not sure what to make of this

[TAMI WILSON]

Just noticed that when I laser anything large approximately 18" wide, the laser seems to loose power on the far right and left. Could this be some sort of focus issue?
Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Thanks

Tami

[Scott Shepherd]

My guess is that it's a dirty mirror. I suspect it's the mirror that's on the right hand side that you have to take the cover off to expose. There was an issue there for a while where oil would sling out of the bearings close to that mirror, and get vaporized as the beam was hitting the mirror. It would smudge up that mirror and you'd get really really odd behavior. I know I called it in and their tech and I actually solved the mystery on what was causing it, they contacted Austria, they designed a new guard to keep it from happening and mailed me the guard about 2 weeks later.

I'd check that mirror. Just make sure you don't loosen the wrong screws. That would adjust that mirror instead of removing it and then you'd be in for a real treat, aligning the laser!

[Mark Sipes]

Need to use a focus gauge and check the four corners of the table and see if the table needs adjustment/level. also make sure the material is remaining level during the job. That's the first place I would start.

[Kev Williams]

From what I understand, lasers do this on purpose to avoid overburn on the 'turnaround'. My Gravograph (and others I'm sure) have a "wood" setting that decreases the edge power even more. Speaking of my Gravograph, the driver software has a few engraving tests, and one of them is specifically to calibrate the edge power so it's close to equal to the 'middle' power. Your software may have a way to adjust for this..?

[Dan Hintz]

From what I understand, lasers do this on purpose to avoid overburn on the 'turnaround'. My Gravograph (and others I'm sure) have a "wood" setting that decreases the edge power even more. Speaking of my Gravograph, the driver software has a few engraving tests, and one of them is specifically to calibrate the edge power so it's close to equal to the 'middle' power. Your software may have a way to adjust for this..?

If my memory serves me correctly, the Trotec overshoots the engraving area to avoid this problem (i.e., the accelerate/decelerate portions are off of the edge of the engraving area). But don't quote me on that as I haven't looked yet...

[Scott Shepherd]

From what I understand, lasers do this on purpose to avoid overburn on the 'turnaround'. My Gravograph (and others I'm sure) have a "wood" setting that decreases the edge power even more. Speaking of my Gravograph, the driver software has a few engraving tests, and one of them is specifically to calibrate the edge power so it's close to equal to the 'middle' power. Your software may have a way to adjust for this..?

Nothing to do with that. You can run a Trotec at 100% speed across the entire table and have no issues at all, especially when using the high quality option.

Tami, check that, it might be as simple at that. Make sure High Quality is turned on for that color.

[Kev Williams]

Have to laugh, sorry. If you can run a Trotec at 100% speed across the table with no issues, Tami wouldn't have started this thread, no? ;)

[Rodne Gold]

You might have a "ramping" setting , if you do , check or uncheck it (opposite of what it was) and try again

[Scott Shepherd]

Have to laugh, sorry. If you can run a Trotec at 100% speed across the table with no issues, Tami wouldn't have started this thread, no? ;)

Kev, my point being that 100% speed is what should be expected. If there is a problem at 100% speed, something is wrong as opposed to other lasers that tell you that you have to slow things down to get acceptable quality. You do not have to slow the Speedy 300 down to get the highest level of quality.

[TAMI WILSON]

Hi Scott

Cleaned my mirrors...one was dirty but that didn't fix it. I have an email into my Trotec rep so hopefully they can help me.

Thanks
Tami

[Mike Null]

I think Rodney may have the answer. That setting is adjustable in the Trotec as I recall. I have never tampered with the factory setting but it is in JC.

[Scott Shepherd]

It's not a ramping issue setting. If it was, this issue would have been there all along. You don't run good parts, turn the machine off, come in the next day and have those values need to be changed, in my opinion.

Tami, do you have high quality engraving on? What's the material, what focal length lens? Does it do it on every job, or just that one?

What version of the driver are you using? They changed some things in 10.2 that would cause that, but I'll not go into detail if you aren't running 10.2.

[Mike Null]

Steve

Good point but I don't see how HQ engraving would help either.

[Scott Shepherd]

Steve

Good point but I don't see how HQ engraving would help either.

We need more information. Does "left and right" mean the left and right of the table, left and right of the engraving? How long is the engraving, what's the material, what are the settings, etc.

I'd say if it's fading out at the edges of the engraving, that's exactly what high quality engraving will fix. If it's fading in and out at the edges of the table with high quality engraving turned on, then that's another issue.

If she's running 10.2, then they made the "correction" value now correspond to rastering as well as vectoring. So if you have a value in the correction, it can change the engraving at the edges of your engraving as well.

[Dan Hintz]

Tami,

Can we have a pic, please? It would stop a lot of this guessing...

[TAMI WILSON]

Same thing as happening to Tony. Fade out at both ends. Having trouble uploading my pic.

[Dan Hintz]

Ah... driver, then.

[TAMI WILSON]

yep, that is what Trotec is telling me. As soon as my new laptop arrives I will download the new driver and firware and let everyone know if that fixes it. :-)

[Kev Williams]

Tony mentioned different computers rendered the same bad results- a driver just feeds the laser's controller data. I would have to assume if a driver went bad, it would be in ONE computer- it isn't logical that a driver that DID work suddenly doesn't work for 2 users across several computers...

Like I said in Tony's thread, my bet is bad controller or bad tube...

[Dan Hintz]

Tony mentioned different computers rendered the same bad results- a driver just feeds the laser's controller data. I would have to assume if a driver went bad, it would be in ONE computer- it isn't logical that a driver that DID work suddenly doesn't work for 2 users across several computers...

Like I said in Tony's thread, my bet is bad controller or bad tube...

Read my reply in the other thread... this isn't a bad tube/controller issue, it's a firmware issue on the tube controller (which is updated by the driver).

[Tony saunders]

Hi Tami,

Been on to Trotec support and the have just 'fixed' it - upgraded firmware and some tweaking of each material setting correction value under the dropdown at the end. I have put a fuller explanation on the other thread.

Hope yours is sorted as quickly.

Top marks for Trotec UK Support as ever.

Cheers
Tony

[Randy Digby]

If the faded area is 1/2" or less on both ends, give HQ a shot. I have one material that I have to do HQ and have been using HQ on this layout since day one.
One other thing that caused me to chase my tail for a couple of days is when the "o" ring holding the lens in was left out. The lens would rock at each end of the stroke, causing the engraving to fade.

[TAMI WILSON]

ok all

just got my job control upgraded to 10 I was running 9 before and the firmware as well. Seems to have solved the problem for now. Fingers crossed. I get cranky when stuff doesn't work! :-)

Tami

[Tony saunders]

Tami,

Check your engraving carefully... Use something that has a filled circle say about an inch high with a line of text off to the right about half way down the circle so it forces the laser to work down the circle, then alter length to encompass the text, then go back to finish the lower part of the circle... See if there's a faint difference in the circle engraving where the text coincides... I used MDF to demonstrate this as it shows up quite nicely any depth imperfections.

i thought mine was 'fixed' but careful tests last night have shown that it's only okay for engravings that are uniform in shape ..i.e: say, a rectangle - where the head's horizontal back-and-forth traverse is equal down the whole engraving.

where the engraving varies I noticed that there's a variance in engraving depth in a continuous area. (i will attach a picture later ... On ipad at moment so can't access the machine!) - PIC NOW ATTACHED - sorry it's a bit naff but hopefully it illustrates the point

I will be raising it with Trotec this morning. FYI ... The correction value I found to be the best for my 80W speedy 400 was 21 ... I'd be interested to see if yours has worked.


cheers
Tony

[TAMI WILSON]

Will do Tony. maybe not today as I have to work. will let you know though

tami

[Scott Shepherd]

Tony, that's exactly what high quality engraving corrects. Are you using it?

[Tony saunders]

Tony, that's exactly what high quality engraving corrects. Are you using it?

Hi Scott,

:) ... I do now! LOL (but I didn't before)

I've just updated my main thread with the latest. New tube on the way now and I'll have to tickle along until it arrives.

Cheers
T

[Scott Shepherd]

Hi Scott,

:) ... I do now! LOL (but I didn't before)

I've just updated my main thread with the latest. New tube on the way now and I'll have to tickle along until it arrives.

Cheers
T

Tony, that's a very common issue with ALL lasers. My Universal will do it, the Epilog's do it. They all do it. Each manufacturer has their own way of dealing with it. It only shows up in certain materials. When you see it, you need to turn High Quality on for that color. But you also need to make sure you are sending the jobs over correctly. If you have a 1" x 3" plate to engrave, and your table size is showing 36" or whatever the width of your bed is on the 400, High Quality will engraving across 36" even though you are only engraving 3". That's why sending the right size job over is very important on high quality engraving. If you have a 1" x 3" plate to engrave, send a 1" x 3" job over, with high quality on. That will eliminate any wasted motion.

I honestly think the Trotec driver is the most powerful on the market. I do also believe that the vast majority of people I know that use it don't understand it's power or features. I spoke to a person that has owned one for 4 years. They told me something they couldn't do. I say "sure you can, it's right here", and they had no idea. I find that to be the rule, rather than the exception.

I seriously doubt it's a tube issue at all.

[David Somers]

Scott,

Just for the sake of those with Trotecs, is there a source or manual or training you have found relatively complete for the Trotec that would help new owners discover these features more quickly? Or is it more a matter of experimenting, and hunting this forum and other sources like it for bits of info as you go?

Dave

[Tony saunders]

Tony, that's a very common issue with ALL lasers. My Universal will do it, the Epilog's do it. They all do it. Each manufacturer has their own way of dealing with it. It only shows up in certain materials. When you see it, you need to turn High Quality on for that color. But you also need to make sure you are sending the jobs over correctly. If you have a 1" x 3" plate to engrave, and your table size is showing 36" or whatever the width of your bed is on the 400, High Quality will engraving across 36" even though you are only engraving 3". That's why sending the right size job over is very important on high quality engraving. If you have a 1" x 3" plate to engrave, send a 1" x 3" job over, with high quality on. That will eliminate any wasted motion.

I honestly think the Trotec driver is the most powerful on the market. I do also believe that the vast majority of people I know that use it don't understand it's power or features. I spoke to a person that has owned one for 4 years. They told me something they couldn't do. I say "sure you can, it's right here", and they had no idea. I find that to be the rule, rather than the exception.

I seriously doubt it's a tube issue at all.

Hi Scott,

I'm no Trotec expert by any stretch ;) but something has happened from being fine for six months then overnight (with no changes to firmware / Driver / PC OS etc / methodology / graphic files or settings) it now requires correction values to straighten out the engraving depth and as of today the power has all but gone from the laser. Things break or they are changed. I lost count of how many times we had calls on Monday morning that something was not working and "it was fine last thing friday and nothing has been changed" … and of course, it almost always had - upgrades usually (!)

I don't know if I'm misunderstanding you, but to be clear. The job file from Corel is the same size as the edge of an Oak plinth that is 446mm wide by about 50mm deep. My graphic file from Corel is that size such that it fits nicely and ensures that the relevant engraved boxes are nicely lined up with some hinge holes, and a central logo recess is created in the middle.

I could trim it slightly to remove dead space from the left hand side (as there's nothing there to engrave - it's all from the centre to the RHS) and simply reference from the RHS of the plinth, but as the Trotec engraving optimised anyway, it didn't traverse back and forth across the whole 446mm, just the middle to the RHS edge as it worked down. (this is the plinth - although you can't see the engraving by the hinge - this is the logo in the engraved recess : https://plus.google.com/photos/+luxuriousmagazine/albums/5930052508121560769?banner=pwa )

So, the High Quality setting here - would (which is my understanding) traverse back and forth across the whole 446mm ??

I see there is a better illustration on the other thread from Kev Williams...

ref Tube Swap - the tube is being swapped out now largely because it has to be ramped up to about 85% power just to engrave a white mark on paper tape (the settings were 25% power at S40 and nothing is happening) - something is wrong somewhere?! - it doesn't seem to fire until a point way way higher than it needs to be, and the engraving depth is barely there.

This correction value change is all well and good and I could see that it would be used to 'tweak' the engraving to ensure an optimum uniformity, but it shouldn't have to suddenly require it across the board. if it does, then why? - and it's the 'why' that I haven't had any answer to.

Cheers
T

[TAMI WILSON]

I think this is needed as well. The several hours you spend with the tech who sets up your machine can't teach you everything and the manual pretty much sucks

tami

[Tony saunders]

I think this is needed as well. The several hours you spend with the tech who sets up your machine can't teach you everything and the manual pretty much sucks

tami

Absolutely agree. I still find it slightly annoying that there is no clear guide showing which nozzle / lens / mount goes where. There is an assortment of screw-in bits, two nozzles and a block. I could arrange them in several permutations if i hadn't asked the guy .. And he wasn't 100% sure.

... But I still think it's a top machine and the attention to detail constantly impresses me.

[Dan Hintz]

I do also believe that the vast majority of people I know that use it don't understand it's power or features. I spoke to a person that has owned one for 4 years. They told me something they couldn't do. I say "sure you can, it's right here", and they had no idea. I find that to be the rule, rather than the exception.

This wasn't about me, but it could very well have been... Steve has always been leaps and bounds beyond most when it comes to using a machine's full capabilities. Every time we speak I learn something about the machine I owned for several years (ULS). I'm hoping to eventually beat him now that the Trotec is here :D

[Scott Shepherd]

Tony, on your example, I'd say you are sending the job over incorrectly. In my opinion, you should (or rather, I would), send over that file as "Minimize to Job", and I'd setup my plate to be the dimensions of the plank. You can do several things. You can use the red dot pointer to locate the center and drag and drop the job on that, or you can enter a "Mark" and snap to that coordinate the mark resides on. So you'll end up with a job, with high quality engraving on that will yield you the highest possible quality, while still minimizing the stroke of the machine. For a graphic that size with that style, it's probably not going to take more than a couple seconds more. If you need me to do a screen capture of it, I can. Oh wait, I can't. I do my screen captures on my Mac using Parallels and with the last update, I lost the ability to pull up Parallels to run the Job Control. Well, I can screen share it and show you in person if you wish.

Understood about the tube, sounds like it was bad. My mistake, but overall, with wood, you should not being needing to have High Quality on. That's normally something used for something like Red Rowmark with a white core.

I don't recall if it was in 10.1 or 10.2 on Job Control, but there was a MAJOR change, one I've voiced my opinion about to them, that could be causing some of these issues. Let me explain, if I can.

The "Correction" field in each color setting was used for vectoring only. It was designed to precisely control the amount the machine would slow down when going around curves. When lasers go around curves, there is a need to slow them down. All lasers do it. However, with most other brands (if not all of them), you have zero control over that setting. Trotec added "Correction" and gave that a value between 1 and 100 and it's a method to finely tune each material so that it's vectoring perfectly, and uniform all the way around the cut. What you typically see is lasers want to cut all the way through on straight cuts but on the curves they just don't quite go all the way through. So you use Correction on the Trotec to tune each material so that it cuts perfectly all the way around. It's just a really fine tuning setting that other lasers don't have that does come in really helpful for unique situations. So all is good, there, right? Good. Easy to understand, works great, no issues.

Well, with 10.1 or 10.2, they decided to make that "Correction" field now relevant to raster engraving. So now Correction, where it used to only be used by vectoring, is now used by rastering and vectoring. What it does with rastering is bump the power up at the ends of engraving. So when you are having issues with the ends fading out, you could use the correction factor in rastering and give it a value, which would pump up the power at the ends of the engraving. Essentially, in my opinion, it's doing the same thing that High Quality Engraving was doing, with one difference. You don't have to waste the whole stroke of the machine, like in Kev's previous example. In that example, if you had the fade out issue (which you wouldn't because it's such a narrow line anyway), you could leave HQ off and bump up the correction and it would use short strokes all the way down the engraving.

Honestly, I've only used it with rastering on a couple of problem jobs that were really intricate and were kicking my butt on one tiny, tiny little detail and I was using that to try and resolve it. In all cases, it's been used for the same thing, trying to tweak the smallest of detail.

I spent some time on the phone quite some time ago with the software engineer that wrote Job Control and it was quite enlightening. Things I told him were wrong with it, in my opinion, he explained to me in detail, and it turns out I wasn't using it the way it was designed to be used. Some of it took me months to digest and understand. I'm no Job Control Master by any means, but I have been using it since October of 2012, I think, so I've got some hours with it. I was beta testing it for 6 months or more before it was released.

In the end, there's not always a right or wrong way, but more so "different" ways to achieve the same thing. I'm not by any means suggesting that I know the "right" way to do anything. I'm pretty good with making things do what I want, but whether or not that's right, I don't know.

If I can help or if anyone has any JCX questions, just ask. If I can answer them, I'll be happy to help.

[Tony saunders]

Hi Scott,

That is a brilliant explanation. Thanks for taking the time to write that, I've been asking questions before of the support guys what all the settings do in that tiny drop-down box and only ever got info in dribs and drabs. You've drawn together the threads very nicely there (shame you don't write the manuals).

So, in vector mode, the correction can be used to prevent the 'stutter' if the speed is too high to maintain a consistent smooth traverse of the curve?? (and consistent engraving depth). I do recall the guy who came out to install the speedy 300 mentioning something about this topic, but as always on an install day, much is forgotten, and worst, you never know what questions to ask until after you've had a machine for a few months.

For clarification, when you say 'set up my plate to be the dimensions of the plank' - are you referring to the working area in JCX that you drag the jobfiles onto (which represents the laser working area of 1000mm x 610mm), or am I misunderstanding the term?
What I have had to do with these plinths is build a jig to hold them upright in the machine and provide a convenient datum so that they always sit in the same place. I placed a marker on the plate to coincide with the top left corner of the plinth.

I may take you up on the screen sharing Scott - it would be very much appreciated. I don't wish to take up your valuable time though (and we have something of a time difference .. It's 5:50am here now - woke up early - cats running about :rolleyes: - Hopefully I can catch a few hours more kip before sunrise)

i will capture some screenshots of how I use it in JCX and maybe that will show you how I have been using it.?

I agree ref High Quality with wood. I was told that it can (should) be a lower DPI and using high quality will pump too much energy into the material causing excessive charring.?? - whereas yesterday, Trotec told me that it would force the head to traverse the job file uniformly from the left and right extremes (not in an 'optimised' way)

I haven't used 'minimise to job' (this is in Coreldraw print settings right?) but i will have a play today.

Thanks again Scott - sorry if I misread what you meant or that I'm niggling over detail. I dislike not understanding what all the various settings mean. I've extracted snippets of info from the techies over time, but the manual is not very helpful and the techies explanations are sometimes 'I don't quite know that' or 'we're not sure, we've not had to touch it' type responses. I have long felt, as I said before, that the Austrian guys don't always pass along a solid explanation to the ground troops (or maybe they aren't asked). I'd love to spend an hour or so with the programmers - you were very lucky there.

right.. Kip :)


Cheers
T

[Tony saunders]

This wasn't about me, but it could very well have been... Steve has always been leaps and bounds beyond most when it comes to using a machine's full capabilities. Every time we speak I learn something about the machine I owned for several years (ULS). I'm hoping to eventually beat him now that the Trotec is here :D


You're all a very knowledgable bunch on here... Shame you're not in the UK lol :D

[TAMI WILSON]

Tony

When I first got off he phone with tech support after they had reloaded the job control and driver I had the exact same thing happen. I tried to engrave a piece of fleece and it wouldn't touch it. I called them back and they did "something" remotely on my computer and seems to have fixed it. I haven't had time to really check things out since then but it did work on the fleece after he tweaked things. keep me posted if your new tube seems t help you.
This Is so frustrating.
I don't normally engrave large pieces so I can't really say if this is something that "All of a sudden just happened" or If I just didn't have the opportunity to pick up on it previously.

Tami

[TAMI WILSON]

Maybe we can get you and Scott to write a manual for the job control since Trotec's manual is very vague. You know, in your spare time. LOL

[Tony saunders]

Hi Tami,


I wonder what they adjusted to make it work like that?... At least it sounds like it's working now which is good.
One thing is for sure, at times like this, having spent the extra on a Trotec is worth it's weight in gold!


I'm going to spend some time today with some standard tests I did when I got the machine. I set up a series of engravings and cuts with a few materials and kept the pieces with the settings written on. I did it partly to see how much quicker the 80W laser was over the 60W i had used before, and partly as a measure for future reference if I ever started having a problem with the laser - sort of reference pieces if you like.


i am probably giving the manual a bit of a hard time. It's actually not bad as manuals go, it's just that I like a little more technical detail and perhaps images / examples would be helpful.


an example is the Intelligent Path Control (IPC) setting in the same drop-down in the material setting. This is clearly linked to the Correction value when cutting and can be set for Speed or Accuracy or Off. I often defocus the laser and run some simple markings as a vector rather than engraving because it's much faster. This setting in the manual simply says that 'IPC optimises acceleration and velocity settings of cutting processes in case of performance and quality. It has no effect on engraving. It can be adjusted for best speed or best accuracy' ...then it says (rather cryptically) "IPC needs perfectly adjusted correction value settings to avoid decreased laser power during vector acceleration phase"

IMO this would have benefitted from a half a page or so of example, or deeper explanation... This is why I am a little hard on the manual. It's way better than many though... I have just replaced a water pump pressure sensor in our barn and the adjustment section went something like: TRIGGER PRESSURE ADJUSTMENT and below it said "allows adjustment of trigger pressure" ... or close to that :D

I understand that they don't want to scare folks off with lots of detail, but an addendum, or maybe boxed additional tech detail would be useful for those who like to use some of these features. I am sure Scott is spot on when he says that the Trotec driver is as good as it is, and JCX is markedly better than v9. I would just like to read a little more about how these work and interact.

"spare time" ... Mmmn there's a nice dream Tami :D

cheers
T

[Scott Shepherd]

Okay, let's see if we can clear up a few things this morning Tony.

1- The correction for vector does not stop it from stuttering around corners when higher speeds are used. Correct is simply there to make sure if you were cutting, that it's going to cut exactly the same around the entire shape. Imagine taking a piece of thick paper and cutting a shape using just enough power to break through the paper. If you looked at the back side, you'd see the cut, but you may see the rounded corners or curves not quite breaking through. You would increase the correction value to solve that problem. All is does is try and get the perfect power for each material through the entire cut. Most people don't use or notice it because people tend to overpower their materials for the most part. For example, you might need 50% power and 2% speed to cut through a piece where it's just barely getting through. What you would find is most people might be at 70% power and 2% speed, so they don't notice those types of details. Getting the perfect power setting is most helpful because it'll leave you a better finish on the backside.

2- IPC (Intelligent Path Control). Has zero to do with correction. Intelligent path control is setup to read lines ahead and slow the machine down when it's coming up to shapes it can't effectively make at the speeds programmed. Imagine you have a lot of detail and you put a vector speed of 10% in (way too fast and will cause you major quality issues). If you cut it, the machine will try to do it at 10% speed (unless it's capped for some reason in the software, which it may be), but none the less, it will try to do it. The end result will be that you curve is very jagged. It'll be a mess. The machine simply can't cut smoothly at that high of a speed. If you send the same job over with the same speed with IPC turned on, then it will actually figure out what the highest speed it can run at with good results and it'll automatically slow the speed down to that amount. But, what it will also do is slow things down on the straight lines as well. In was explained to me like driving a BMW through the curves of a mountain road. If you want to accelerate through the straight aways and slow down for the curves, you can, but if you turned on the "IPC" in the car, it would slow you down on the straight aways and make the speed around the curves safe. So it would get you through it all, but not as efficiently as if you could do it yourself. I was specifically told by the programmer that it's a very special tool for a special application and it's not something one should use on a daily basis, as a general rule. It's there to address a specific problem and if you're not having the problem, you shouldn't be using IPC.

3- Sending the job over correctly. In your case, having a fixture with multiple pieces is fine. Your plate size can reflect that in JCX. So just leave your stuff setup just like it is. You can do as many as you want, 1, 2, 3, however many will fit. Just try this- go into JCX and create a new marker. Put the dimensions of that marker at the center of where the text should be. You can do that again if you have more than one. You can have as many markers as you want. Then, go into your graphics file, get rid of all the stuff other than the text, then select "Minimize to Job" when you send it over to JCX. What you'll get is a job file that's only as big as that text. You can then drag and drop that job onto the marker using the center location. Turn high quality engraving on and you're set. Or, an alternative would be to send the job over the same way, but instead of markers, in JCX, put your cursor on the ruler, click and drag down into the workspace and you'll have a line show up. Double click it where it meets the ruler and it'll open up a box and you can enter dimensions. You can do that horizontally and vertically and then you can just drag and drop your job into place using the rules as reference.

4- The manual. I'm working on something far better, so hang tight :)

Hope that helps. Any thing I wasn't clear about or doesn't make sense, let me know. I'll resolve my issue with parallels today or tomorrow and get my screen capturing capabilities back and I'll do videos for whatever you need.

[Tony saunders]

That's an excellent post Scott - and it's really cleared up some of that for me. Thanks for taking to time (once again) to explain it so well :)

... you do realise in my thirst for detail and knowledge that I may pester you to death ;) LOL.

I have come down to the workshop to have a play but the laser is not a happy bunny ! - may have to wait until the techs have been out. I will though have a play with the Corel outputs and table placements.

Cheers
T

[Scott Shepherd]

Tony, take a look at this video and see if it helps. It's always possible that I'm doing it completely wrong as well, but here's my take on the job you posted.

Any questions or comments, please let me know. I'm using 10.1 on this video and it's not physically hooked to my laser, so I can only show so much, settings wise.

Once you hit play, click on the gear at the bottom and select HD or 720 or whatever the option is and it'll be clearer to watch.


http://youtu.be/KR-0SMX__rI

[Tony saunders]

Hi Scott,

That was an excellent video - very informative for me and for reasons beyond just the points we have been talking about.

Like you I hadn't ever thought about dragging a ruler in JCX - and I don't know why... I use them all the time in Photoshop / Alibre etc. . . Dah!! I'll use them now though!

I can see how that is both fast and efficient, and I'll do a practise run on my test plinths to see how useful it is and also whether it's quicker. I don't have loads to do, but the next batch of about 30 is due soon - so the engraving time is sort of secondary to ensuring that I get them right. That said, anything that improves speed or efficiency is money.

One of the points you covered was the PROCESS OPTIONS settings - and that you selected COLOR for the halftoning output. I confess I've only ever left it at Ordered Dithering before. I am presuming you engrave with different colours for different parts of a product using this ?? I will need to spend some time with this to see how it works.

BTW Scott - have you ever used the ENHANCED GEOMETRIES before? - the manual suggests that if the graphics application supports Bezier curves, this option can improve the accuracy of round contours. I've always found that the trotec tends to be good enough without this so have never used it. Maybe it has niche applications?

Apologies to Tami - I didn't mean to derail this thread :o - but I think it's been extremely useful to all us Trotec owners, and thanks to Scott for doing such a great job explaining some really useful features of the driver. None of us would choose to have problems with software or hardware, but I have often had my knowledge expanded for the good because a problem brings focus onto my understanding (usually the lack of it) of how something I use everyday actually works.

Scott - you REALLY should do a Trotec experts guide. Top stuff!

Cheers
T

[Scott Shepherd]

One of the points you covered was the PROCESS OPTIONS settings - and that you selected COLOR for the halftoning output. I confess I've only ever left it at Ordered Dithering before. I am presuming you engrave with different colours for different parts of a product using this ?? I will need to spend some time with this to see how it works.

I don't think you want to use ordered dithering on anything normal, like engraving text in wood. Even though I'm only using black, I do use the "color" setting. I'll confess to not knowing a lot about all that, but I do know that there has been a bug for several releases now that changes all those settings back to some odd default values and when that happens, and it's not on "Color" I start having issues. I change it back to color and we're off to the races. Honestly, I don't want anything dithering, ordered or not, for just normal engraving. I've run into issues a number of times where those settings were changed and they always seem to make things worse. I haven't looked at them all in some time, so I'll refresh my memory and look at them again and see if I can get that all cleared up on why you'd use which ones. Only time I use black and white is on stamps. Color doesn't work on stamps, if I recall correctly.


BTW Scott - have you ever used the ENHANCED GEOMETRIES before? - the manual suggests that if the graphics application supports Bezier curves, this option can improve the accuracy of round contours. I've always found that the trotec tends to be good enough without this so have never used it. Maybe it has niche applications?

Yes, I use it a lot. There are issues with it and it's gotten better, but I think there are issues that should be predefined in the manual. If I draw geometry in CorelDraw, I think it works excellent. However, when it's customer supplied artwork, the results aren't as good. I have a customer that supplies CorelDraw files directly to me, however, that geometry is originally created in some CAD type software. So when I get it, it looks great, but a small 1/8" radius might be broken into 3 segments. So just because it's coming out of CorelDraw, doesn't make it right. It has to be drawn right from the beginning. So I think there is a caveat in there, or should be, that it WILL do a great job under the right conditions and then list those conditions. I also only work with CorelDraw to our lasers. We do some design work in Illustrator, but we never send jobs out of anything but CorelDraw. I know people with Illustrator have struggled to see the benefits of Enhanced Geometry. I don't know if that's a limitation of the feature or if something isn't setup correctly in their Illustrator files. I don't have Illustrator on the laser computer, so I've never tried it. I just know some people have complained that it didn't help them much, but overall, I use it a lot and I think it does a good job. Like I said, it's still got some bugs in it and if you have technical issues and call in for support, one thing they'll typically ask is "did you have Enhanced Geometry on?", and if you say "Yes", they'll tell you to turn it off and try it again. So that tells me there are still some minor bugs out there with it.


Scott - you REALLY should do a Trotec experts guide. Top stuff!

I'm working on it. It's been in the works for a while now. If you have other questions, just ask. Now that my Parallels is back up, I can easily do these screen captures and post them.

[Mike Null]

I believe the "color" setting replaces "grayscale" in the older 9.0 versions. Anyway, I leave mine on.

I also leave enhanced geometry on. I believe it improves the output on curves.

Like many others Steve has been my teacher in helping me to get more out of JC. So far I've found him to be much more knowledgeable than the techs.

[TAMI WILSON]

Totally awesome video. I learned several things in this short video. Thanks This is what I was talking about. there is so much to learn and the manual doesn't touch half of it.

Tami