I have a heart that is two sided. It has text on one side and a logo on the other. I set up one heart and used the array tool to duplicate it 6 along the x and 7 along the Y. I then drew a box 302mm square ( size of my material ) and took the grouped hearts and used the center tool to center the group in the square. I then copied the square and the hearts as a group and pasted them to another window. I drew on side a then flipped the material and cut on side b. they do not line up. they are shifted along the x axis several mm. what could I be doing wrong ?
Can you post a screenshot or the .lbrn file itself for review?
Are accounting for the fact that your work is not exactly centered in your workpiece?
If the work is 1 inch from the left, and 1.25 inches from the right, when you flip it over, what you marked will now be 1.25 inches from the left and 1 inch from the right
In other words, if you are flipping the part, the work has to be exactly centered. If some parts are done upside down, you have to account for that too. A marker that bleeds through paper and a sheet of paper are good learning tools.
I will tomorrow morning my laser and equipment are not at my house. I think your correct that will help. Are there settings somewhere that can affect output ?
In LB it appears centered however the output is not. The material is 302x302 and so is the square so the hearts should be centered. I even have a framing square to index the material in the same place. The start point is the same. In LB and on the controller.
I add a 12" square (or other mm/in size as needed) as a T1 layer and use Framing to locate the material in the right position. I use Framing to align an unused area of waste material too. I also work only in absolute coordinates.
You might consider using a fixture or jig to enable position repeatability. Once you set it up, it will be very accurate for the following burns.
Please consider @berainlb 's request for the Lightburn file. That will help a lot in this process.
I use a framing square that is fixed to the honeycomb. I will try using the t1 box instead of drawing a box and see if that make a difference
This is most likely going to be an alignment workflow issue.
It could also be a design issue but that’s easy to rule out.
What Start From mode are you using and what’s your strategy for aligning the material for each side of the material?
How does the framing square allow you to index the same position?
The material is in the same place. I use a framing square fixed to the honeycomb. The material is measured and the square is the same size.
Start from current position. I have a saved position that is the apex of the square. I make sure to get it to the same position before starting on each side.
I have noticed that my z axis will show as 3000 at the top and next time I boot up it will be 2998. Is that normal for there to be a variance? X and Y i am not so sure about being moved I have not checked yet.
The framing square does not have the green dot on it like a square does .
How does your workflow guarantee that you’re burning to the center of the material?
No. But are you homing Z-axis at the start of every session?
No how do you do that ?
This will depend on the firmware. If the machine does not automatically home at startup then it may not support homing.
Does your machine have limit switches connected?
Did you see my questioning about centering?
Yes it has limit switch down but up it does not. OMtech 150wat. Centering I use LB I group the hearts then select the group and the square and center
It does do a home cycle at start up
But not the z
Ah, gotcha. Mine does the same thing. I don’t pay much attention to specific Z coordinates since I use relative Z moves.
I understand this is the method you’re using to center in workspace.
However, I’m curious how you know you’re burning to the center of the material. If you use a square attached to the honeycomb that will guarantee position from 2 edges. When you flip the material, the opposite edge is being indexed. Unless the material is exactly the right size, the front and back burns may not be aligned unless you’re making specific effort to recenter onto the material.
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