I’ve read as much documentation from Lightburn, YouTube, and elsewhere, but I’m still having difficulty wrapping my head around origins, coordinates, and workspace.
I think this is the simplest way for me to describe what I’d like to accomplish, if someone could provide (or point to a link) step-by step instructions:
I want my machine’s home to be lower left. (Machine is equipped with Ruida controller with limiting switches.)
I want the Lightburn workspace (absolute origin?) to correspond with the lower left home of the machine – so that the Lightburn workspace grid represents Quadrant I of a Cartesian Coordinate system, i.e. the lower left is (0,0).
Where are the limit switches? That determines where home is. You need to match that location in software.
As far as I know that is only possible if the lower left is where your machine physically homes. Most Chinese C02 lasers (which is what your profile says you have) home to right rear.
If you reference the first image, you can see the numbers are different, so which quadrant the operations occur need to be known by the controller and the software… you can’t just swap them around.
This is also why if you tell the software the wrong quadrant (home) you get mirrored graphics.
Ahhh. Yes. The limit switches on my Chinese red-and-black (OMTECH?) are set for upper right.
But then, using my Ruida controller, could I move the laser head to the lower right, “read” those coordinates from the machine somehow, and then enter those coordinates into Lightburn as a “default” which correspond precisely to the Lightburn workspace grid?
Perhaps another way to ask this is “How to get the red and green origin indicator dots to default to the bottom left of the Lightburn workspace which correspond to the actual limits of my machine workspace?”
The reasons I want to do this are (a) it’s closer to the exhaust port, and (b) when dealing with (x,y) coordinates in Lightburn, I don’t have to try to figure them out "backwards).
Yes, it makes sense, thanks. But I still don’t know how to make this happen (imagine the green and red origin indicator dots in the upper right of the grid in this screen shot to be in the lower left of the Lightburn workspace which correspond exactly to the lower left limits of my actual machine workspace):
Sorry, you just have to do the math. Besides, your honeycomb bed is not likely set at the edge of your cut area. Mine is a fair amount bigger front to back and the right side is within the machine extent so I canot use the 0,0 position on the honeycomb.
I have a 100 Watt Omtech and have mine set up with an L shaped fence along the back edge. I actually have an interchangeable fence system with 2 L fences, one at 700, which is the extent of my machine and one at 650, which I use most of the time. That allows plenty of room for overscanning.
The simple answer is you can’t. You’d have to re-wire the home switches and reconfigure the Ruida, not that it can’t be done, it’s just time consuming and isn’t as intuitive as you would think.
If you work with using origin and/or absolute coordinates you will get over this desire fairly quick. Actually using these for a few years, I can’t really see a difference, it’s all in how you set yourself up. Why do you want 0, 0 to be at the bottom left? Sounds like more of a habit…
You shouldn’t have to figure out numbers… I never do… the software handles it fine.
Good machine airflow is critical to much of how these work, might be a good starting point.
In my mind, that means the the numbers in the “x” coordinate field should get smaller – as they would if looking in Quadrant I of a Cartesian coordinate system.
But instead, if I want to move a shape to the left (when the origin is in the upper right) I have to increase “x.”
So, if I’m going to change my mindset, it will be more like I’m working in Quadrant III rather than Quadrant I.
LOL. I think I actually watched your video this past week!
I intended “jig creation” to be one of my next projects to do after I get my honeycomb workspace “squared” with the rails and gantry and secured (after having done some disassembly for working on other parts of the machine).
I also just got a USB camera which I need to install / align with Lightburn. I’m hoping that I can get the camera and jigs all set up before the busy holiday craft season. Probably working on that this afternoon with my son (whom I supported while he was getting his engineer’s degree).
Yes, you have to think backwards when aligning in this quadrant. It took me a while to get it and I still mess up sometimes. Undo is your friend.
For my system, or any jig system to work the honeycomb (or whatever substrate) needs to be stationary. If it moves laterally, your jig moves laterally and you lose accuracy.
I thought about adding a camera, but the problem with a camera is it is only accurate at one distance. If you have different lenses you need to recalibrate the camera every time you change because the distance from the lens to your workpiece has changed. With a fence and absolute coordinates, I don’t need a camera.
I replaced my honeycomb, mainly because it made my airflow useless. A flat piece of steel has been in mine within the first week. When I replaced it, I marked positions with the laser and using a drill press drilled holes in it. I use these to align jigs.
I usually mark what the origin of the first item is, move the head there (by numbers) then press origin on the keypad. This sets user origin and I use that almost exclusively.
The honeycomb was more than hard to clean and wasn’t any better than steel sheet, add to that, it ruined the air flow and was a pain to get clean.
