Going from engrave to cut and using air assist

LightBurn Software Questions
1

Hi All
Newbie question
How to engrave something then cut around it in lightburn using air assist. As I understand it AA is best used for cutting only. If you’ve only got something like aquarium air pump is there a way to pause lightburn from starting the cut till your ready. This is for a diode laser.
I know on Sculpfun S30 it’s done automatically thru software.
Hopefully this makes sense.
Cheers Geoff

2

I highly recommend leaving AA on all the time. Otherwise, your lens will get dirty and break fast. AA is a great lens protection function.
If you want to automatically control the AA, you can add a relay to most boards, here is a description: Relay Control - Diode Laser Wiki

1 Like
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Thanks for reply, but I probably think well over my understanding and abilities at the mo. For future me tho, will this work on Ortur LM3.
From my reading and research I thought it wasn’t a good idea to have AA on all the time.
Geoff

4

Some people recommend turning it off during engraving because it can cause blurry or dirty edges of the engraved area. This is because the dirt particles are blown away from the engraving and stick to the edges. This effect is reduced if you do not use AA. So, it looks cleaner. The drawback is that the lens will die faster, sometimes the nozzle gets clogged etc. Since you can usually clean the edges quite easily, I recommend never turning AA off. If it’s possible, you can reduce airflow to a minimum.

5

There are several kits available for implementing an Automated Air Assist. I’ve got mine setup to reduce the air flow during engraving just to keep the nozzle and lens clean, but full on when cutting.
I believe that’s how most have theirs set up.

Do a search on YouTube for Auto Air Assist. That should get you started.

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Hi
Thanks for the reply, did search as suggested but didn’t find any kits.

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https://www.google.com/search?q=auto+air+assist+for+laser&oq=auto+air+assist+&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j33i160l2j33i299l3j33i22i29i30.59572432j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

I personally have CloudRay’s setup. Works well for me.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=auto+air+assist+kit+for+laser+engraver

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Unless I’m mistaken at least the cloudray is CO2, I’m after diode.
Geoff

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I see from your profile you have an Ortur LM3 so:

From Amazon looks like there’s a few to fit your needs.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=ortur+air+assist+kit&hvadid=590900404558&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9013214&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=b&hvrand=1370521520768064486&hvtargid=kwd-1229726957979&hydadcr=29788_10164493&tag=googhydr-20&ref=pd_sl_2x8lcgyfdq_b

From YouTube search on Ortur LM3
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=urtur+lm+3+air+assist+install

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Thanks for the links, I’ve bought air pump for now. But going back to my original question is how do you pause(!!!) lightburn between engraving and cutting to increase air volume for cutting. Like I think M8 is sent from lightburn to air assist pump on the Scaulpfun S30.

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