Maybe this isn’t the right forum for the question, or maybe it’s not even politically correct to ask it but…
Using an Omtech laser with Lightburn. Many users have ‘complained’ about the only feedback the Omtech provides is the ring light. Thus far, the solution has been to add the Ruida controller interface available from Amazon. It seems to me, if I already have a computer (running Lightburn) attached to the laser, shouldn’t there be some sort of emulator that can reside on the computer that would provide the same functionality as the hardware interface? Even if I need to provide an additional cable connection directly to the controller vs. just the USC interface IMO this would be preferable to having another piece of hardward that I have to mount somewhere. Again - I don’t mean to be stepping on Ruida’s toes or taking sales away from them (or Lightburn), but this seems like it could be a useful and more efficient use of the computer I already have sitting there.
Any kind of suggestion can be posted via the feature suggestions on the tool bar of this page.
The preview will show most errors if you learn how to read it.
The Ruida usually ships with a console, how much money OMTech or Gweike saved by leaving off the control panel, I don’t know but it’s resulted in lots of disappointed people with no error output provided (console) for them.
At least the Polar can add the console, as far as I know, you can’t do this with a Gweike. Never seen it done, so I assume you can’t do it to a Gweike.
There are a limited amount of these machines around, compared to dsp in general…
I doubt anything will be done here as most of us do have consoles…
Might have to hear from the Lightburn people … Maybe @JohnJohn can add to this…?
We make an effort to be transparent. The feedback you’ve offered isn’t surprising. Others have stated similar concerns.
The HMI allows you to set the UDP / Ethernet communication settings and replace the often problematic USB cable.
LightBurn can’t connect to the controller the way the HMI (Human Machine Interface) can. It’s an interesting proposition though… @jkwilborn (Jack) is right. Please post on the feature suggestion site. With the number of smooth-looking engravers with the HMI deleted, someone might find another way forward.
I’ve been in the Catch-22 situation where, we can’t connect because we can’t adjust the UDP ethernet settings and we can’t adjust the settings because we can’t connect to the engraver.
The HMI will also allow you to preview the copy of the Project that exists in memory and show any nonsense that may be related to communication errors. This is another thing that may not be emulated correctly, especially if you’re troubleshooting communications concerns.
For what it’s worth I really feel that the HMI is worth it.
I’ll have to hang a scope on the HMI on mine and see what I can see.
The gotcha is the interface between the controller (the box inside the machine) and the display (the LCD + buttons on the panel) is undocumented and built to stay that way. Looking at the number of pins, it’s likely a parallel link, rather than a serial connection, so it’s not well suited for a long cable over to a PC.
It could be as simple as a weird USB + other stuff, but figuring it out requires considerable reverse-engineering skill & effort.
Gimmicking a PC interface requires designing / building selling / at least a little bit of hardware, plus designing / building / maintaining a fairly large hunk of software. Such things have happened, so it’s not impossible.
Which makes it a matter of economics: the reason OMTech (and Gewike and their ilk) omit the display is to reduce the unit cost of their laser. How many customers who buy a relatively inexpensive laser would pay a significant fraction of the (omitted) display panel’s cost to restore that interface?
If the answer is “a lot”, then there’s a market opportunity for someone with Mad Haxxor Skillz!
