Spent most of today looking up what could be the issue and I am very flummoxed. I've read while the Black Box is in Laser Mode that the PWM power output to the laser will be adjusted to prevent burning the edges as the feed rate adjusts. Here's some of my basic settings $110=3000.000 $111=3000.000 $30=1000 I've removed relay jumper as outlined in the instructions. Also I want to point out that I've had a multi-meter connected to the PWM / Ground wires while executing the commands below. And voltage coming off the PWM line is exactly what I would expect it to be when the laser is turned on. Problem is? It seems the laser has a mind of its own. I have my simple "make rectangle" where the power is set 25% with the following command: G1 Y30S250F1000 I can see that there's beam coming out of the laser. As I slowly rachet up the Sxxx setting I can visibly see the laser getting less powerful...until S800 is reached and then there's photo's firing. I've used this laser before and haven't had this problem before. I would like to assume that maybe the PWM is magically reversed - but issuing a S1 command definitely doesn't turn on the full power. And issuing S1000 also turns off the laser. I've even toggled off the 'laser mode' to see what happens. And then even switched over to CNC xPro V3 board I had laying around - which worked in an identical way. I've reset the Gbrl settings on both see if I had something odd going on. Am I missing something simple?
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802966066996.html After fiddling with this more, I'm pretty certain I've lost one of the diodes which likely kicks on after reaching more than 50% power. I've reached out to the seller to see if this behavior is typical of a diode going out. What's disappointing here is that I am certain I've even gotten close to the theorical hour rating for these.
A current scope on the lines between the laser driver and the actual diode will be able to tell you if the driver is failing, or the diode itself. Could be either sadly.
I feel extremely dumb. Worked with the vendor. Found out that my Mean Well 12v PSU isn't pushing out enough current any more. It was maxing out at .6mA which was just enough to power the fans and about 10% of the laser power. Always check the obvious. I'll give a shout out that the supplier was very helpful and patient...much like our friends at OpenBuilds.
