I hope I didn’t overlook the answer someplace but I simply can’t figure out how to get the minimum height from when selecting a Lightburn camera.
I have an OMTECH 80w with a 20x28 bed (500mmx700mm).
Where do I start my measurement from to find the minimum height? The bed is adjustable so do I lower the bed to as far as it goes to the bottom and measure from the honeycomb to the ceiling?
Thanks in advance,
Brian
JMichael - Thank you for your help!
I understand that the camera is in a fixed position and my Laser head does not move but the bed of my laser moves in the Z position and that is precisely what is confusing me. It’s not a fixed height.
In the image below from the “Camera Selection Help” in Lightburn, the red boxes indicate the “Minimum mounting height” but where do I get this measurement from if the bed is adjustable under the laser?
Is this taken from the bed of the laser moved to the lowest point to the inside lid? this is about 19.5".
If I do the opposite and bring the bed all the way up to the Laser head it’s about 10" to the lid (I am assuming this is wrong).
So I think I need the bottom camera in the list “8mp N120” but I’m not 100% sure.
Sorry for my confusion.
Brian
Remember that regardless of the table height, whether you have a thin piece of ply or the lid of a box, the surface you are cutting/engraving will be generally the same, the focal point. Of course this could change somewhat depending on the lens you are using but in general terms, measure the height of the camera from the surface of your material with the focal point set.
The other thing to consider if the camera will be mounted on the lid is if you will be using the camera to capture images with the lid open or closed. The distance will be very different depending on your answer.
@ WoodpeckersHomeDecor
The image below is from the Camera help section in Lightburn.
I was assuming they meant the placement was centered with the lid closed. You mentioned, “using the camera to capture images with the lid open or closed”. I did not consider using the camera on the lid with it open. Maybe that’s my confusion considering my Laser head’s focus point is about 10" to the lid when closed and there is no 10" minimum mounting height option but with the lid open it’s about 25".
Based on your profile it sounds like we have similar machines except mine is an 80w R/B. Where did you place your camera and which camera did you go with?
Thanks,
Brian
My wife’s and my laptops and a desktop computer in the office connect to our OMTech 100w r/b wirelessly so I used a cheap wireless camera I bought on Amazon. I have it mounted near the front bend in the lid and leave the lid open until ready to run the job.
Since you don’t want to run jobs on the laser without someone nearby or process it to remove the job just completed, then place whatever material or scrap we’re using for next next job on the bed and set the focus.
Whomever is designing that day uses Lightburn to grab the bed photo and places the design on the material and moves the head into position. Since you can frame with the lid up you can check the positioning from within Lightburn and when everything is right, send (not start from Lightburn) the job to the laser.
Normally the other of us is either working or painting in the garage so via a wireless intercom that person is told the job is loaded and ready to go. That person then closes the lid and presses the start button on the controller.
This has been working well for us and the inside person can watch the job run in real time from wherever they are. Make sure the camera can autofocus if you want to do this as the distance is quite different.
By opening a couple ports on the router it would even be possible for the design person to do this away from the house, from say the Starbucks or even another city while traveling. We haven’t had a need with Covid, so haven’t tried it.
And hadn’t thought about this but I could even let my grown kids and my teenage grandkids send jobs and be able to watch them cut. All of them already use Lightburn and other programs to design projects and current I have them email me the lbrn file and I run it for them between our jobs and since the camera I used has some GoPro capabilities I sometimes, especially for the younger kids, record the laser running their job at 4X or 8X and email them the video.
I might look into opening the video ports and that way they can watch the laser run anytime we are running jobs, whether theirs or not.
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