be grayed out if no nodes are selected, which may be why it's hard to find.
(Bear with me, I think I've used that function twice in 12 years.)

[Lee DeRaud]

I couldn't figure the shape tool out. it seemed to disintegrate my graphic .

It'll do that if you reduce nodes too much. There's also the problem where what should be a straight line segment is actually a Bezier curve with all the control points lined up: a couple of those in a row will turn a curve into spaghetti if the wrong nodes are removed.
Weird things happen, especially if the source drawing was imported (badly) from another format.

[Kev Williams]

Some graphic's are cluster-youknowwhats.. One of my customers went to the trouble of buying Corel so instead of supplying me with DXF's with all their goofy issues, he could just send me Corel files, easy-peezy, right?

Check out this screenshot, I have "visumatic" grouped. Counting the hole in the "A", there's 10 objects in that word...
but notice how many objects there REALLY are, circled below...
ob1.jpg
It actually engraves fine, but don't you dare run a vector pass! The laser will likely carve a hole clear thru the earth back to its creator before it's finished!

243 objects, and this is just 9 characters of TEXT. Some of the graphics get really crazy. And a whole 24" x 24" layout of this stuff takes Corel forever to draw. Auto-backup means go get a cup of coffee, it'll still be working when you get back --And if you get brave and try to single-outline any of this, or- heaven forbid-hit 'smart fill', you might as well kill the program in Task Manager because it WILL just time out and crash...

So Bert, I'm betting you probably got something along these lines going on in that graphic...

[Bert Kemp]

I think that's what happened I tried to delete to many. The graphic was an eagle with spread wings and I think who ever drew it did it one dot at a time as the laser was firing like a machine gun ..........................LOL

It'll do that if you reduce nodes too much. There's also the problem where what should be a straight line segment is actually a Bezier curve with all the control points lined up: a couple of those in a row will turn a curve into spaghetti if the wrong nodes are removed.
Weird things happen, especially if the source drawing was imported (badly) from another format.

[Bert Kemp]

I have had to shut it down with task mgr before but this one loaded into lasercut ok. I just don't understand why the gantry stopped moving but the laser continued to fire.

Some graphic's are cluster-youknowwhats.. One of my customers went to the trouble of buying Corel so instead of supplying me with DXF's with all their goofy issues, he could just send me Corel files, easy-peezy, right?

Check out this screenshot, I have "visumatic" grouped. Counting the hole in the "A", there's 10 objects in that word...
but notice how many objects there REALLY are, circled below...
ob1.jpg
It actually engraves fine, but don't you dare run a vector pass! The laser will likely carve a hole clear thru the earth back to its creator before it's finished!

243 objects, and this is just 9 characters of TEXT. Some of the graphics get really crazy. And a whole 24" x 24" layout of this stuff takes Corel forever to draw. Auto-backup means go get a cup of coffee, it'll still be working when you get back --And if you get brave and try to single-outline any of this, or- heaven forbid-hit 'smart fill', you might as well kill the program in Task Manager because it WILL just time out and crash...

So Bert, I'm betting you probably got something along these lines going on in that graphic...

[Dave Sheldrake]

Splines by any chance Bert? Leetro controllers don't handle them very well as when compiled to run they are massive

[David Somers]

Dave...."Spline Lucy! Spline!" (sorry....couldnt resist <Grin>)

Bert. One thing I have done with a graphic run amok is to print it and then scan it and auto trace it. That usually simplifies it considerably. There are also a number of macros available depending on the version of Corel (not sure about 5) that allow you to remove duplicate lines. That has helped with some things like this I have run across.

Hope life in AZ is great!!

Dave

[Kev Williams]

... I just don't understand why the gantry stopped moving but the laser continued to fire.

Another screenshot from the same job from above--
ob3.jpg
Note I have something grouped- notice below it's "4 objects". Now look at the dimensions: 0" x 0" ...

4 objects with no dimensions--I'm assuming they're nodes, but is a node considered an object? I don't even know.. I fixed this (and many others) before running this job, but had I not, I have to wonder what the laser would do when it got to these 4 objects? Given the hie teck Chinese programs and controllers we're forced to endure, it seems plausible the laser might just park at those objects and keep firing...


Hey, it could happen!

[Bert Kemp]

Splines by any chance Bert? Leetro controllers don't handle them very well as when compiled to run they are massive

don't really know just it was a lot of nodes LOL

[Bert Kemp]

I'll try that Dave thanks may be easier

Dave...."Spline Lucy! Spline!" (sorry....couldnt resist <Grin>)

Bert. One thing I have done with a graphic run amok is to print it and then scan it and auto trace it. That usually simplifies it considerably. There are also a number of macros available depending on the version of Corel (not sure about 5) that allow you to remove duplicate lines. That has helped with some things like this I have run across.

Hope life in AZ is great!!

Dave

[Bert Kemp]

well it did just that

Another screenshot from the same job from above--
ob3.jpg
Note I have something grouped- notice below it's "4 objects". Now look at the dimensions: 0" x 0" ...

4 objects with no dimensions--I'm assuming they're nodes, but is a node considered an object? I don't even know.. I fixed this (and many others) before running this job, but had I not, I have to wonder what the laser would do when it got to these 4 objects? Given the hie teck Chinese programs and controllers we're forced to endure, it seems plausible the laser might just park at those objects and keep firing...


Hey, it could happen!