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Bert Kemp
10-02-2014, 10:14 PM
Well as you all know I ordered a Rabbit from Ray way back in August. I left New Hampshire on Monday got to Rays place early Wednesday Morning and spent the entire day with Ray and Carol learning about my laser and doing some testing and stuff. Ray gave me the dollar tour of Rabbit laser I must say he has a pretty nice setup. Around 5pm Carol and the office girls packed up my machine shrink wrapped it and loaded it into my pickup they even strapped it down for me. So here I am tonight just wesy of Oklahoma city sitting in my hotel room after a really long miserable dayh on the road, It poured all day from 630 when I left thru 4 states ans I blew A Tire on the trailer that ihad my bike in so I got totally soaked changing the tire, then I had to run around Joplin Missouri looking for a new tire because I wasn't going to continue my journey without a new spare.Well Im to tired to continue this off to bed I go.

David Somers
10-02-2014, 11:13 PM
Wooohoooooooo! Congrats Bert! I am amazed you weren't layering new key tags for the hotel or something just to get a little time on her! Bummer about the tire. But you got it!! And it sounds like you had a great experience with Carole and Ray!! Really tickled for you!

Safe driving tomorrow!

Dave

Norman Roberts
10-05-2014, 12:54 PM
I am considering a laser and Rabbit is one of my considerations. Will be interested in your opinion when you start using it.
I also am located in AZ, North Scottsdale area.

Bert Kemp
10-06-2014, 12:27 AM
:)Hey Norm your welcome to come up and help me get it off the truck and into the house:D Then help with the setup and you can see for yourself what a great thing this is:rolleyes:;)Outside of that you can wait till I do all the work then your still welcome to come check it out if the spirit moves you.

Bert Kemp
10-06-2014, 12:41 AM
Well it a good thing I went tire hunting for a spare as the other tire blew on I-40 just outside Albuquerque NM. What a harrowing experience that was, 18 wheelers hitting the rubble strip as I sat there in the breakdown lane. Well anyway the Rabbits home waiting to be unloaded. No I can't just have the wife drag it into the living room(no wife LOL:rolleyes: ) It is on casters and it doesn't weight 750# but is about 350 uncrated, once off the truck and up on the back deck I should be able to roll it around pretty easily, I do have to make a bigger opening for it to roll into my work area tho.Not a big deal as I wanted a bigger door there anyway.
I'll keep updating as I progress into setup and lasering.

Bill George
10-06-2014, 8:48 AM
Bert, Glad to see you made it home. Looking forward to reports on the new laser. Did you get the 60 or 80 Watt model?

BTW do some searching on trailer tires. The RVers and others have quite a discussion on various brands. A lot of the imported trailer tires are failing way to soon.

Bert Kemp
10-06-2014, 9:10 AM
Bill Its 60 watt . From what I could tell doing tests at Rabbit it way more powerful then my FSL 40, the 40 watt tube this model has is about 3 to 4 inchs longer then the on in my FSL 40 and the 60 watt tube has to have an extended case added on.Testing in Ohio we were cutting 3mm BB at about 40% PWR I don't remember the speed but it was pretty quick.
I also did look into trailer tires haven't found any yet that I want but I have a year or more before I'll haul the bike again.

David Somers
10-06-2014, 9:29 AM
So Bert! Once you get it on the deck why go through all that fuss moving it into the garage? You are in AZ!!!! The winter will be warm and lovely. Think what a great addition a laser would be to the old BBQ Grill? From the grill to the laser...and voila! Custom grill marks? Personalized steaks for each guest? Witty sayings on the burgers? Hotdog humor? This could be quite the opportunity to develop an entirely new realm of use for a laser engraver. Not to mention cutting the buns? Go slow and you will not only cut them but toast them as well? Think about the possibilities?

<glad you made it safe! Good luck with the hunt for new tires too! >

Dave

Norman Roberts
10-07-2014, 1:45 PM
I would love to come to see your rabbit in operation. Where are you located ??

Bert Kemp
10-11-2014, 12:12 AM
Well after several days of waiting to get help to unload the laser, its in the house. My original plan of making a bigger door into the office just wasn't going to work.long story but just not possible. Well it could have been done but just a lot more to it then just making a bigger door.So that being the case the only other alternative was the living room:eek: good thing I'm single huh? So after 2 days of getting it all hooked up its finally running. I had a couple of minor hiccups at first but Carol (Rays Wife at Rabbit) got me straightened out pretty quick over the phone..
I've now done a few test cut and a couple engravings all on 3mm BB and so far I'm really happy.
I have to say the machine is rock solid ,runs very smoothly. So far so good. Now the lasercut software is a little tricky but i'm sure the more I use it the easier it will become. there is a learning curve. But I do everything in corel and import to laser cut so that makes ita little better, I'll keep ya posted.

Ernie Balch
10-11-2014, 9:15 AM
I find it much easier to install the lasercut driver into Corel and cut directly. The instructions on how to do this is on Ray's website.

Bert Kemp
10-16-2014, 12:16 PM
Well I've been using the Rabbit for a few days now. Its pretty awesome Laser. Everything seems to be real solid, Rails are strong, axis run smoothly, its pretty quite running , the blower isn't even that noisy, seems to suck the smoke out pretty well. It cuts great the kerf is so tight the parts have to be pressed out of the main board. It engraves nice also when I can figure out how to make it engrave LOL, but thats software learning curve.I can engrave letters and jpegs but doing them together is a whole new problem :confused: Hey I've only had it running a few days and haven't drove you guys to crazy with ?'s yet;)

Bert Kemp
10-16-2014, 12:21 PM
If anyone is considering a Rabbit and is in AZ or is visiting and you'd like to see this machine your more then welcome to stop by and take a look. Drop me a PM and we'll set it up.:)

David Somers
10-16-2014, 1:39 PM
So Bert! What have you been making with the new beast? And how is it all going? What kinds of things are you finding in your learning curve?

Dave

Bert Kemp
10-16-2014, 10:47 PM
Well I just wrote this whole long answer to this Dave pictures and everything I hit post reply and poof:mad: it all vanished, must be October maybe that ghost someone mentioned here someplace . To tired to re write it all now :(

So Bert! What have you been making with the new beast? And how is it all going? What kinds of things are you finding in your learning curve?

Dave

David Somers
10-17-2014, 9:56 AM
No worries Bert! I experience the SMC poltergeist now and then too. And the way I babble most of the time, that is a lot of retyping. <sigh>

Bert Kemp
10-17-2014, 2:03 PM
Ok lets try this again. I find that for cutting Its really not a whole lot different then what I'm use to with that other machine I had. I just save my old files as a dxf import them to lasercut, put in my settings and hit start.
Now rastering is a lot different. before it was pretty much you get what you see but now I get polyline errors and things like that.So learning how to get what I want is not a seamless transition. Take this AZ Flag I'm doing. I found that if I join curves or unite lines that people have suggested the image kinda fills in and doesn't engrave the way I want it to look. I have found how ever that if I reduce pwr and increase spd and tell it to cut I get what I want. As it lightly outlines the image without cutting thru. I guess this is what is referred to as vector engraving, which I never really understood as I didn't need to do it to get the engraving I wanted.
As far as what have I been making, I'm still just experimenting with files I all ready have making a lot of BB kindling for the camp fire ;):D:rolleyes:298556

Tommy dunn
10-17-2014, 2:56 PM
hi bert
from what i can see in the pic
engraving will just cover your lines over the star you will have to make those in to rectangles
and the same with the inner arch
if you think of it as boxes inside boxes all the same colour it will engrave one miss one
the polyline error is for the single lines

Tommy

Ross Moshinsky
10-17-2014, 3:08 PM
WYSIWYG engraving is much different than how most Chinese machines are run. If you want to avoid issues, you can take a vector art file that looks good, produce an oversized JPEG/PNG. Then import it into your software and scale it appropriately. We do it regularly on different projects.

Bert Kemp
10-17-2014, 4:04 PM
Think thats over my head right now LOL

WYSIWYG engraving is much different than how most Chinese machines are run. If you want to avoid issues, you can take a vector art file that looks good, produce an oversized JPEG/PNG. Then import it into your software and scale it appropriately. We do it regularly on different projects.

Kev Williams
10-17-2014, 4:14 PM
I just went thru this "what you see is NOT what you get" issue with a logo with a double "R", hopefully I can be of some assistance!


Here's the logo as imported, painted black:

http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/rr1.jpg


It's simply 2 R's in text form on top of each other. This is the wireframe version.

http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/rr2.jpg


Now, should you export this to your Chinese program directly, it's going to change the text to curves,
and weld it together like this, which is NOT what you want!


http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/rr3.jpg


NOTE, I've found combining the whole logo together doesn't work, nor does combining both R's together work...
What you need to do in Corel, is to change the R's from text to curves, the combine each R SEPARATELY.
Here, I moved the one R exactly 3" to the right, and will combine each one..


http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/rr5.jpg

Now, I've moved the R back into postion, and I've CHOSEN the 2 R's by boxing them both.
I have NOT "grouped" or combined them- if you do that, the "weld" function goes away.
Just chose them by boxing, or clicking each one while holding the shift key...
NOW, hit the far left "weld" button:

http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/rr6.jpg


---and you should now get this:

http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/rr7.jpg


--and when you export THAT to your Chinese program, you should get THIS:

http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/rr8.jpg


--- It's all in the cutting and welding. I've found that most times, I need do these fixes in Corel first, then everything's okay. I'm pretty sure the same thing can be accomplished within the Chinese programs, but their interface(s) are SO hard to work with vs Corel that I don't even try. I make it right in corel, the Chinese program I use ONLY as the vehicle to the laser, NO editing!

Hope this helps! :)

Pete James
10-17-2014, 8:13 PM
Or just convert your original to a 1 bit bmp file and raster away.

Bill George
10-17-2014, 10:06 PM
Or just convert your original to a 1 bit bmp file and raster away.
Ditto sometimes simple is best

Kev Williams
10-18-2014, 12:30 AM
My way:

http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/rrs.jpg



1 bit:


http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/rrr.jpg

==============

In wood and leather, maybe. On Rowmark, anodized or stainless, never.

Bert Kemp
10-18-2014, 2:24 AM
Kev
that will work on my rabbit the weld function. I don't do anything in lasercut Like you its just a vehicle to the laser. I'm going to have to try that bitmap thing see how that works.

Ross Moshinsky
10-18-2014, 2:13 PM
Kev,

The trick with saving the image as a JPG/PNG/BMP is making the image larger than you need and then scaling the image back down to size. It's a very effective method for artwork that can't easily be cleaned up.

Bill George
10-18-2014, 4:32 PM
Kev
that will work on my rabbit the weld function. I don't do anything in lasercut Like you its just a vehicle to the laser. I'm going to have to try that bitmap thing see how that works.
Bret when I had my CNC router I did everything like you did and converted to DXF and then to G Code, well the software did that, all I needed to do was tell it the tool I was using.
With LaserCut take the image in as a .BMP and let it raster / engrave away. Your making it way to complicated. The roughness you see at the scaled up view, more than likely you will never see. The other suggestion from Ross was take the image in and make your clean up and corrections at 300 - 500 X or so over sized and then take back to the size you need for the project. I have my Corel set up as Metric so when I take it into LaserCut its does not need to be rescaled. I use the Vector Cut function so far just to Cut and I might do more with it later.

Bert Kemp
10-18-2014, 7:58 PM
OK been trying this but can't get it to work.
What I Did. converted the az flag in cdr to bitmap saved as a dxf and imported in to lasercut. Downloaded to laser told it to start, NOTHING HAPPENED! :mad:
Took it into corel paint saved as 1bit bxw saved it as dxf took it to laser NOTHING HAPPENED!:mad: thought MAYBE LASER WAS MESSED UP SO i CHECKED IT OUT AND ITS WORKING dam cap lock key. what engineer put that key next to shift key and A key:rolleyes:

Bret when I had my CNC router I did everything like you did and converted to DXF and then to G Code, well the software did that, all I needed to do was tell it the tool I was using.
With LaserCut take the image in as a .BMP and let it raster / engrave away. Your making it way to complicated. The roughness you see at the scaled up view, more than likely you will never see. The other suggestion from Ross was take the image in and make your clean up and corrections at 300 - 500 X or so over sized and then take back to the size you need for the project. I have my Corel set up as Metric so when I take it into LaserCut its does not need to be rescaled. I use the Vector Cut function so far just to Cut and I might do more with it later.

Ross Moshinsky
10-18-2014, 8:14 PM
You're confusing things.

You want to make a JPG/PNG/BMP of the raster artwork (2-5x larger than you need). Then go into Laserworks and go to Import. Import the image.

Then you want to save your vector cut file as an AI/DXF. Then go to Laserworks and go to Import. Import the vector cut lines.

Resize the JPG/PNG/BMP to the right size. Center the two pieces so that they lay over each other correctly. Now it will raster engrave the image and then cut the vector lines.

Kev Williams
10-18-2014, 8:31 PM
I'm in the middle of trying to create halftone shading on a logo in stainless, which means I had to convert to 1 bit. After I did the test logo, I repeated "environmental" in text form. Text measures .200" high. To the naked eye, there's not much difference. But magnified a few times, the 1-bit angled lines look like stairs to me.

http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/1bit.jpg

David Somers
10-18-2014, 9:04 PM
Kev,

Just curious. Are your customers for this going to be looking at it magnified?

I was just thinking of the new Apple iMac with the 5k monitor. At 16 inches someone with 20/20 vision can start to make out pixels, maybe. Further than that? Nope. How much res do you actually need for a good solid job?

Not asking this snarkily BTW. I am curious how everyone perceives this? Both all the laser gurus and your customers?

Dave

Bert Kemp
10-18-2014, 9:07 PM
Ross did you see the cdr file I uploaded? That what I want to engrave and have it look like that. I'm sorry I'm pretty numb on this but I'll keep trying

Kev Williams
10-19-2014, 11:47 PM
Kev,

Just curious. Are your customers for this going to be looking at it magnified?

I was just thinking of the new Apple iMac with the 5k monitor. At 16 inches someone with 20/20 vision can start to make out pixels, maybe. Further than that? Nope. How much res do you actually need for a good solid job?

Not asking this snarkily BTW. I am curious how everyone perceives this? Both all the laser gurus and your customers?

Dave
Will this particular customer be looking at this under a magnifier? Not a clue-- but one of my best customers does. They have me laser etch some rather small stuff, like, SS mandrels less than 1/16" in diameter...
298691
Among other things, I laser etch measurement markings on parts they use to measure the parts THEY make, and they have my markings checked for accuracy with an OPG Smartscope 500 --sometimes I don't get them all right...

298688
--if you double click on the image after enlarging it, it will get almost large enough to read ;) ...
On this part I etched, I had 2 marks out of tolerance, they're marked with an *... The percent column indicates lowest to highest acceptable figure, which means 0% is perfect. Actual allowance was -.005" to +.005". Of the 2 out of tolerance, one mark missed by only +.0004" inch. The other missed by +.010", which means it is .020" from where it should've been. Of note is the fact that I simply entered the dead-center 0% figures, and raster engraved the part with my NH LS900. It did a pretty good job of holding a .010" tolerance, all but that one place. And for some reason, the machine just didn't want to raster engrave a hash mark at exactly that particular coordinate, no matter how I adjusted for it. My best guess is I may have had some crud in a belt tooth around that coordinate. I eventually vectored the part, test etching and measuring each line individually.

SO-- I know for sure ONE of my customers pays someone to look at my work highly magnified. I don't know if any others do, or will, but IF they do, they're going to find my best work...
:)

David Somers
10-20-2014, 10:07 AM
Cool Kev!! Thanks!! That was pretty interesting, and a facet of our varied laser work I hadn't considered!

Dave