Laser Cutters, any thoughts?

[Basil]

4 hours ago, Ron Gray said:

I too am of the older gen (72) but didn't find the software (Lightburn in my case) hard to use - there are plenty of YouTube vids on it. You can try it free for 30 days

 

https://lightburnsoftware.com/pages/download-trial

 

Regarding programming, once you have 'told' the software what the laser machine is and setup the cutting area then that is pretty much it. The main bit of tweaking is to the settings required for the various materials you are cutting, power/speed/passes and most of the time it is trial and error but there are test procedures built into Lightburn that allow you to find the best settings for the materials you are going to cut. Remember also that the density of the material also affects cutting, not a problem with Depron but with balsa and ply it can make a big difference. You can save your settings for the various materials in a library so that you can quickly select from that when you go to use the laser.

 

Hello again Ron,  this must seem stupid question but from what Ive seen you cant load the 'Machine' with the software, as it has to be run by a connected computer source such as a laptop . I only have a desk top, not so portable, is it not possible to run the info from a 'Data stick' of some kind or must it always be run thru' a computer.I have an iPad can you run it thru' that, as its portable?.  Sorry if these are stupid questions. Thanks and kind regards Bas 

[Richard Thornton 2]

5 hours ago, Ron Gray said:

I too am of the older gen (72) but didn't find the software (Lightburn in my case) hard to use - there are plenty of YouTube vids on it. You can try it free for 30 days

 

https://lightburnsoftware.com/pages/download-trial

 

Regarding programming, once you have 'told' the software what the laser machine is and setup the cutting area then that is pretty much it. The main bit of tweaking is to the settings required for the various materials you are cutting, power/speed/passes and most of the time it is trial and error but there are test procedures built into Lightburn that allow you to find the best settings for the materials you are going to cut. Remember also that the density of the material also affects cutting, not a problem with Depron but with balsa and ply it can make a big difference. You can save your settings for the various materials in a library so that you can quickly select from that when you go to use the laser.

 

Thanks Ron.

Following on from your BMFA ITAT zoom video, I noticed that you used that ‘template’ tester which at the time I hadn’t realised that it was bespoke to LightBurn and isn’t part of the cutters setup.

So it looks like £90 extra spend on LightBurn, which does offer a 30 day trial period, BUT it seems a totally superior program when compared to LaserGRBL, but nothing in life is for free. 🙊🙉🙈

Edited June 18 by Richard Thornton 2

[Basil]

Excuse my ignorance but apart from the cutter, am I correct in saying you really need an 'Air assist' and a 'Mesh/honey comb' base? Apart from asking there does not seem to be anywhere that gives the full story of requirements. I assume that you need the mesh so as not to burn into the bench.  There is also , I assume some kind of fume extractor connected to an enclosure..... seems to be the logical requirements. Bas

 

[Ron Gray]

For a regular curve, say an arc or ellipse then there are tools that specifically do that, for an irregular curve you just click on the various points for the curve you want to draw and then you can refine or smooth it. 

[leccyflyer]

It's like embarking on any new part of the hobby, your are unlikely to find a single itemised list of everything that you absolutely must have, it's a case of reading around and looking at different viewpoints to come to a landing on how to get started. So, looking at lots of videos, some folks seem to manage perfectly well without the honeycomb bases and, depending on what they are doing, without air assist. From what I saw when researching my laser cutter purchase there is a big improvement in using air assist where appropriate and it was included in the machine that I opted for.

 

Likewise, asking the questions of Ron and others in the earlier threads and on the BMFA ITAT forum, I decided that I would get the honeycomb bases and an enclosure with fume extraction, given the amount of smoke generated in cutting the materials I wanted to cut. I'd also note that I have a sheet of mild steel underneath the honeycomb base plates, which protects the plywood base that I have the laser cutter frame mounted on. Having now used the machine for the first time I'm glad that I did, as there is enough smoke generated in just cutting some small test pieces to have set off the smoke alarm. I was also somewhat paranoid about inadvertently blinging myself and not confident that the supplied safety specs would be sufficient, so the enclosure does give a secondary level pf protection. I took Ron's advice on the optimal safety goggles - much better than what was supplied with the machine.

 

Anyhow, I've now cut my first test pieces, made fairly simple by the Material Test facility in Lightburn and very impressive the thing is in action. I cut at a range of settings for power and speed on 3mm birch ply, 2.5mm (3/32nd) medium balsa and 6mm grey Depron. Of course the settings are vastly different for depron, ply and balsa, but I can now confirm that the 6mm Depron does cut beautifully - the test pieces did their job, indicating that full power at slow speed will melt the back of the Depron, I now have a much better idea of how much power and what cutting speed is needed.

 

[FlyinFlynn]

17 hours ago, shepeiro said:

 

presume this means my 20watt xtool is actually a quad laser as I have little issue cutting through 3mm base wood (except scorching)

I dunno. It is not clear from xtool adverts. Looking at the price tag it suggests it is a quad laser and its capabilities also suggest it might be,but I can find find no reference in their sales blurb to confirm it. The problem is there is no official regulation of what 10 Watt or 20 watt refers to so sellers are free to 'make stuff up' in order to sell their wares.

Not all basswood, or balsa or ply is the same, and again, some of the claims made on some sales blurb is like the mpg figures quoted by car manufacturers - somewhere between dubious to fanciful.

 

For the scorching, are you using air assist?  It will help reducing scorching, as will raising the workpiece off the base material using some form of lattice.

[FlyinFlynn]

16 hours ago, Richard Thornton 2 said:

 

So it looks like £90 extra spend on LightBurn, which does offer a 30 day trial period, BUT it seems a totally superior program when compared to LaserGRBL, but nothing in life is for free. 🙊🙉🙈

I would have to disagree with you on this point Richard. In what way do you think Lightburn is totally superior to LaserGRBL?  

[Richard Thornton 2]

17 hours ago, Basil said:

Thanks Ron, I am way ahead on you by nearly a decade. I am not computer 'Blank' but not a wiz kid. What I have seen of some soft ware the straight lines are logical. How would you instruct say a regular curve, ( seems more uniform ) or a non regular curve, thats what bothers me , as you have to have to quantify it in the first place!!! I can envisage the code being somewhat  logical, whereas the latter surely need lots of points of reference , or is the software have some logic?.

Thanks in advance Bas

 

Morning Basil.

Interesting topic. I remember watching a tv documentary on the manufacture of the Spitfire Memorial located in Castle Brom and when the fabricated the support struts, instead of nice sweeping curves, the software that the drawing was initially drawn on, or just incase that’s libellous, the software operating the flame cutter, cut a series of straight lines to produce a curve.

Funny how you remember stuff that at the time I thought ‘oh’ and now years later, wonder what draw that has been filed away in my head.

[Richard Thornton 2]

6 minutes ago, FlyinFlynn said:

I would have to disagree with you on this point Richard. In what way do you think Lightburn is totally superior to LaserGRBL?  

Not meaning to ruffle feather at all.

I like the way LightBurn works, ie the logic which is a preference only but also the fact that you have the ability to produce a “test cut” to sort of calibrate your cutter to the material your cutting.

Finally, as I am yet to actually part with £90 when my free trail is up, I was particularly hoping that someone would point out that LightBurn and LaserGRBL are just as good as each other and what’s possible in the one program, is in fact, doable in the other.

[leccyflyer]

17 hours ago, Basil said:

Thanks Ron, I am way ahead on you by nearly a decade. I am not computer 'Blank' but not a wiz kid. What I have seen of some soft ware the straight lines are logical. How would you instruct say a regular curve, ( seems more uniform ) or a non regular curve, thats what bothers me , as you have to have to quantify it in the first place!!! I can envisage the code being somewhat  logical, whereas the latter surely need lots of points of reference , or is the software have some logic?.

Thanks in advance Bas

 

Drawing polygons, lines, curves etc in Lightburn looks to be very similar to lots of other graphics packages, using nodes, which can be edited, switched between straight line and Bezier style curves that are then able to be manipulated very intuitively using the node position and dragging the "handles" positioned off the nodes. Rather less prescriptive than in some CAD packages where you might need to quantify those points of reference by direct numerical input. 

[Basil]

Thank you for your comments, but one last question for now!!!!

Does the software contain a library of possible 'Shapes' etc. Can you upload a shape and the software sorts the code itsself? 

Many thanks Bas 

[leccyflyer]

Lightburn has the facility to produce regular shapes -rectangles, polygons, ellipses - via the buttons on the left margin. It's a simple matter of click and drag to make the regular shape the size and aspect ratio that  you want. For other shapes you can either import a vector graphic from elsewhere, or import a raster graphic and trace over that using the draw polygon tools.

 

[Richard Thornton 2]

On 17/06/2025 at 17:03, Ron Gray said:

I started out with a Sculfun diode laser and it was brilliant, and great value for money. I have now got an Omtech Pronto which is somewhat bigger!!!

Trying to sort out all the pitfalls before reaching for the credit card. (While the present Missus is in the garden!)

Both the ATOMSTACK and SCULFUN models I am looking at or comparing, have extender kits.

It seems that you can increase the cutter size from about 400 x 400mm to 800 x 400mm in the Y axis, there is a kit for the Sculfun that enlarges the X axis as well, BUT where do you get a honeycomb cutter bed that big without having to purchase 2 standard bed? Surely the cross over will cause issues. I see there is a 500 x 500mm but seems pointless extending the cutter without a matching bed, or am I being thick?

Don’t all rush to reply, please 😈

[Richard Thornton 2]

7 minutes ago, leccyflyer said:

Lightburn has the facility to produce regular shapes -rectangles, polygons, ellipses - via the buttons on the left margin. It's a simple matter of click and drag to make the regular shape the size and aspect ratio that  you want. For other shapes you can either import a vector graphic from elsewhere, or import a raster graphic and trace over that using the draw polygon tools.

 

If you import a drawing in DXF format, does it then cope with the curves?

[shepeiro]

38 minutes ago, FlyinFlynn said:

I dunno. It is not clear from xtool adverts. Looking at the price tag it suggests it is a quad laser and its capabilities also suggest it might be,but I can find find no reference in their sales blurb to confirm it. The problem is there is no official regulation of what 10 Watt or 20 watt refers to so sellers are free to 'make stuff up' in order to sell their wares.

Not all basswood, or balsa or ply is the same, and again, some of the claims made on some sales blurb is like the mpg figures quoted by car manufacturers - somewhere between dubious to fanciful.

 

For the scorching, are you using air assist?  It will help reducing scorching, as will raising the workpiece off the base material using some form of lattice.

yes have a honeycomb and airassist definitely helps a lot but still get it at high power on corners. Not sure if a quirk of just my laser cutter or all but you get a tiny slow down in an accute corner, at high power this is enough to  add some minor scorching can be fixed by speeding it up and doing multiple passes only “issue” is extra time/material spent configuring that 

[Ron Gray]

17 hours ago, Basil said:

Hello again Ron,  this must seem stupid question but from what Ive seen you cant load the 'Machine' with the software, as it has to be run by a connected computer source such as a laptop . I only have a desk top, not so portable, is it not possible to run the info from a 'Data stick' of some kind or must it always be run thru' a computer.I have an iPad can you run it thru' that, as its portable?.  Sorry if these are stupid questions. Thanks and kind regards Bas 

Most, not all, diode lasers need a separate computer connected to them. The software, such as Lightburn, generates the ‘G Code’ that the laser needs to tell it what to do. Some diode lasers can be connected to Wi-Fi so the computer doesn’t have to be right next to them but obviously you need to be near the laser to position the materials and for safety! To run without a connected computer there would need to be some form of controller attached such as a Ruida controller, these allow you to plug in a USB memory stick which contains the G Code generated by the (Lightburn) software. 

[Ron Gray]

1 hour ago, FlyinFlynn said:

I would have to disagree with you on this point Richard. In what way do you think Lightburn is totally superior to LaserGRBL?  

Far easier to use and a much more friendly, up to date, interface.

[Ron Gray]

40 minutes ago, Richard Thornton 2 said:

Trying to sort out all the pitfalls before reaching for the credit card. (While the present Missus is in the garden!)

Both the ATOMSTACK and SCULFUN models I am looking at or comparing, have extender kits.

It seems that you can increase the cutter size from about 400 x 400mm to 800 x 400mm in the Y axis, there is a kit for the Sculfun that enlarges the X axis as well, BUT where do you get a honeycomb cutter bed that big without having to purchase 2 standard bed? Surely the cross over will cause issues. I see there is a 500 x 500mm but seems pointless extending the cutter without a matching bed, or am I being thick?

Don’t all rush to reply, please 😈

A honeycomb bed will add quite a bit to the cost but is definitely worth the investment. My Sculpfun had the extended bed so I had 2 honeycomb beds, the crossover wasn’t a big issue for most materials.

[Ron Gray]

31 minutes ago, shepeiro said:

yes have a honeycomb and airassist definitely helps a lot but still get it at high power on corners. Not sure if a quirk of just my laser cutter or all but you get a tiny slow down in an accute corner, at high power this is enough to  add some minor scorching can be fixed by speeding it up and doing multiple passes only “issue” is extra time/material spent configuring that 

The power used for corners can be adjusted to compensate for the slowing down at corners.

[Ron Gray]

42 minutes ago, Richard Thornton 2 said:

If you import a drawing in DXF format, does it then cope with the curves?

Yes.

[Ron Gray]

1 hour ago, Richard Thornton 2 said:

Not meaning to ruffle feather at all.

I like the way LightBurn works, ie the logic which is a preference only but also the fact that you have the ability to produce a “test cut” to sort of calibrate your cutter to the material your cutting.

Finally, as I am yet to actually part with £90 when my free trail is up, I was particularly hoping that someone would point out that LightBurn and LaserGRBL are just as good as each other and what’s possible in the one program, is in fact, doable in the other.

Look at this

 

https://acmerlaser.com/blogs/news/the-difference-between-lightburn-and-lasergrbl?srsltid=AfmBOopmL0zw7JXe6fiJMxgAnuwJek6JeN-3Pc4rI0boUtOz_yQu4Q44

[Basil]

Hello again, one last question; It seems that I need to be in possession of a Laptop in order to drive the cutter. What size memory is required as a minimum and will any old laptop function with as Ron has suggested with say Lightburn? I am trying to learn from scratch so have a lot of ground to cover and ask what are stupid questions.Thank again in advance. something has just occurred to me, how do you keep the material being cut flat on the bed, I have seen some clips but they only work on mesh, what about the slatted bases?

Bas

Edited June 19 by Basil

[Ron Gray]

As I eluded to above, there are some diode lasers that have an inbuilt controller so it is not necessary to have a computer connected. The latest offerings from the likes of Sculpfun and XTool are examples of this. Sculpfun 

 

Slatted or knife bases tend to be mainly associated with CO2 lasers when cutting larger and thicker materials and tbh I very rarely can be bothered to remove the honeycomb bed from mine even when cutting said larger ‘ thicker materials. So if it’s small pieces such as wing ribs and formers then use a honeycomb bed.

Edited June 19 by Ron Gray

[shepeiro]

2 hours ago, Ron Gray said:

The power used for corners can be adjusted to compensate for the slowing down at corners.

Is that in lightburn? I use the xtool software as i haven’t had a need to move beyond yet but that might give me the impetus as I haven’t seen that much n the xtool software (I have looked)

[Ron Gray]

The power is adjusted through the max and min settings, as the head slows down the power reduces to the min setting. As an example, I have a 1.5mm hole to cut in some 2mm cardboard, with the min power set to 5% the hole isn’t cut, increasing it to 20% the hole is cut. Similarly a circle which has a start and stop point means that the head will accelerate at the start and slow down at the end, with a min power of 5% means that there is an uncut piece of the circle, increasing that to 20% gives a clean cut.