Epilog Zing Laser Won't Cut (New to Laser)

[Scott Memmer]

Hello, I am learning as I go to use my Zing Laser Cutter. Really beautiful machine.

I am cutting through Adobe Illustrator and everything has been going well. Since this is new to me, I've just been cutting regular copy paper, no problem.

I first cut circles at 1.75" diameter and it cut like a champ. Now I am attempting to cut the shape below. As soon as I hit the green GO button on the Epilog, the laser head does not move, and the screen immediately says DONE.

437881

I spoke to Epilog earler in the day, and they gave me some general guidance for setting up Illustrator.

Here's what they told me to do:

1) Go into Effects > Document Raster Effects Setting:

2) Change Resolution to 600

3) Set Color Model to RGB

When I did all these things with the regular circle, it worked fine.

In the Epilog interface in Setup, I went to Printer Preferences and set the exact same numbers with which I successfully cut the circles.

SPEED 50%
POWER 5%
FREQ 200

I made sure I clicked on Vector.

And...nothing happens.

Is there something else I must set in Illustrator because I am attempting to cut an unusual shape?

Thank you. I know people say to get Corel Draw but I'm pinching pennies, and Illustrator works great for my relatively simple designs.

Thanks in Advance.

Scratching My Head,
Scott

[Bruce Volden]

I'm guessing that it could be a file problem.
By that I mean the guitar pick shape you designed wasn't created as a vector file.
I no nothing of Adobe but in Corel you draw the design as a "hairline" and you're good to go
as far as cutting. I have had "vector" files sent to me by customers only to find out
they are not! I get the the same results you get on your machine.

1) Go into Effects > Document Raster Effects Setting: (RASTER ??????)
2) Change Resolution to 600

3) Set Color Model to RGB

Bruce

[Scott Memmer]

I'm guessing that it could be a file problem.
By that I mean the guitar pick shape you designed wasn't created as a vector file.
I no nothing of Adobe but in Corel you draw the design as a "hairline" and you're good to go
as far as cutting. I have had "vector" files sent to me by customers only to find out
they are not! I get the the same results you get on your machine.

1) Go into Effects > Document Raster Effects Setting: (RASTER ??????)
2) Change Resolution to 600

3) Set Color Model to RGB

Bruce

Bruce, thanks for responding. You could be right on that. I'll check into this.

Ironically, apropos of your "hairline" comment, I woke up this morning remembering that the tech guy at Epilog said to set the width of the line at .001, but I forget where that is in Illustrator. I'll investigate.

The gentleman who created the file and the shape for me did send it as a DWG file, but I'll check this out too.

If you have any more comments, I welcome them.

Thanks Very Much,
Scott

[Ralph Undis]

Systems like Epilog, Trotec, and Universal Laser use RGB colors for cutting, vector engraving, and raster engraving. Here is a basic setup you would do in Illustrator.

raster engrave - RGB black fill - no stroke
vector engrave - RGB blue 0.001" stroke width
vector cutting - RGB red -0.001" stroke width

Here is a dropbox link to an AI and PDF file with 3 squares that contain the above RGB data.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/px1wyof6pzihvip/AACLhin1FQkypli-P46HcyoPa?dl=0

[Nicolas Silva]

double check that your lines are all 'hairline'. anything larger and it wants to raster - so since it finds no hairline vectors it is done right away.

[Scott Memmer]

Systems like Epilog, Trotec, and Universal Laser use RGB colors for cutting, vector engraving, and raster engraving. Here is a basic setup you would do in Illustrator.

raster engrave - RGB black fill - no stroke
vector engrave - RGB blue 0.001" stroke width
vector cutting - RGB red -0.001" stroke width

Here is a dropbox link to an AI and PDF file with 3 squares that contain the above RGB data.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/px1wyof6pzihvip/AACLhin1FQkypli-P46HcyoPa?dl=0

Ralph & Nicholas, you were both right. The line was too thick. I don't know why, but every time I changed the image's position or whatever, Illustrator kept resetting it to a much thicker line. I reset it to .001 and it's cutting great now.

Thanks Very Much,
Scott