Newest LAser Owner!!!

Hi Everyone - I am the newest owner of a Versa-Laser, VL-200, 30 Watt system!!! I was busy all weekend learning and strating to engrave wildlife scenes - very easy... The hardest part is learning Corel Draw, and with that I could use some help from any Corel users out there.

As a couple "Acedemic" exercises, I would like to first "drill" a .25 hole in a .5 piece of wood. I tried making a circle and filling it with red, that didn't work out, it just engraved a circle. And second, my wife would like the word "Boo" cut out of cardboard for scrapbooking (have to please her...) - how do I get the text set up to cut???

Thanks, and once I have anything worth posting, I will!

Steve

Congratulations Steve!

I had the priviledge of talking to Jim Rabideau at Universal Laser and after talking with him and Keith it has me seriously noodling a laser. I would be just as content right now to have someone close to me who had one. That Versa Laser seems like a great deal for what you get. Looking forward to see your projects. I would especially like to see that things you cut for your wife's scrapbooking. I think this could be a huge potential market for you. The lady's who scapbook and scrapbook well, love to spend money on it. Seems kind of silly that anyone would be that into their hobby. I mean come on :rolleyes: we woodworkers could never be accused of that :D

Good luck with Corel. Keith has said many times that it is one of the biggest obstacles to overcome in using the laser.

Noah

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Originally Posted by SteveKrim

Hi Everyone - I am the newest owner of a Versa-Laser, VL-200, 30 Watt system!!! I was busy all weekend learning and strating to engrave wildlife scenes - very easy... The hardest part is learning Corel Draw, and with that I could use some help from any Corel users out there.

As a couple "Acedemic" exercises, I would like to first "drill" a .25 hole in a .5 piece of wood. I tried making a circle and filling it with red, that didn't work out, it just engraved a circle. And second, my wife would like the word "Boo" cut out of cardboard for scrapbooking (have to please her...) - how do I get the text set up to cut???

Thanks, and once I have anything worth posting, I will!

Steve

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I haven't used the Versa laser yet-- but the capability you're looking for to 'drill' the hole is a process known as vector engraving (vs. raster engraving).

As you've seen, raster engraving works much like a high-res ink jet--the object is filled from left to right, top to bottom.

Vector engraving forces the laser head to move with the contour of the object. In this vector cutting mode, the speed is slower and the power higher to allow for deeper penetration into the object.

In order to achieve vector engraving on the Epilog system that we use, we have a couple of steps to make in CorelDraw:

1. Draw your object (a simple circle, using the circle tool)
2. Set the outline of your object to a hairline. (Right click on the color bar on the right, say red.
3. Turn the fill off for the object, so it's hollow. (Left click on the white X at the top of the same color bar. This sets the fill to nothing.
4. Set up your normal page size/driver info as directed by your laser manufacturer.

With our laser, we explicitly set a Raster, Vector, or R/V combination mode, where the driver automagically picks out what is vector (via the hairline border).

I've attached a sample Corel Draw document (version 11).
I plan on writing several lasering tutorials for our articles forum- if your manufacturer is anything like ours, the manual needs a lot of work. We learned much from experimentation, and if the Laser forum becomes more popular, the more incentive to publish and share our knowledge.

Wash, rinse, repeat. Results may vary with use.

_Aaron_

Hi Aaron / Noah - thanks for the reply. The ULS printer driver picks up the mode automatically based on the color (red = vector cut, Blue = vector engrave and black = Raster), I will give the instructions a shot when I get home tonight - there have been a couple midnight plus nights recently!

As far as the file you posted, it is unavailable, maybe you could e-mail it?? Any thoughts on the second issue?

With the standard printer driver, there are very few options, the only real option is to increase or decrease the power 20%. I understand the advanced driver gives you complete control over power and speed - I just have to download and install it. The manual.... The manual really was adequate for the laser itself - when I picked it up with a friend, I had to rip open the box immediately and I could not believe for the money I spent - the manual was less than 40 pages (around...) But, in all fairness to ULS - so far, it covers everything that relates to the laser, they even have color pictures showing the maintenance steps required!

I would look very much forward to any knowledge sharing you may offer, I (and I am sure others) have much to learn! The 1 thing I have already learned is that I can use a blank to play around with, run it through the planer, and Walla - A fresh blank!

Noah, Yes, they spend so much on paper - tools - 12 hours "crops" (when do I go somewhere for 12 hours and make stuff???) The biggest difference is the magnitude, our tools and materials are much more expensive, but if taken care of, the tools will last forever!

I too spoke with Keith a couple times, and his biggest point was that not everything can be profitable - I can see the scrapbooking stuff wasting a lot of time in setup and learning, but, with that said - I really have an obligation to my wife to make her and her friends stuff.

Thanks again everyone - I look forward to the many discussions to come!

Steve

Congratulations Steve!

I know you will be vector cutting with the best of them in no time. If it's any consolation Aaron and I had a terrible time getting the Epilog to cut the first time. The manual wasn't clear so we scratched our heads and kept trying untill we figured it out.

I have just about finished putting together all of the files for your CD, should be enough Corel drawings to keep you busy for quite awhile. You will find Aaron to be very helpful with Corel Draw, he should be able to answer most any question you have concerning creating graphics with Corel.

Hi Keith,

Thanks so much for the CD - I am looking forward to it!!! I was unable to cut to any depth again last night, getting pretty frustrated and I'm calling ULS later today for some of their help - the best I could cut was around 1/32...

As an aside, I was talking to a guy at dinner last night about the laser and he was involved at GM some years ago with a 5KW - yes, kilowatt system. He said it just breezed through 1/4 stainless like butter - I BET!!!

I'm getting photograv today and will be working more tonight - wish me luck everyone!

Steve