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Keith Downing
07-13-2016, 1:46 AM
Is there a way to pause a job and then adjust the power settings on most chinese lasers? Obviously I'm using Boss (and still don't actually know what chinese manufacturer it is).

Couple times I've gotten like 5-10% into a job and realized I'm not getting a deep enough raster. Option one is to start the job over on the higher setting, but that usually burns the crap out of the part that's already been done. I would rather have that part be less lasered than over lasered in most cases.

So pausing and bumping the power up a couple times would be a great solution.

I saw there is a way to adjust power on the machine (after downloading from laserworks) AFTER it has been run once. But I wasn't sure what would happen if I started changing menu screens with the job paused.

Obviously I could test this to some extent, but I only have one laser and it's already running jobs this morning. So I thought I'd see if anyone else knew the answer.

Dave Sheldrake
07-13-2016, 8:36 AM
no can do, the power setting is downloaded to the machine before running and the power setting on the control pad is only available from the root menu

Bert Kemp
07-13-2016, 9:33 AM
the only way is to run a second pass at lower power

Kev Williams
07-13-2016, 2:39 PM
no can do, the power setting is downloaded to the machine before running and the power setting on the control pad is only available from the root menu

Just to be different ;) -- I can change my settings on the fly....
found this pic of my keypad online--
340646
To change, just hit 'enter', arrows to speed or power, enter, change the number, enter, then ESC...
And done- I can do while paused or while it's engraving, change takes about a second after hitting the ESC button...

I thought this was a common thing?

Gary Hair
07-13-2016, 4:22 PM
I thought this was a common thing?

My Trotec has a similar feature but I do it from within Job Control and it updates the laser in real-time.

Kev Williams
07-13-2016, 4:36 PM
My old ULS you could change while it was running--
My LS900 I can change, but I have to pause first, no biggie-
I can pause and change the explorer too, but it changes back once it it leaves the bounding-box it's engraving and moves to the next one, which is weird!
by 'common thing' I was thinking Chinese machines...

David Somers
07-13-2016, 5:31 PM
Hey Kev,

My Chinese machine will do the same thing. Though I have to admit I have not tried it on a running job with a number of colored objects, each assigned a different power/speed. Not sure if the change would affect everything from that point forward or not. If it affects everything, which I have a funny feeling it would, that could be a problem.

Rather than change on the fly I will allow it to run through the job, then look at the whole thing to see what needs additional work. I will inactivate any elements of the job that do not need to change by color. And then assign a new power/speed setting to those elements that need additional burning. The main reason I do this is that I am applying the change across all those problem children, rather than a change midstream.

That make sense?

I have some jobs to run later this evening and will see if I can remember to dink with this on some scraps and see if I can confirm my thoughts.

Dave Sheldrake
07-13-2016, 6:09 PM
I stand corrected Kev :)

I knew the gross power could be changed from the pad but didn't know it could during the job

cheers :)

Kev Williams
07-13-2016, 6:37 PM
Hey Kev,

My Chinese machine will do the same thing. Though I have to admit I have not tried it on a running job with a number of colored objects, each assigned a different power/speed. Not sure if the change would affect everything from that point forward or not. If it affects everything, which I have a funny feeling it would, that could be a problem.

Rather than change on the fly I will allow it to run through the job, then look at the whole thing to see what needs additional work. I will inactivate any elements of the job that do not need to change by color. And then assign a new power/speed setting to those elements that need additional burning. The main reason I do this is that I am applying the change across all those problem children, rather than a change midstream.

That make sense?

I have some jobs to run later this evening and will see if I can remember to dink with this on some scraps and see if I can confirm my thoughts.
To be sure, I usually DON'T change speeds in the middle of an 'actual' job. That trick I use mostly during test runs- leather and wood comes to mind...

As for the colors, each color is its own separate entity (I guess you could call it) and when changing over the new color's settings will take affect. On mine anyway.