Trying to use the “Pause before” and “Pause after” settings in the Cut Settings Editor, but they do not appear to have any effect. Test case - two sublayers, both with 1000ms set for before and after. Yet both sublayers are run immediately one after the other. Any ideas please? I’d like to be able to use this since I use delays a lot in EzCad for sensitive/small parts, to allow time for them to cool down.
Not the Expert, but I think sublayers are tightly linked to the Layer. I am afraid you might need to break the sublayers out into distinct layers. That, I hope, will give you the Pause between operations.
That’s a good idea, but unfortunately it still doesn’t work! I tried two layers, rectangle on each, same delay settings for each, but one is again run immediately after the other.
Did some testing and have good news! They do work. The input is in mS, so enter 2000 (2 seconds) and watch what happens. You get delays in different parts of the burn depending on what the design looks like.
You will get cool down periods for sure.
Mehhhhh…nope! Still can’t get it to work 
Yup, been entering 2000 for the timing. If you could have a look at this video, it shows what I’m getting. Hope the screen shows up clearly.
I’ve tried -
- Multiple repeats of one object in one layer
- Two objects in the same layer
- Two objects in different layers
- One object in one layer with two sub-layers
and in all cases the timing didn’t do anythinig.
I’m presumably missing something (e.g. it took me ages to realise that the “Auto-rotate” option is completely unrelated to the “Angle increment” value) but I’d like to know what it is!
Hmm, wasn’t aware of that, thanks! That would definitely do in a pinch, just ignore that it thinks it’s for rotary and let it mark as usual.
Everything I do is custom engraving, so I never needed Repeat Marking. But I read up on it to understand what it is. I did see the rotary must not be enabled to use it, even though you can use the rotary.
Yup, that’s a bit like EzCad’s rotary mark feature, it’s for when you want to mark a complete single shape “flat”, so good when you have small repeating decorative elements around a cylinder. Could definitely be hacked a bit to use for adding a delay.
Not sure if it got lost in the posting but I did a short video showing what I’ve been trying with the pause before/after setting and not getting anything:
Hi,
I am new here but I have done some succesfull markings with delays - you will need sublayers. In the Cut settings editor you can add a sublayer with the + button that is above close to the layer name. Only if there are sublayers the setting seems to have any effect.
If you add that and use multiple global passes for me it adds the delay between the different layers. But I run into the problem that the number of delays is not as expected. I did not get it for every global pass but I also did not get it for every layer repitition. To be honest multiple sublayers seem to be a bit finicky regarding their delays.
I would agree there should be a delay ability even for single passes or even in a layer for multi passes or ever nth pass of a layer. I am currently experimenting with these settings and if I am more clear about the conditions I will report back =)
Interesting about subLayers. What about adding a “do nothing” sublayer? It appears you can adjust the speed, power, and # passes independent of the top layer.
Slower speed, 0% power, and set # of passes to adjust the delay time.
To stay in the same pattern and continue, add more layers using the top layer settings.
Burn, cool, burn, cool, etc.
Yes I have done basicly do nothing sublayers. It works as a normal layer would with these layers but it is still a workaround for a simple delay between operations. I am unsure if I had a bug or something like that but with the delay after and 3 global repeats and for example 10 layer repeats I expected 3 delays but during operation I counted more than 3 delays. When I switched the global and local repeats it was still more than 3 layers so I am a bit puzzled what triggers the delay and in which order these sublayers progress.
Not sure where you introduced the delay. My thinking is the subLayer itself is the delay. Like a For-Next loop with nothing happening in it.
You can add the delay in the timing submenue - it is more precise than just a layer where you do not realy know how long it will take. Problem is if you add a layer based delay it will scale with the area / rim of your job. That is not always what you want.
If you need it for a singular job then you can add the delay with a do nothing layer since it is constant - if you do a libary for cutting parameters or somthing similar then this will not be very flexible.
I for example currently work on very small lettering through a stainless sheet without color changes and in reasonable time. The difficulty is the heat management to reduce the discoloration and the catastrophic meltdown if the material is cut to fast.
I think I would want it to scale with the job. Longer burn, more delay. Unless od course you are referring to a reverse scaling.
Anyhow, my wood, plastic, metal, and rock projects have not needed cool-downs so far. Thanks for the conversation, it made me drill into some Lightburn areas I have ignored. I doubt I can offer any more ideas that might help you here.
Andreas, interesting to hear about the sublayers. I’m afraid I’ve tried this (see video posted above) and just cannot get the delays to work at all, even with several sublayers present. Are there any settings I might be missing?
I will try to find out tomorrow when it works for me - I did miss your last part in the video where you tried it with multiple layers. Not sure why that did not work. Maybe there is a bug that will hinder the function or changes the number or position of the delays. I also have problems with the number of delays and I remember that sometimes it just did not do anything. I always thought it was only when there was no second layer (sublayer) but since you tried that it could be something else.