< Laser cutter‎ | LaserCut

Re: LaserCut 6.1 Post by llamalasers » Wed Sep 09, 2015 9:55 am Yeah the occasional crash has caused me to save more often, actually there is only one main crash I get and that's when I change a cut/engrave parameter while another layer is hidden. The vector file Laser Cut Lamp Shades DXF File is AutoCAD DXF (.dxf ) CAD file type, size is 6.1 MB, under lamp vectors.

This page will detail how to get the best out of LaserCut.

What is a cut versus and engrave?

The only difference of the two is that an engrave covers a bounded area with lots of small cuts. This means you can 'engrave' lines into something using just cuts of a lower power.

Quirky Notes

NOTE: The demo software will crash in the demo on A0 'Silvertail' settings. Please change the file 'syscfg - Silvertail.ini', find 'NeedRevise=1' under section '[TWOAXIS_0]' and change it to 'NeedRevise=0' - a revised download may be provided soon.

The software has some oddities - there are things hidden behind scroll bars and please note: the enter key never saves settings (in many cases) so you must click 'Ok' to save things.

Also at the moment the word 'Download' really should be 'Upload'.

The long-running tools (such as 'Preview' and 'Calculate time') have no cancel button but pressing escape seems to exit them fine.

Importing Files

LaserCut does not import direct SVG files; it requires more simple files to import. It can also work with images directly using them to direct engrave areas.

These line file formats can be imported:

DXF - AutoCAD - this is our preferred method of import, with Inkscape support (although with a limited colour palette)
AI - Adobe Illustrator File - need to know what is imported
PLT - HPGL Plotter File - need to know what is imported, where this can be created from
TST - Tajima - need to know what is imported, where this can be created from
NC - Mastercam - need to know what is imported, where this can be created from

You can also import previously made ECP files by typing *.epc in the File Name: box and selecting Open - this will only import the lines and colours not the power settings or order, but is a reasonable way to save time if you wish to just get a completed design ready but don't have the original DXF or SVG.

Importing ECP files into LaserCut

These image file formats can be imported for engraving work:

BMP, JPG/JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIF/TIFF, TGA, PCX

If the program continually crashes importing, first of all entirely restart the program, and possibly de-select 'Preview' so it doesn't read the file (it can fail if the file is open by something else). Otherwise INI file has become corrupt (perhaps on a crash of the program). Copying the original again by running the bat file fixes this.

Unite Lines

Make sure you use Unite Lines under the Tools menu to join up all the pieces of an imported file. The tolerance value is the distance between separated pieces - 0.01 is a fine value for this. Click Ok and the pieces are joined up to make the laser cut both more efficient and much more rigorous in keeping your design correct.

Saving files

Saving in the demo:

Can save ECP files on exit or if selecting 'New' from File menu. Press Yes on the dialogue box to save as ECP, which exports up to 3 files; the .ECP which is similar to an SVG of the object with colours, the .INI contains the cut information and the .G00 contains the engraving information.
Unite Lines are saved if ECP is imported again, but the laser cut/engrave/etc. settings for speed and power are lost
- This however can be better then just leaving it as a DXF since it does save all the united lines, positioning, tessellation, colours etc.

Exporting the final thing to load:

.MOL exports are the best final file but any adjustments means re-creating them - they can be rather large files even for simple designs! You can do this using the Download button on the far right of the program, and selecting Export file.
- These can also be put on the root of a USB stick to be copied using the USB port on the side, they get copied instantly with a message on the screen to display it.

Exporting MOL files

NOTE: Both the demo and normal program can export .MOL as long as you have not used the tool Data Check (under Tools -> Data Check) since this causes it to crash. To fix this either re-apply the default config file settings, or remove the line CheckLayerCode=-1 under [DataCheck] in the 'syscfg.ini' file.

It is very likely that there are other tools which can cause the export to break, this is just the first one we discovered and reverting to the default configuration as mentioned above typically fixes it. If you encounter any other tools or options which cause the export to break please document it here.

Tiling / Multiplying objects

Select the option Set array output options from the toolbar. This will help create copies of an object which can be altered so they overlap nicely. It isn't a perfect way to tessellate an object (using one cut line for two objects for instance) but is good enough for non-tessellating objects to be multiplied for multiple copies quickly, and is a lot easier than using Inkscape to do the same thing.

Colours

When importing a DXF file the main primary colours are retained. Auto clicker pour mac gratuit. See the Inkscape page for how to setup the correct palette for exporting valid colours to DXF. There are more advanced options available and other formats may retain further colour. For simple jobs you can also recolour the objects in LaserCut itself.

You can use multiple colours in a design to separate different types of action; for instance a good practice may be to have:

Black - All cut lines
Blue - engrave areas
Green - engrave-cut lines (cut option at a lower power).
Red and other colours - other engrave areas/lines

If this method is used it can be easy to import a DXF file which has the correct layers already set up. For instance:

Inkscape - black cut on edge, blue engrave areas, green engrave-cut lines
Imported successfully into LaserCut with colours retained
Preview of work to be done

Machine Settings

Simply put: please don't change any settings under File -> Machine-Options since the given settings are for the A0 laser we have, and incorrect settings can break the laser.

There is a desktop shortcut to reset the LaserCut options.

Types of Cut

You can set different coloured items to do different things - such as having one set of cut lines cut though, while another set of cut lines only engraves at a lower power. These are the dropdown options on the layer selector:

Basic Settings

Download vlc media player for mac. These are some recommended numbers to take into account:

Remember: Power and Speed affect the cuts/engraves equally; a slower cut of 30mm will cut through 3mm wood at 65% power, while 600mm at 65% power will only engrave the wood partially. Equally a higher power at the same speed will cut deeper.

Power:

The laser cutter power is in percent.
Usually you want to maximise the power used, so the speed can be increased to make the cut time shorter.
- Not sure about this - cut time will only be effected a tiny bit, and lower power increases tube life James (talk) 09:39, 28 May 2014 (UTC)
Please limit upper power to 65%, especially since higher can make things burn.
The lowest appreciable power appears to be around 12%, at slow speeds it can just about etch lightly some wood, but might be more applicable to paper cutting.

Speed:

Speed affects the accuracy of cuts as well as the time they take - tiny 400mm cuts may be wonky for instance. Try lowering it to 300 or 200mm instead at a lower power to achieve the same effect.
Engraving cuts can be as high as 1000mm, which is fine due to it being only on one axis of movement. It requires high power however to make any effect at this speed and may result in some bad engraving.

Overlapping areas

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Laser Cut 6.1