Received my new laser

[stan kern]

just purchased a new 150 watt laser , 3 axis and rotary attachment with the 5200 cooling unit.
I was used to imperial so this metric is going to be a learning curve
Thanks to Mike dorian in Concord Ontario for his help
The machine looks well built , my only complaint so far is the metric

[Kev Williams]

Looks like a nice machine, looks well engineered, congrats!

as for the mm vs. SAE thing, do what do- take this web address below, and make it your browser's home page on the computer that runs the laser! :)

-I've found it invaluable AND I'm actually starting to learn from it, at least a little bit! :D

https://www.google.com/search?q=inch%3Dmm&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

[Matt McCoy]

Looks great! Depending on your controller, you might be able to run Lightburn.

[Jerome Stanek]

When I use mine I design in Aspire and convert to MM and export as DXF

[stan kern]

I also use aspire , just need the laser software for power and speed
but still would prefer imperial measurement like aspire

[Jerome Stanek]

once you convert it to a mm dfx then you just import it into your laser software.

[stan kern]

thanks , I would have just felt better if it was all imperial but the only imperial RDWORKS is for thunder lasers, its a well built machine

[John Noell]

For those who do not think in metric, a tiny app by Josh Madison called Convert is the ticket. It is pinned to my taskbar and converts almost anything to anything. It has more than 20 categories (pressure, distance, volume, torque, etc.)

[Keith Outten]

It's my understanding that Vectric will soon have a print driver for laser engravers and other machines as well. I heard that it will be available as an add-on module.

[Doug Fisher]

Congrats. Looks to be a rebadged Bodor laser with a Ruida controller which means you will probably be using some variant of RDWorks as your laser control software.

[stan kern]

Would I be better off buying lightburn and which version

[stan kern]

It did come with rdworks ver 8. I have used laser cut in the past,nice to have no dongle

Its not fully up and running yet, some exhaust connections to make , also got the cw5200 cooler
But i see here people are talking about light burn , and there are 2 versions 40.00 and 80.00
Anyone recommend which i should use or stick to rdworks.
I do all my work in vetric aspire so i just need the power, speed and location on the table
Also another new term for me is the scan , what is this

thanks

[Matt McCoy]

Stan,

Lightburn has a trial version that is free to download. If you have Ruida, it is likely compatible.

[Doug Fisher]

If you try out the demo version and decide to buy after 30 days, you have to buy the $80 since that is the only version that works with Ruida. Also, download the latest version of RDWorks. It is 8.01.26 on Riuda's English website or 8.01.30 on their Chinese language website.

[stan kern]

Thanks I will try light burn , but do you feel its better than rdworks and which version

also it was quite the machine to handle into the shop,
I was very lucky a trucking company picked it off my truck with a crane [placed it on my trailer and a payloader put it in the shop
Then i took the case apart and used a johnson bar to move it around

[stan kern]

thanks for that info, you nailed it mine looks like a version of Bodor, I looked it up and the specs are real close
I really appreciate this as mre info , background its good

maybe i should just stick with rdworks

[Steve Utick]

Thanks I will try light burn , but do you feel its better than rdworks and which version


One of my lasers shipped with RDWorks, and I'm in the process of converting over to lightburn on it. It's got way more functionality than RDWorks, and just works. You'll need the $80 version, as that's the one that supports the Ruida controllers that RDWorks uses. Give Lightburn a try, it's free to try for 30 days as has been said. I think you'll like it.

[Jerome Stanek]

Try the free demo version of Lightburn first

[Kev Williams]

I probably can't use Lightburn, as I'm not sure what controller Triumph put in my machine. My machine's current software is PHcad/LaserSoft, and one of the questions I have about Lightburn (if I COULD use it) is, will it include all the machine control functions and options I'm used to and need? As in, I'm not sure how the other programs address backlash adjustments, arc speed limits, 'curve discrete' settings, and all the min/max accel/decel settings, but LaserSoft is loaded with them. Fine tuning all the various options is how I got this huge 1390 behemoth designed for cutting to produce very high quality engraving, nearly indistinguishable from my 3 Synrad machines. Albeit a ton slower ;) ... fortunately I'm able to finalize everything the laser will do in Corel, so I do absolutely zero editing in the program, other than repositioning and minor size changes. But it would be nice to use the program for more than just a print driver, Lightburn looks interesting :)

[Doug Fisher]

Kev - When you open up your machine and look at the controller, it doesn't have writing or label on it with the model number and brand/mfg?

LightBurn has a list of compatible controllers on its website.

You hit on the reason why an owner of laser with a Ruida controller has to know and be able to run RDWorks even if they plan to mainly use LightBurn. At this time, Lightburn does not yet have the ability to change all of the parameters that are available in RDWorks. It can do many of the most used ones but very specialized ones like those found under the User tab in RDWorks cannot be adjusted in LightBurn at this time. The workaround it is open RDWorks, make the change, upload to the laser, close RDWorks and then use Lightburn.

[stan kern]

Once I get comfortable using rdworks, then I may try lightburn.
because i use vetric aspire to design my work i really don't need anything fancy,
I have been using laser cut with my other 100 watt machine and it suited fine , simple

[John Lifer]

What good is lightburn if you are using corel or any other program to design in and use rdworks as just power and speed setting? I see nothing. If you are trying to use rdworks as design program, then I truly understand trying something else as it is an exercise in futility for me. Just way to easy to hit the macro in corel and then make sure setting are right in rdworks and upload.

O

[John Lifer]

Oh, scan is the engrave setting. Cutting is vector cutting. Ignore other offerings.

[stan kern]

thanks everyone

[stan kern]

got around to running the new machine , its great different from my 100 watt, very smooth
lots of power

[Wojciech Szul]

Go metric. Imperials are very handy for home and garden, not science and tech.
I know mistakes are quite common and can be serious as $125 million: https://www.wired.com/2010/11/1110mars-climate-observer-report/

[stan kern]

I am switching to metric and I think I will be ok with it, the PLT format works fine in both imperial or metric

[Julian Ashcroft]

The Lightburn developer is currently working on machine and parameter settings which should be available soon.

I use Lightburn over RDWorks for various reasons such as being able to have variations of the same design in the same file, and just being able to select that variation to send to the laser, saves the number of files I need. One file has over thirty different designs in it, they are each less than 35mm in diameter, I just highlight the one I want and send it to the laser.

I have some designs where I need to change the text, this now takes seconds in Lightburn and the font selection is quick and easy.

It imports .svg files, I use Inkscape for my designs, I no longer have to save files as .dxf’s as I did with RDWorks.

I can now copy an image from one piece of software or off the internet and paste it straight into Lightburn, use the trace tool to vectorize it and send it straight to the laser.

I’m considering converting my other CO2 laser over to an Rudia controller just so I can use Lightburn on that too.

[John Lifer]

Well Julian, that makes total sense. One of the major things about RDworks is that if I send the entire file that will be two or three different runs, it wants to send all to the laser. If I can select and send, that would be really nice.
I don't save designs in svg, or in dxf for rdworks, original is usually saved in Corel. I might on occasion save the RDL file but I have only reused from those saved files a couple of times.
And If it traces decent, then it might well be alternative to those who don't use Corel, at a cheaper entry point.

[Geoff Shannon]

Not sure what version of RDWorks you are using but every version I have used has had the ability to output selected items. Some of my designs have 75 components and occasionally a part can be damaged and needs to be recut, simply a matter of selecting and recutting. When I have needed to trace an outline I have been satified with the result from my free software (RDWorks) as I cannot justify AU$ 217.64 per year to rent or AU$ 749 to purchase CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2017 or rent Adobe Illustrator for AU$ 28.59 per month.

[Julian Ashcroft]

Being a bit of a cheapscape I have never used Coral, I use Inkscape, which works perfectly well for designing stuff to be sent to the laser, there are lots of tutorial videos out there to help get used to it. I understand someone has developed an Inkscape plugin which will open the file being worked on, in Lightburn, but I haven’t tried it yet.

[Fred Britt]

Looks Great!!