I wanted to re-open the discussion in Lead-in/out power options with an insight I just had while trying to figure out how to get my vector engraves to not have noticeably overengraved portions at the beginning and end.
It sounds like the main blocker to adding some sort of “lead-in/out but without firing the laser” is that Ruida controllers complain if you try to send them jobs with more than one non-firing move in a row. Is that right?
If so:
Most CO2 lasers have a power threshold below which they won’t fire at all. Mine doesn’t fire at any power level less than 15%.
Could that be used to allow cut-less lead-in/out? i.e. could lead-in/out moves be issued at a power level of say 1% to trick Ruida into thinking it’s a cutting move when it doesn’t actually do anything?
I’m thinking of a world where there’s an extra field next to the “lead-in/out” cut settings that’s something like “lead-in/out power” where you can set the exact power percentage that the lead-in/out cut is made at. Then I could set that to 1% for my laser and be happy with my non-cutting lead-ins/outs.
(Or there could be some sort of “don’t cut lead-ins/outs” toggle that sets the power to 1%, but I could see someone who owns a laser that happens to actually cut at 1% being confused when their “non-cutting lead-in” winds up actually cutting. Best to let the user select the power level and advise them that they can set it below their laser’s cutting power threshold to get a cut-less lead-in/out.)
Thoughts? Is that something that might actually be doable?
