Laser not cutting tried all calibrations/cleaning methods

Problems and Support
#1

I received my Emblaser Core last Chirstmas (2020) and since owning it I have only cut maybe 12 things, which have all either been paper or 3mm MDF.

I have the air assist and recently built a box for Emblaser Core and purchased and installed the extraction fan (from Darkly Labs shop). 

Excited to use the Emblaser again after finally finishing its enclosure, I have run into problems.
The laser no longer can cut through my material.

The material library settings in Lightburn supplied by Darkly Labs always got the job done; however, even if I double or triple the number of passes, I am still not cutting through the material. 
I have fiddled with power/speed/passes settings and have only been able to cut through printer paper and 100 gsm paper stock.

I have run all the calibrations and cleaned the laser lens on multiple occasions, and I still have the same problem of not being able to cut through my material.
The silicone laser cover nozzle is on correctly as shown in the instructions.

I am worried I am missing something, so I have supplied some photos below to hopefully help identify the issue. 

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This is 3mm MDF with the normal material library setting of
Speed: 200 Max Power: 100 Support: 10mm Material: 3mm
But I increased the passes from 2 to 6 total passes.

This is the back of the material after the job 

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I started doing tests with different speeds and passes
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Both are doing double the normal passes (so 4 passes instead of 2)
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That’s the back (ignore the pencil line, but now it’s not even cutting through at all to the back.

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#2

Hi Kristen,

Thanks for posting on the Darkly Labs Community site.
It’s great to hear you are excited to use your Emblaser Core!

Also, thanks for sharing your Focus Calibration results - that is always helpful, and yours appears to be normal from this image.
The next thing to check is that the Focus Lens in installed in the correct orientation, with the curved face up.

image.png

Note: Not all versions of Lens Assembly include the o-ring.

Following this, it would be good to rule out any issues with the material if possible. MDF can vary between batches or even sheets, and also can absorb moisture over time which can impact cutting performance heavily.
Do you have any other material you can test the cutting performance with? If you had any Darkly Labs poplar ply for example, that would be ideal.

I look forward to hearing from you soon, at which point we can open a ticket to assist you further if required.

Best regards,

 

Lliam

Customer Support Team

D A R K L Y    L A B S

d a r k l y l a b s . c o m

#3

Thanks Liam for getting back to me
I removed the lens and re-cleaned it again and made sure it was facing the right way (curved face up)

I cleaned the appeture nozzle and tried my very best to get it to match the images in the post “Emblaser 2 / Core: Trouble Cutting / Low Power”
I tried cutting on poplar ply and going by the results, I think I’ve made it worse.

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I tried the normal poplar material settings and then for the purple  areas I just reduced the power to 80

Here is the result

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For some reason, the first line went completely out of whack and off-center
The only one I could easily pop out was the bottom right

here is the back

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#4

Hi Kristen,

So that I can assist you further I have created a support ticket.
You should receive an email shortly where we can continue working through this issue.

  • Lliam
#5

Hi!
I am having the exact same issues here with our laser cutter.
I would love to know how it was fixed.
Thanks!

#6

Hi,
I am having a similar issue. Our Emblaser 2 was cutting well through 3mm poplar and now it is not cutting all the way. The bottom of our ply looks the same as the post above.
I would also love to know how to fix this issue.
Thanks

#7

Hi Dale,

Welcome to the Darkly Labs Community!
So that I can better assist you, can you please email help@darklylabs.com with the following information:

  • Your serial number (located on the rear of the machine in the format: E2-XXXXX)
  • An image of the front and rear of your most recent Focus Calibration attempt.
  • The calibration value/s entered in the Focus Calibration wizard
  • An image of the front and rear of the cuts you are able to achieve on plywood and the settings used.

From there we can explore why this might be occurring and how to resolve it.