This is my first time posting here, and I am by NO MEANS even remotely well versed in the LightBurn software at all or with my new Fiber laser, but I’m trying to learn as best I can.
First things first, here is some background information about my machine and settings.
Machine: ComMarker B4 20W
Lens: F-Theta Lens f=163, frequency 1064nm, field size 110x110
Focal Measuring Point: 205mm
LightBurn Version: 1.6.0
I am trying to make some aluminum business cards (86x54mm) and cannot get this working as expected. I have attempted to follow the vendors setup guide for Lightburn and the machine. This includes replacing the default EZCAD driver and changing the field size to 110x110 during device setup and adding the proper 110x110 corfile, but I am having some issues with trying to accurately get my machine to engrave things. When I follow the above instructions from ComMarker, the framing is WAAAAAY to big for the cards being used, but if I do NOT change the field size and instead let it default to what is in the corfile 125x125, then it’s really really close to the sizing. I am lost as to what I need to do to get this working so I can really start learning the software and laser to their fullest.
A second issue that I am seeing no matter what size I have the field set to is that if I attempt to do a Calibrate Galvo Lens test (I’m assuming that I need to do this?), I notice that the outside lines (Left, Right, Top, Bottom) are curved and it’s making things difficult to try and get my laser going properly. I am a bit skittish here if I need to do the measurements with the lines being curved like this and attempt to get it going, or if I need to fix some other issue first and then do this, or third option if this is need at all?
I am completely lost here as to what I need to do and how I can get all of this working as hoped for. Any assistance is GREATLY appreciated. Please help if you can so that I can start this journey!
Did you import the markcfg7 file from your EZCad folder during initial device setup? That should direct LightBurn to the correct corfile, but will also include several important settings not stored in the corfile. If you didn’t do that, try doing so now.
You should not have to perform the lens calibration yourself if you have a corfile, but, if you do, it is normal for the lines to be curved, because that is what the uncorrected output from your laser looks like.
Yes I did. One small gotcha I noticed during that process is that the mrkcfg7 is attempting to look for the corfile on drive letter F. I tried two different things here the first being modifying that mrkcfg7 to the proper path where I copied the EZCAD folder and attempting to get it working that way, but also ignoring that error and manually setting the path to the corfile in the same path where I copied the EZCAD installation.
When I follow the above instructions from ComMarker, the framing is WAAAAAY to big for the cards being used, but if I do NOT change the field size and instead let it default to what is in the corfile 125x125, then it’s really really close to the sizing.
125 x 125 is quite a discrepancy from 110 x 110, but is output otherwise completely correct when you use the provided corfile? Is 125 x 125 what is showing in the Device Settings window in LightBurn when the corfile is loaded, or is that just a label on the provided corfile (in which case the label may be incorrect)?
The corfile is not labeled in any special way other than jcz11.cor. If I import the corfile as is and make no changes, in the device settings, I see Field Width and Height as 125mm each. If I override the field size when setting the laser up to the lens supported 110x110, then the framing and lasing are damn near impossible to do accurately as both of almost zoomed out to such an extent that placing and burning are unable to do as I hope, but I do see that the Height/Width are set properly.
I did just pull up the markcfg7 in the 110 ezcad path and noticed that one of the parameters might be incorrect looking at all of this at a higher level. The FIELDSIZE is set to 1.250000e+002, so maybe this explains some of it? If this is the case then I suspect the rest of the settings would need to be probably redone as I expect that the other settings are built off of this incorrect sizing and thus causing all of the follow on issues.
I can provide both of the files mrkcfg7 and jcz11.cor that came with my laser if that would make it easier?
I have not even remotely attempted to use EZCAD at all to do things as it’s just such a terrible and counterintuitive software to anything I would hope. Much more difficult to use than my other software for my CO2 OMTech and K40Whisperer + Inkscape. I know they’re completely different use cases, but that pairing works so much better than just pure EZCAD.
the 125x125 is right for the config file included. I’ve been running mine like this for some time and everything is spot on. The only thing I had to do was find the focal point myself so I could adjust the red dots accordingly and make a story stick to set my focal height accurately every time.
I know that my red dot settings are bad here as I was playing around with it some just to try and get things working a little bit better and just wasn’t sure what I was doing other than flailing around in the dark and trying to make it work somehow without any real guidance from anywhere. I will definitely need to do a focal test myself as I definitely incorrectly assumed the factory would get all of this set as hoped. I see that your width/height is almost identical to mine, can you tell me what your focal point is and I can try to start around there just to make it a little bit faster.
Those are the settings I’m running as passed on to me from one of the Laser Everything guys that I bought the machine from. I haven’t had any problems so far and I’ve run a few hundred business cards and I also use it for small scale stuff like fountain pen nibs with no issues.
I’ve been running with the 200mm lens the last month or so and the 110 focal length slipped my mind at the moment, but I need to swap back to my 110 so I’ll get you a measurement as soon as I can. That said best thing you can do is just to setup an engraving job, set it to fill a square or something on a piece of metal and just run the job at 100% power while you raise / lower the head. When it’s the brightest and loudest, you’ve found your focal height. Then measure and cut yourself a small scrap of material to the right length.
@JTR and @CarlFisher. Sorry for not responding before now. I know it hasn’t been too long, but want to keep making headway on this if possible, but work comes first. I’m on call this week and outside of daytime hours where I’m on my computer I may be spotty with replies, but I am not ignoring either of you I promise.
Finally heard back from ComMarker support and all I got was a link to the official lightburn galvo lens correction guide video on youtube, but they didn’t address ANY of my other concerns. Sad really, but not surprised.
I found the Laser Everything playlist for galvo laser setup/configuration on Youtube and have watched a few of the videos they have around this, so I think I will need to do some things there to try and make it all work and will probably not get a chance to make too many intensive modifications until the weekend. I will try to reply with any information I can before then, if needed to continue to get this all working with your help.
Thank you again for both chiming in here and attempting to help solve this it is very much appreciated.
Not a problem — one of the pluses of troubleshooting on the forum is that we can easily pick up where we left off after a break.
Are there any other issues with output with the cor file loaded, or is it just that the red dot is misaligned and you haven’t found ideal focus yet?
If those are the only two issues, and especially adding in what @CarlFisher has said about his ComMarker, it sounds like the thing to do is to definitely keep the provided cor file loaded, and not manually adjust field size to 110 x 110.
The Laser Everything videos are a great resource. We also have videos of our own on focusing and adjusting red dot framing:
Hello all. Sorry for the extended delay. Been a hectic time this week. I have just found what I think is the optimal focal height for my laser.
Factory Stated: 205
My subjective: 204
Realistic probable height: 204.5
I am in process now to start trying to do the laser adjustments myself and hopefully will be able to get this all dialed in this afternoon.Will report back once I get something figured out.
I’m studying and getting ready for my B4/30 to be delivered next week. After viewing lots of YT videos on focusing, I am thinking the the following may be a “better” way to achieve that perfect focus…
How about this focusing method… Starting higher, start the burn and slowly lower the lens and when you FIRST notice an etched mark, note that distance. Then, lower the lens until the mark just disappears then slowly raise the lens back up until the mark just reappears. Take that measurement and the first measurement then split the difference as a “center distance” where the beam is most focused. This way you are finding the burn threshold as the lens is lowered(noting distance) and finding the burn threshold as the lens is raised(noting distance), then the average-middle-distance should be accurate?? Your thoughts on this “averaging” method please… Thanks… Hank
Thanks for the shout… This video is one of MANY I’ve viewed to get up to speed when my unit arrives next week. For the “hearing impaired” - ME, setting the focus “in the middle” of the focus range by measuring the high vs low burn thresholds, seems to be a more analytical method to use measurements vs sound to arrive at best focus. There is no right or wrong way, but, for OLD EARS, I’ll try both methods and see if they correlate to the same focus point…
