It looks like you can control multiple lasers from the light burn software. I have been using 2 computers but to simplify it would be even better to just use one.
I have one laser that has a 14x20 bed and the other is 24x36. Is it possible to control each laser from one running software? If so, how will it work with multiple bed sizes and multiple different cameras?
do I just need to add the second USB and how do I name each laser so I know which one is which because settings will be different.
Yes, I have 2 lasers and 2 cameras running here with two instances of LB. Works fine, you just need to select the right Port+Laser+Camera in each instance when starting it.
The bed size changes automatically based on which laser you select from the device list. If you don’t want to run both at the same time, you don’t need to start LB twice.
Will it allow you to send a job to the first laser, then change the bed to the second laser and send a new job? that is kinda what I am after accomplishing, using the camera’s is a bonus for lining up jobs quickly.
If you have a laser that can take the whole job and doesn’t need it to be streamed line-by-line, I see no reason why not. But both of mine are grbl-based, so I cannot answer that with certainty.
I, probably, would still find it easier to open 2 instances of LB. That way you don’t need to switch Laser and Port and Camera all the time. LB is quite lightweight, so minimizing the instance for the laser that’s busy is no issue. I’m using a mini-PC (Atom 1.4GHz 2 core, 4GB RAM) that’s struggling with a web browser, but can take 2 LBs with no ill effects.
I got my USB extender cable and was able to get my 2436 laser plugged in. I got light burn to recognize it but when I switch to the bigger laser in the Laser tab and try to send a job to it, it stops the smaller 1420 laser and starts on that one, like it recognizes but wont send a job to one laser and then send the next job to the second. I also cannot control it for some reason.
When I select the 2436 laser and try to make it do an outline of the cut or move the head, it just does it to the smaller laser.
Any ideas?
Also when I tried to use a usb extender for the camera, it fails to connect, possibly need a powered usb cable?
You also need to select the right port the laser is connected to.
The Port is about where to send the commands, the Device is about what commands to send.
You probably don’t need a powered extension cable. Those use energy (from the device/computer they are plugged into) to power the cable length (i.e. themselves). You need a powered hub, those use energy (from a power brick) to power the connected devices.
When you set up the 2nd laser in LightBurn, you’re creating a profile for that device (to store settings, size, origin, scanning offsets, etc). To use that laser, you’d select the device profile, then also select the correct COM port. Once you’ve done that, it should remember the port choice the next time you select that device, as long as the port assignment hasn’t changed.
And yes, for the camera you’ll need a powered USB cable. USB is only rated for 5 meters (16 feet) without amplification.
