Has anyone used LIGHTBURN to run a Cricut hobby knife cutter?
I’m desperate, the Cricut cutting software is HORRIBLE!
Any suggestions?
No, lightburn does not have the control software to actually control the cricut directly.
I do not know much about the cricut software, but if it supports any of the output formwats of Lightburn (e.g. SVG), then you could design something in lightburn/inkscape and then open it in the cricut software and start only the cutting?
I’ve researched these a bit, and never went through with the purchase, because of the proprietary software you have to use, their bullshit pushy lawyers shutting down open source alternative software, and the fact that you can get a decent vinyl plotter online for the cost of a new cricut. Definitely not a company worth supporting.
That said, there are some resources online, and with the popularity of these, I’m hopeful that the community of people who modify these, write new software, etc, will stay healthy for a while.
This might be of interest: http://oscopetutorial.com/cricut/index.php?title=Main_Page
If you can score a first generation Cricket and it has not been updated to the latest firmware for it, then you can use third-party software like Sure Cuts a Lot. I have two and that is what I use for them.
I owned a Cricut for two days before returning it and buying a Silhouette instead. The company that own Cricut actually sued several software makers for offering alternatives to their software. They filed DMCA claims (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) for bypassing their “encryption”, which is a laughingly simple “decoder ring” style cipher.
I would like to make LightBurn support vinyl cutters at some point, but Cricut will never be among them for the above reasons. I would recommend returning the unit and getting a Silhouette - The software is dramatically better, runs on your local machine instead of in the cloud, and the company seems to actually like their customers.
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Rereading the Wiki, (I have had the Cricuts when they first came out and have been looking at hacking them) I realized that they are being driven by an Arduino CPU. You could easily flash GRBL on an Arduino and run the Cricut that way. Not sure you want to tear up your $300 paperweight!
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