Hello I am a big fan of the print and cut start wizard feature, but I use a non-compatible firmware type which is more desirable to me than using grbl or similar over usb. (it’s Klipper for those that are curious) I was looking at how the feature works and it is apparent to me that it gets the positions from the grbl (or similar) controller over usb and I also realized that with a little modification to the start wizard program would allow users like myself to utilize the feature.
Here is what I propose; Allow the user to manually input coordinates for the target positions and allow it to output the transformed gcode to a file for me to upload to my laser cutter.
Klipper is a complicated environment compared to what most people are running for their lasers. With klipper there is a dedicated host computer running linux with MCU’s (control boards) attached to it via USB. It has an interface accessible from a web page on your local network, or on a touchscreen. it doesnt have a way to connect with lightburn to report positions. Because of klipper’s nature there is no way to connect another computer to it via usb. The LB devs could potentially dump hours of their lives into making LB work with klipper within linux to work on the same host computer but I do not see that happening in the near future as it is a daunting task for anyone.
It seems easier to do as my original post suggests which allows a manual entry of coordinates and output of the transformed gcode to file for outside use, which would allow any system to use the feature in question.
Thanks, I read how bLouChip’s method works and it seems you still need a compatible machine connected via USB to interact with LB to get positions. The problem for me with using the virtual serial port is that I can’t really work in lightburn on a headless computer, even if I did get it to connect via the virtual serial port. it’s usually a raspberry pi that I’m working with and resources are already dedicated, it usually isnt even running a desktop environment. This is why I find my feature request to be a straightforward and easy to implement solution to the problem.
How would you get the coordinates? Are you jogging it through the Klipper UI and planning to manually input them from the Klipper DRO into a text box in LightBurn?
What’s preventing you from using the coordinates that you have and manually adjusting the position in workspace to match? Maybe I’m misunderstanding the complication there.
To be clear:
Get your marker positions on the Klipper side
In LightBurn, identify the absolute coord positions in workspace that correlate to the two identified marker positions
Move entire design and align one of your targets onto one of the identified positions
Using 2-point rotate and scale to adjust the design such that the second alignment target is oriented to the second identified marker in step 2
In step 2 of his instructions, when I try to snap the design shape to the laser pointer using the tool “Move to Laser Position” the artwork is snapped to the center of the work area no matter what coordinates I move the laser crosshairs to. Maybe I’m misunderstanding how to perform this step?
I should have been more clear. You won’t be able to follow the instructions verbatim since you won’t be getting position directly from the laser. You’ll need to handle those steps manually.
So identify position on the laser, then create a temporary shape in workspace that represents that position and place it accordingly using the numeric edits toolbar. Do that for each mark on the material.
Then use those temporary markers as proxies for the laser position at the targets on the material.