EzCad3 Experience: I’ve plenty of experience with this software (the good and the bad)
Lightburn Expererince: Nil (though happy to purchase a licence)
Model Development: I’ve plenty of experience in generating Bas Relief STL models for deep engraving. I use the laser like a 2.5D CNC (or negative 3D printer) to complement metal casting and final object creation across a range of alloys (Silver, Bronze, Copper, Zamak, Pewter etc - all of which I have depth profiles for accurate Z-Axis ablation control).
Time and Feedback: Happy to put in the time, effort and provide structured feedback (I’ve been an Alpha and Beta tester for others and ran a software development, support, and maintenance team).
Thanks
Nathan
PS - I’m not really into 2D marking but have done a fair bit.
My motivation, is that one day, I’d like to be able to put a piece of stock into the rotary, load up an STL model, and engrave a final piece (eg think laser “carving” a chess piece).
Hi Nathan, and welcome!
This is great timing, since we just put out a call to test the initial Ez3 support (linked by Jack)
Your work with metal casting is fascinating.
It’s great to have you on board!
Your goal to laser carve a chess piece on a rotary is ambitious, and I love it!
There are rumors that it will be possible to import STL files into LightBurn at some point.
For now, STL files can be converted to depth map images using online tools such as Sculptok to use 3D-Sliced.
Let us know if you have any questions or need help getting started.
Use our free trial, and make sure to import the laser’s config when adding the galvo.
I’m not sure I can contribute all that much till there is at least Z-Axis control to keep the beam in focus as it ablates down, and ideally STL support as depth map only give 256 layers??? Some of my engraves can have 1,000+ layers.
From my work with deep “milling” on the laser so far, you need to tune your profiles so each layer ablates the same amount as the Z-Axis moves (and this is different on every alloy). If you don’t get this right, your outside walls will no longer be vertical and will become increasingly concave as the laser drifts out of focus.
FWIW - my procedure for a new alloy, is to use a 5mm deep STL of a cylinder and I tune the prifle till the result produces a 5mm hole. I then know it is pretty accurate from then on for these sort of depths (but also found that it was still off on deeper 20mm work). As you can imagine this takes a fair bit of time. Once we have Z-Axis & STL support, I’d be happy to develop and share these profiles (as I did over on Laser Everything for EzCad3 - which I can do here if that helps at all).
Here you go, one 10mm deep square hole “milled” into bronze for the retaining bolt for my lathe compound (one of the links above has the video on this).
To be fair, 1000+ passes is rare but even while 256 layers gives plenty of real world depth, it really requires Z-Axis control to be able to make something that is dimensional accurate or by the end of a attempted deep engrave the laser will be so out of focus you are more annealing the metal rather than engraving it: eg I use 0.01, 0.02, (and even 0.04mm) layers pending on the material, and the “detail” I want to get to minimise layer lines.
256 x .01 = 2.5mm
256 x .02 = 5mm
Here is another example where I was aske to make a two part mold in thick Stainless Steel flat bar. The engrave was over 3mm on each side and took over 30hrs for each side. While EzCad is clumsy and awkward, it does work for such work. Without Z-Control and supporting lots of layers by the time I’d dug down to the final few layers where the details are the edges would not be very perpendicular and the details would be lost.
Its also great for all sort of layout and intricate milling, like this bracket. I designed it up as a 3D Model in Microsoft 3D Builder of all things, and used used the STL to mill it into the casting.
Note: These 2.5d lasers are not ideal for some of this work as you can not cut a vertical inside walls due to the beam angle, but if you just have outside walls and a good profile you are good to go.
Hi team, I’m testing the 2.1.00 RC-6 release with a JCZ DLC2 board originally from an SLM 3D printer.
The board is not detected by “Find My Laser” and hangs on “Waiting for Connection” when added manually as an EZCAD3 device on both macOS and Windows. I’ve confirmed the drivers are correct, but the Hardware ID is:
USB\VID_9588&PID_9979
It seems this SLM-specific PID might need to be whitelisted for the new EZCAD3 driver to initiate the handshake. Is it possible to have this ID added to the supported list? Thanks!
I installed the EZCAD3 version, it does not find the driver, I was told to use a software to change the driver (Zadig), I did, after this the driver change to a USB mode. then I was able to see the laser from Lightburn.
I followed the instructions and did the manual settings from the original configuration files from EZ cad, but, scales were different, and Z axis move in just one direction (down).
I decided I will give it a try later after seeing if some else went thru this and find a solution.
This is something that might need to be looked at by the technical staff of Lightburn. I’m not really qualified to advise on EZCad3 issues as I don’t know how it all fits together.
Sounds like the driver got it talking anyway. Maybe @Aaron.F has some ideas on what to try.
“Find My Laser” doesn’t work for every machine, but in the case of a galvo, it only selects the correct device type anyway. The .cfg file still needs to be loaded manually.
Gantry-like “Z-Step per pass” will be up next. It’ll probably be more like “Z-Step mm per n number of passes.”
Can you explain how EZCad does this?
We need more feedback on the different controllers (Maybe, yours? )
Can you let us know which controller you are using, and whether homing and jogging work?
As mentioned above, you might need to wait for the imminent RC-9, if the axis only moves down.
Here is the process as best I can understand. Say you have a 2mm high STL, you want to engrave into a 10mm bit of material:
Load in your STL (this is where Ezcad3 can take some time on complex STLs especially if you have a weak machine with limited memory, but it does not crash)
You then slice your file (they call it delamination) at a nominated Z value. If you pick say, 0.02 you would get 100 slices.
You then align it on Z (I pick 0 - this is important for the next step but a bit counterintuative)
You then Put in your Z Height Offset. This is the high of the stock above the bed (say a 10mm plate) Minus the Height of the STL, so in this case it would be 10-2=8mm
Select your usual hatch and material settings,
Press Go (well you would preview it first but same thing happens)
The Z axis will first go all the way to the top (as it a homing run)
The Z axis will descend to 10mm (not 8mm) above the work piece and start the 2mm deep engrave with the first slice (and cross hatch if that is selected).
The Z-Axis will then decent by 0.02mm for the next layer and then burn layer 2.
… repeat to finished.
The counter intuitive part is you would think it would be simpler to put in just 10mm as the offset for the work piece and let it do it’s thing and not have the Z alignment at all. But there must be some use case for this I don’t understand.
I can take a video of the process I use tomorrow if you want.
I’m in Sydney Australia so it’s getting late here but if you give me a list of things to check I’ll be able to get that tomorrow. eg:
Video?
Controller
etc
I can confirm homing works, as I had to “fix” the mag switch at the top of the column at one point, and this is one value you need to enter into the config, the distance from the bed to the top of the controller.
Jogging, no idea (but can check). Not even sure why you would want to jog it anyway. I do know that the Z-Axis is under full control of the stepper motor and you can not adjust the Z-Axis manually.
I am using the JCZ DLC2-USB/ETH-2D-V3.2 board. I tested it first with the JCZ driver, then I used the Zadig driver. Yes I selected the correct COM port, during all tests it would just keep waiting for connection.
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