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Jay Selway
04-11-2015, 4:41 PM
I've got a Helix 24, 50w. I'm looking for a way to accurately estimate engraving jobs w/o having to run them. Anybody got any ideas? I've been searching the web for estimation calculators and spreadsheets, but haven't come up with anything.

I know with the Trotec job manager and Epilog Fusion it includes job estimation, but no such luck with the Helix.

Thanks.

Dan Hintz
04-11-2015, 5:07 PM
There are some old threads on this matter. In a nutshell, there is no easy way to do it without a lot of measuring. Your best bet, if you really want to go down that road, is to time a few sample pieces and estimate.

Kev Williams
04-12-2015, 1:41 AM
If you know the speed you'll be engraving (as in Cermark, slow, Rowmark, fast, etc) and resolution (Y-axis lines per inch), draw a 1" x 10" box to engrave, then do a no-power run at your speed and resolution settings. However long it takes, say 210 seconds as an example, add 10% as a cushion... +21 seconds = 231... then round and divide by 10-- in this case you'd have 23 seconds per square inch...

now divide your time by a minute-- 23 seconds / 60 seconds = .383 minutes

Then just do a rough calculation of the square inches you'll be engraving-- lets say a small plate with about 12 sq inches of engraving-

12 x .383 = 4.596 minutes...

If you like $80 per hour, that's $1.34 a minute... x 4.596 minutes comes to roughly $6.12 each... @ $60 an hour, about $4.60 each...

Then make a note of the rate based on that particular speed and resolution for future jobs...

George M. Perzel
04-12-2015, 7:35 AM
Hi Jay;
Laserworks has a simulation/estimation capability that is fairly accurate.
Get a copy of Laserworks, import your job (engraving as bitmap, cutting as AI or dxf file) and set speeds of simulation to match your machine. It should give a close approximation.
Best Regards,
George
Laserarts

Jay Selway
04-12-2015, 3:28 PM
If you know the speed you'll be engraving (as in Cermark, slow, Rowmark, fast, etc) and resolution (Y-axis lines per inch), draw a 1" x 10" box to engrave, then do a no-power run at your speed and resolution settings. However long it takes, say 210 seconds as an example, add 10% as a cushion... +21 seconds = 231... then round and divide by 10-- in this case you'd have 23 seconds per square inch...

now divide your time by a minute-- 23 seconds / 60 seconds = .383 minutes

Then just do a rough calculation of the square inches you'll be engraving-- lets say a small plate with about 12 sq inches of engraving-

12 x .383 = 4.596 minutes...

If you like $80 per hour, that's $1.34 a minute... x 4.596 minutes comes to roughly $6.12 each... @ $60 an hour, about $4.60 each...

Then make a note of the rate based on that particular speed and resolution for future jobs...

Thanks for this. I'm going to build up a simple google form to do the calculation. Figure people could use it.

Jerome Stanek
04-12-2015, 4:24 PM
Hi Jay;
Laserworks has a simulation/estimation capability that is fairly accurate.
Get a copy of Laserworks, import your job (engraving as bitmap, cutting as AI or dxf file) and set speeds of simulation to match your machine. It should give a close approximation.
Best Regards,
George
Laserarts

On my version of laserworks you need to connect one time to the laser before it becomes a free standing software.

George M. Perzel
04-13-2015, 7:36 AM
Jay;
There is a way to make it run without connecting but I need to dig thru the archives to find it-something Rodne Gold sent me.
Best Regards,
George
Laserarts

Jerome Stanek
04-13-2015, 8:22 AM
I can run it free standing but to do this it needs to see the laser to finish the install. after that I don't need the laser