Hello. I asked a while ago about the possibility of using Lightburn to work with a StepCraft machine. I held off buying one in September 2021 because I was reluctant to lose the ability to use LightBurn. I am about to buy a StepCraft machine and I wondered if there was any progress in adding the capability in LightBurn to work with a UC100 controller. If no progress has been made or the possibility of adding this capability to work with a UC100 controller is unlikely, I will have no choice but to use different software to generate a laser toolpath. I would prefer to keep LightBurn which is a very capable and rational software. Please advise.
I think, it seems pretty clear if you use this board you will use UCCNC/Mach3 software.
I know little about these… I usually avoid proprietary hard/software combinations.
I think the problem is explained in this thread.
Good luck
Thanks for the response. I was hoping a to get a response from the developers. I asked a similar question about 21 months ago. It appeared to be possible that a version of LightBurn could be produced which would run on a UC100 controller. At that time, the development schedule was quite busy so it was not a likely that an adjustment would be made to the LightBurn code within a short space of time. We are closing in on almost two years since the issue was raised and I wondered whether it was now an item within the development roadmap or it was not an item for future development.
I could manage with a series of temporary solutions, if I thought that I would be able to use LightBurn with a StepCraft machine some day. OTOH, if the software will not be made to work with a UC100 (or similar) series of controllers, I would have to buy a separate laser machine. I would like to know what is happening so that I know where to invest my cash.
If you read the posted link, Oz is the lead developer. He did attempt a deal.
His statements indicate the people that build the UC100 controller have no intention of assisting or allowing Lightburn to develop code to talk to their board…
If the developers won’t cooperate and wish to keep it a proprietary system, that is their business decision… or their call.
Otherwise it’s known as hacking and generally considered illegal, at the least, it’s morally bankrupt.
You will have to persuade them, not Lightburn… they already tried.
I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Good luck
Thanks. I would rather keep my use of LightBurn. I will not purchase a StepCraft machine because of this issue and their refusal to cooperate with a developer that will serve their own customers well. I am not so set on using a StepCraft machine that I would readily abandon using LightBurn.
I have had a really excellent service from my use of LightBurn and I see no reason to move to a product that is not going to compete. I think the UC100 platform can utilise Vectric software but I am unfamiliar with its laser toolpath. The software from Vectric, while it may be very capable, I find the the interface to be almost pure Windows 3.11. I use Carveco Maker (which can run on a UC100) and I would readily move to Maker Plus with a new hardware upgrade.
I will await a better choice from the currently available CNC machine manufacturers.
It seems a good way to kill a good product. Why the Chinese don’t produce a cheap grbl machine eludes me since grbl is open source and free. They want you to have to run their Chinese software for some reason.
I only purchase items that are open… got taken with an apple machine, when they change processors… that’s when I went to Debian… then Ubuntu… wouldn’t have a pc if it would only run Windows… 
Never looked back…
I just wish they’d come out with a pure Linux open handheld (phone).
You can sing that! I owned a first edition Snapmaker for about 9 months and it had seemed to me to offer some great advantages when I was brand new to CNC machines but in the end, I found the work envelope far too small and limiting. It was 5 inches square for laser engraving and 3D printing and 3 inches square for CNC. Once you added clamps to the CNC mix, you often only had a work envelope of 2 inches square. The basic machine had some good features but the proprietary software was not one of them. The support was as near to non-existent as made no difference and the technical information was almost impossible to obtain.
My current CNC machine is a much modified Shapeoko 3. The usefulness was immediately enhanced by adding a JTech laser and LightBurn. This has been my goto solution for the last couple of years but I really want to add a fourth axis. The 8bit grbl controller will not support a fourth or fifth axis. Seeing a friend adding a Duet controller to replace his 8bit grbl controller has persuaded me that I do not want to add that particular 32bit 3D printer-based controller.
The StepCraft has a lot going for it in terms of hardware facilities and build quality. Forcing users to use a particular software when much better software is available is not a great sales strategy. I may have to settle for building my own CNC machine in order to get the hardware facilities I want to use. I will be certain to ensure that LightBurn will talk to whichever controller I choose.
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