I am having issues with my laser trying to travel past the stops… I am brand new to this so please bear with me. It sounds like it’s jumping the belt trying to go past its internal limits.
two things need to be done so the machine knows where the motors are and how far to move.
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the machine needs to go to the home switches. It’s called Homing the machine and most of the time they will do this when they start up but if the machine does this before the software is connected then the software doesn’t know it is at its home position… So setup your software to home when it connects or you can manually hit the HOME button.
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you must setup the software so it knows how big the machine working area is. Somewhere in the settings for the machine definition should be your Max X and Max Y settings. When you purchased your machine it should have instructions telling you how much working area you have. ie 240mm x 240mm or 160mm x 150mm, etc.
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Also, a 100W laser can destroy your eye(s) or burn down your home/office so you should be reading and watching lots of instructional videos on how to setup your machine and how to use it before someone gets hurt or your break your expensive machine. And yes, it can destroy itself if inadvertently told to do so.
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It seem to be jumping the belt from time to time and that causes it to no longer know where the head is.
Then when it homes it grinds and sounds horrible. The computer knows the bed size and all that is good. It will sometimes home perfectly with no issues then out of nowhere it sounds like it gets stuck and gets out of wack. Belt tensions maybe??
no way should be belt be jumping so something is wrong there. Belt tensioning is a normal maintenance procedure for laser cutters, 3D printers, etc.
And something else is wrong if it then is homed and instead of stopping at the home switch it jams and grinds into the homing switches. That sounds like either you have the homing speed way too fast or there are electrical wiring issues.
Is this a used machine or brand new?
Brand new. It homes ok sometimes and other times it has issues. Could maybe be a loose home sensor wire? Its very intermittent…
you said “home sensor” so it does not have a switch? What does the manufacturer say about what you are seeing? You should always try to work out problems with the manufacturer before going to DIY sites since as soon as you start modifying things you often loose any chance of getting parts replace by the manufacturer.
I would not even try to operate it if it can’t home reliably as you’ll just end up tearing up the belts, damaging motors or other parts.
Keep the laser beam turned off and see if you can determine how to test the end stops manually( ie with your fingers) so that you can hold the switch and wiggle wires to see if the trigger state changes.
Mine has prox sensors.
It’s common enough for the microswitches or optical sensors to become misaligned in shipping, sadly.
I know it’s not a K40 but “K40” is really a class of machines and the K40 Intro at the top of every page here can be really helpful; the whole Getting Started with CO2 Lasers category is worth reading through. 
Hi…I started this excursion with a K40, new cylinder new optics, new laser head, new union board, air help added and a CW-5200. I partook in assembling it all leisurely and making the beast it is today haha.
rather od paying 8K on one of th recently referenced lasers, is there any good reason why i wouldn’t buy one of these lasers I’ve recorded underneath and add wha ti need to them. I’m simply inquisitive what the 8K is getting me more than the $2,300 80W.
Hi and welcome to Maker Forums!
I think you didn’t record them underneath.
Also, I don’t see “recently referenced lasers” here; does this relate in any way to @HartForged’s question? If this is just a new question, let’s start a new topic.