How do people use the camera( workflow )?

I’m thinking of how I will mount my cameras on my lasers and it seems the workflow really dictates how the camera is mounted.

For example, if the camera image is used to position the material then the camera would need to be mounted to operate with the laser cover open and with full access to the work area/material.

If the camera image is commonly used to align the design to the material then after the material is placed, the lid can be closed and the design manipulated into position on the material as seen by the camera.

There is also the idea that the camera captures the image once and after that the camera can be removed or moved.

So what are people doing for workflows with the camera?

Place material
take photo
square up material as needed
position based on photo
run frame (just a good habit, I think) to make sure it’s where you think it is…
run job.

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@Bigjohn so I see from this there might be repeated adjustments to the material in order to “square up material”. Maybe defects in the material or irregular shaped pieces would prevent using references in the bed/workarea to do this. Interesting. It is probably best to not have to rotate your design much, if any, to match a misaligned material placement…

So this is definitely a ‘vote’ for an operational camera with the door/lid open.

For what it’s worth, I think that is THE primary use-case. When Thunder or Boss or someone pre-installs the light burn camera that’s ‘how’ it’s done, so it captures the bed when the lid is up… so I’m guessing that’s how it’s designed to be used. It captures a static image, though there is a camera window where you can watch your laser move back and forth if you like while the job is running…

I’ve seen people manipulate their lid so that the camera works when the lid is closed and would not even be looking at the bed when open. But this seems like a narrow use-case and would require lots of lid opening and closing if there were any alignment adjustments needed.

I guess if always using new stock and being able to line up edges to cutting area edges…

Thinking of how I’ve done things without the camera, I often frame something and adjust the material to match the framing outline. So you’re workflow would match what I’d done and mean the camera should be mounted for use with the lid open to make quick work of alignment adjustments of the material. We’ll see if anyone does it differently and posts. Thanks for the feedback.

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