I have been lurking for a while and haven’t been able to find the information. So here is the question. Is there a way to set a group of cuts or array as a ‘block’ that will be completely cut before moving to the next series of cuts? I don’t mean setting as a layer.
What I am looking for is a way to take an ‘array’ or ‘series’ of fairly complex items, set layer and cut optimization and have it complete an area; almost like a Geo Fence that will contain all the work (integrated layers) and only move to the next series (of layers that may be the same colors/combinations) after completion.
I have some sets that I cut and I exhaust all of the colors/layers available and still have to reuse them, which on my large bed laser increases travel time between cuts since part of a layer color is used elsewhere on the bed.
I use this feature often when creating complex items in CAD. If it is possible, that would be awesome. If it is something I can pay to have you do, please let me know-it would be a game changer for me.
Yes, all this can be done with a clear understanding of how the LightBurn ‘Cut Planner’ works and the available options you can control. Best is to start with the video below and we can go from there to address or suggess a specific workflow for a particular job.
Thank you for getting back to me. I have watched the video a few times before. The typical item I cut will have between 20 and 100 unique and repeating shapes and depending on the part may have up to 15 layer cuts. Which complicates things, in terms of travel time to next cut.
If it was possible to select part of the cut job and tell the machine, ‘I know that you see blue and red and green elsewhere, but ignore it and cut it only those layers in this specific area, then move onto the others.’ I’ve tried the cut optimization toggles and it works for the more simple things I do. A lot of what I do involves cutting a repetitive pattern across a broad area and then moving to the next layers. If I could partition or separate other parts of the drawing or cut. It would safe a lot in terms of travel to cut and building the layers into the program.
I love this program and look forward to updates when they roll out. It is by far the best program I have used and has already increase my productivity greatly.
This is trivial to do using groups, and setting ‘Order by Group’ first in the optimization settings. If your job includes engraved / filled shapes, you need to set the fills to ‘Fill groups together’ instead of ‘Fill all shapes at once’, or that will pre-cluster all the shapes into a single filled object before the optimizer has a chance to order them.
These are three groups, and the fill is set to ‘fill groups together’:
what i have done for similar…
define layers for the objects as ‘blocks’ you want as line or fills,
turn off output on all layers except what you want to do first,
when job complete, turn off that layer and turn on next,
rinse and repeat until complete with whole task
This doesn’t work if you want multiple cuts per shape, but want to have each shape complete before moving to the next.
Image a bunch of keychains cut from acrylic, where you engrave text, then do a cutout, then move to the next one. You would want the text and cut on different layers, but want each item to complete before moving on, in case you bumped something, so you’d at least have all the items run up to this point, instead of ruining the whole sheet.
