Hello, I have a CADCAM FB 1800 laser cutter. This laser cutter was supplied to me with a desktop pc connected via usb to the laser cutter. On the desktop a slicing software called ApS Ethos is connected to the machine and works with the laser cutter. In this slicing software though, when creating an area to fill inorder to raster the given region, it only allows a coencentric pattern to fill the given region. This is creating areas in the center that are recieivng too much time with the laser and creating uneven burn marks. As such, I want to use a software like lightburn that can create a linear fill pattern to use on this machine. When plugging in the machine to my laptop though, it says it is unable to find the machine and create a new laser cutter profile. Because of this, I am trying to create a new laser cutter profile on lightburn but am unsure how to identify the specifics such as the Gcode flavor.
Anyone who can help or point me in the right direction, your help would be greatly appreciated. If lightburn is not compatible with my machine, any type of workflow you might suggest for using another software to create the fill patten on my files before exporting to ApS Ethos
I have zero experience with this particular software. When you send a job, is it done as a ‘print’? The laser would appear as a printer in this case. LightBurn does not support direct comms with printer driver lasers, but can send files in a roundabout way:
Otherwise, you may have to stick with that software, or swap the machine’s controller out for a modern replacement that is compatible with LightBurn. It looks like a sturdy machine, but as with any machine tool, you can have the best looking hardware in the world but if the software is difficult, the machine will be too.
Thank you for your reply and direction to this other thread.
For some context, I am using this machine for laser cutting fabric to be used for garment production. My current workflow is I create the .dxf files on my design software, transfer to a usb stick, then upload those files to the desktop connected to the cutter and import them to Aps Ethos. From there, once I nest the pieces within the software I am able to press command D inside ApS Ethos and it will send it to the laser cutter via the connected USB. I am unsure of how to check if I have a “print driver” though
I removed the side pannel on my machine to take a photo of the controller area. Let me know if there is any other info I could provide to better idenitfy if this machine controller is compatible with lightburn or how I can identify if my cutter has a print driver.
What software are you using to create DXF files? If you want a “linear fill” to your shapes, and you are using a CAD program to create your shapes, most CAD programs have a Fill command, and you can adjust the spacing of the fill.
From the website for the laser control software and the laser, the development of the ApS Ethos software has been discontinued and they will support the software until the end of 2025. They recommend another program called Summa GoProduce.
Lasers that work with print drivers are driven mostly by CorelDraw and Illustrator. I would consider this laser to not be in this type, because it is using proprietary software to drive the laser. Most likely, the code sent to the laser is either GCode, or possibly some type of XML based code.
Thank you for your insight,
I am using Clo3D a garment design program, I am very comfortable using Rhino3D though, and considered the possibility of just adding the horizontal scan lines inside my shape to be rastered in rhino but am unsure of the proper spacing between lines. I may end up just troubleshooting this method but I have sent a reqest to Summa inorder to see if my machine could be compatible with their software. Ideally, I would like a workflow I can just work within one or two applications.
