Reference point for a chinese laser

[Jim Dornon]

:( Hello all, great forum. I recently purchased a Rabbit Laser from Frank in Texas. Can't seem to get a hold of him, any ideas ? My question is, do these chinese lasers have a reference point ? Universal has a ruler on the top and side of the engraving table, these do not. I am looking to start from exactly the same place every time. Also I am using corel draw x3, there are no laser settings. I have to save it as an AI file and import it into laser cut 50 the engravers software. any ideas ? any help would sure be great. jim

[Mike Null]

Jim

Welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear of your problems but I believe there is at least one of our members who has that brand of laser. I believe he is doing well with it so maybe he'll see your post and chime in.

Good luck.

[Jared Greenberg]

:( Hello all, great forum. I recently purchased a Rabbit Laser from Frank in Texas. Can't seem to get a hold of him, any ideas ?

I have been researching lasers here for the past couple of weeks. I found his contact info and tried numerous times to contact him. Nothing.

Not that I can help, but at least you aren't the only one.

[Jim Dornon]

Does anyone know the length of the focusing tool they use ? It did not come with one or how tall to make one. jim

[Jacqui Marlin]

I have the Rabbit HX3040 which I purchased from Frank. He may be traveling as he had left for China just before I left on my own vacation trip. I have the same question about a reference starting point and once I figure it out I will post but I won't be back home until the end of September so I can't be much help. Hoping someone else figures it out before then. LOL

I don't know which model you have but mine has the focus point 45 mm from the laser head. I made a cardboard measure and it has worked just fine. I am using Newly Draw software which came with my laser and I haven't quite figured out many aspects of the program. Once I do, I hope to write the instructions so they are understandable by English speakers.

[Bob Keyes]

Dear Jim,

I have a Chinese laser, but it isn't a Rabbit. With that said, my starting point can be either finite or relative. I have a screen where I can enter the coordinates of the starting point. To find zero tell the laser to start at 0,0. If you want that as a reference, or you want to put down rulers or straight edges the intersection of them should be at 0,0.
The relative adjustment allows the starting point to be wherever you position the head. Very handy sometimes. In fact, I use that more than the finite positioning.
Hope this sheds a little bit of light on the subject and was not just a waste of your time.

[Jim Dornon]

The model I have is the 6090sc. The software it came with is Laser cut 5.0 I've learned you can start the head any where but there is no red dot pointer, hard to get exact. I need to start from the exact same point every time. Where is the screen you talk about that sets the head at 0,0. Can't seem to find it. Also my power supply went out the second time I used it. Oh frank.
:eek:jim

[pete hagan]

Jim you have the same machine as I do except for the motorized table.
POINT OF REFERENCE
X is the left to right travel and Y is the front to back travel
http://www.senocular.com/pub/kirupa/rotatevectorthread_files/cartplane.gif
With our software LaserCut 5.0 it is ALWAYS in the upper right quadrant (or known as Quadrant 1). SO our screen lower left layout starts at (0,0) meaning X=0 , the first number and Y=0 the second number following the comma and all numbers will be positive.

The software gives you a 600 X 900 mm layout for which you place your images on the grid. The BLUE DOT shows where HOME is on the drawing for the laser. That means if I have a 200 X 200mm square placed on the grid in the lower left corner (0,0) and I have set my laser head in the datum position which is in the upper right corner (900,600) then when I send the file to the laser and start cutting it will move.........(NOT WHERE YOU EXPECT!) BUT to the same distance from the blue dot to the image.....
What this means currently (I haven't found where to really reset "HOME" yet and believe me I'm looking) is that if the blue dot (which represents home in the software) is located 15mm in the +X position and 15mm in the +Y position in relation to your image (200,200) then when you press start no matter where your laser head is located then the laser will FAST TRAVEL 15mm in the (-) X and 15mm in the (-) Y direction before reaching your image. To compound this if your image shows the yellow icon representing laser start in the lower left corner your laser head will travel the additional distance to the laser cut start position before beginning to cut/engrave.


So I thought why not start in the upper right of my table to place my work. Well, it doesn't exactly hit the absolute same position every time using the datum as home thus if my work is practically edge to edge on the sheet stock I may not get every piece to cut out right.

So to do production work, which is why I bought my laser, you have to preset your laser head to the software's home position to fit your work piece you are about to start cutting / engraving. Here's what I am doing for the time being. Once I have created the image file in Lasercut50 I am using cardboard in the size of the work piece and testing the cut on it first. I have been creating a rectangle on the very outside edge of all the items on my sheet (currently I am cutting / engraving 8 items out of a sheet of plastic about 24" X 32").
http://www.thelanelexington.com/PH/laser/laser output.jpg
I apply a dark color to the rectangle and set the settings to Speed = 100, Power = 33, Corners = 33. I also move that color up to the top in my laser settings and then turn off the cutting of the other colors. I save the file as a simple name using TEST and the day of the month ie..TEST02. Send the file to the machine, move my laser head to the upper right of my work piece and run the test file. If my rectangle fits on the sheet I'm good to go and I simply go back to my original file, turn off the test rectangle and turn everything else back on to cut. REMEMBER to save the file BEFORE sending it to the laser! Otherwise you will not get the latest changes (I have found out).

I will continue to try and determine the home position issues as I really need more control than what I have now with the software. I program cnc's using g-code which is EXACT where you put the cutter and I can simply call a position as home simply by writing a specific command. This LaserCut home is very ambiguous.
Hope this helps.
Pete

[Jim Dornon]

Thanks Pete, I will try this tommorrow and let you know. I found out that home is upper right, would like it upper left. Also found that if it is home and the placement is to the right the laser head will travel right, into the side of the machine (ouch). Is your foucusing tool 1.5" ? Let me know if you can change home.Thanks again, Jim
:o

[Mike Hood]

Thanks Pete, I will try this tommorrow and let you know. I found out that home is upper right, would like it upper left. Also found that if it is home and the placement is to the right the laser head will travel right, into the side of the machine (ouch). Is your foucusing tool 1.5" ? Let me know if you can change home.Thanks again, Jim
:o

My Pinnacle is the same way. Don't know if you can change the "home" position (to upper left versus right), but that would be handy.