I have recently been tasked with trying to get our laser working; I have never used a laser or CNC before.

I was able to find a rough tutorial on how to get it to start and was able to somewhat stumble through using the LaserGRBL software to make the laser engrave something. I have since started running into issues and need them sorted out before we try to engrave 250 pieces for an upcoming project.

Laser Model: Two Trees TS3 Laser

Issue 1: Whenever I try to tell the machine to 'go home' it flies off to the left and makes an awful clicking noise as it hits the side of the machine. I have tried to find how to 'set a new home position' but it always flies off when told to go home.

I can get around this by physically moving the laser when it is off into the starting position i want and then unchecking the 'go home' command in the LaserGRBL software; though this seems very wrong and i feel there is a better solution to this.

Issue 2: It burns, everything. I have found an arbitrary setting 'max power' and can set that value lower, but the laser seems to either burn something, or not engrave at all (it can't seem to engrave gray colours). Though this value is not consistent, sometimes it will burn something on 5% power, and other times the design will fail to be visible on 70% power.

issue 3: If I manage to find a vector design that will not burn yet will show up (usually thick text) it will still burn the edges where the laser 'changes direction' to go do the next line.

Issue 4: It seems to just stop after 2 - 10 seconds and has to be told to 'resume from the last line completed' and then it will finish the job. This is obviously not that huge of an issue, as i just have to tell it to continue, but it doesn't seem like it should be doing that.

I have tried to comb the internet for solutions to these issues, but can't seem to find any useful information. everything I am finding is either so crazy simple ' here is how to install your software to your windows machine' and then jumps to something crazy complex and advanced 'resolder this specific capacitor on logic board model xyz to make it move to the right 2% faster'. I know enough to install the software and to have tried the 'turn it off and back on again, reinstall the software' troubleshooting, but i know nothing at all past getting the image into LaserGRBL and sending it to the laser to engrave. If someone could let me know if I am doing something super wrong, or if my machine may be broken (it is literally brand new, did about 15 test cuts on it so far) it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!