I have an Acmer S1 engraver and my wife makes and sells jewelry. How do I save origins for different projects for when set it up at home and then travel with to shows?
BTW…I’m a newbie with lightburn, but have tried to find help on the interwebs!
Thank you.
I have an Acmer S1 engraver and my wife makes and sells jewelry. How do I save origins for different projects for when set it up at home and then travel with to shows? Also how to place the medallion in the same spot every time.
BTW…I’m a newbie with lightburn, but have tried to find help on the interwebs!
Thank you.
Posting twice won’t get a quicker answer.
If your S1 has limit switches, life will be easier. If you use Absolute Coords, then your design will be an overlay for your laser frame. In other words, where your drawing is, is where the laser will go.
If you use a fixture or part template that you can accurately position, your placements will be repeatable. Load your design, place your fixture, place your part(s), and Run the program.
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To complement @MikeyH’s answer:
If you don’t have limit switches, I would do the following:
After creating the project, I would place the “Job Origin” point in the lower left corner. Around the project, I would create a “T1” frame reserved for overscanning.
With the “Offset Shapes” tool, I would create, on a different layer intended only for this purpose, an outline that would give rise to the template.
From here, I would place the laser head in the lower left corner and place the material that would serve as the template in the same way. (Or vice versa if it’s easier)
With the “Start From” field of the “Laser” window selected as “Current Position”, I would now select only the layer intended for the template in the “Cuts/Layers” window. I would cut and the template would be done. (It’s not quite like that because you may have to create some protrusions on this layer for your fingers to fit in when handling the pieces).
After creating the template, in the “Cuts/Layers” window, I deactivated that cutting layer and I can even set it to “Do Not Show”.
Now, with only the layer intended for the project active, all that remains is to place the piece in the template and send the job to the laser cutter.
I agree with everything except this. Even if you have multiple parts in the design, I recommend using Absolute Coords all the time. My only exception is to use Current Position with the Rotary.
If you use the others, you get back into having to save start points and having parts placement issues.
You have much more experience than I do, please clarify something for me. Without limit switches, how does the controller board know where the “home” is?
The instructions I gave were based on the principle that the board doesn’t know where the “home” is. In that case, following the steps I mentioned, I don’t see how it could fail. But I could be wrong. 
The issue of the rotating system didn’t even cross my mind… 
Depends on your definition of “fail”. If you make parts later, it is very difficult to put everything back in the same exact place, luck being the key ingredient.
Technically, there is no Home without limit switches. Home is a mechanical thing and cannot be moved. Origin is a software thing, and is set at Home by the controller if you have switches. Where you power up the machine is the Origin without the switches. As you can see, it can be anywhere, and can be moved if you want.
You have to manually hold the laser where you want the Origin to be when powering up, typically in the front left corner with diode lasers. If you push it into the corner and let go, it could be pulled back by the cables.
Many people operate exactly as you do, so it cannot possibly be “wrong”. But having a fixed known starting position, Origin, makes repeatability easy. Or at least easier.
You are way past Beginner. You deserve credit for your postings. This was one of those very rare times I took exception to what you wrote. Not because it was wrong, but because I had a different opinion. 
After reading your comment, I thought: “This man knows how to choose the right words for what I wanted to say so many times” 
The way you describe the difference between Home and Origin is exemplary.
I believe there was some misinterpretation on your part or a poor description on my part, or perhaps some error in the translation.
On my part, I failed to mention that
This, or turning off and on the communication between the software and the laser machine, results in the same thing. But trying to jog down or left (diode laser) is useless because, for the controller, it’s in the Origin point. This only change after jogging up or right by LB command keys.
However, you can move the module by hand immediately after establishing communication; the controller doesn’t know you did it. (At least in my diode laser, which is the only experience I have.)
If I saw something like that happening, my concern wouldn’t be so much the precision of the laser’s location, but rather whether any cables were disconnected during operation, and I would try to correct it immediately.
I believe it’s common sense to take immediate measures to prevent this from happening, but as we say here in Portugal, “there’s a crazy person for everything.” 
I didn’t say that’s how I do it (my laser machine has limit switches that I assembled and configured myself), I meant that’s how I would do it if I didn’t have limit switches. 
Believe me, your words are appreciated.
But the way you describe things and how it works is far more advanced than mine, and that’s experience.
I´m learning with you… Thanks.
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I’d say this is just a matter of habits 
Personally, I nearly never use absolute coordinates. In my opinion, there are nearly no use cases, where this is required. The only thing I can think of is a repetitive job with many similar objects or using a camera. For every other project, using “current position”, “cut selected graphics only” and “use selection origin” is the most intuitive and fastest way of operating. Put the material into the laser, move the laser manually to the starting position (ignoring all positioning), and hit start. Works perfectly. Every time.
I also created a video about it (but it’s in German; that’s why I didn’t share it in the international communities yet)
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@Kuth thank you for the kind words. I wish I was as experienced as you think I am.
@misken, there is a saying, “If you give 10 programmers a project, you will get 10 solutions.” I just prefer Absolute because in the old days Incremental errors would magnify with each move, but Absolute errors would have the same error no matter where it went. There is also the minimizing of overtravel errors, which people without CNC experience have trouble resolving.
Yes, it is a matter of habit, driven by what made sense to them at the time.
Thank you both for responding. This was nice!
This looks like a great video. Can you dub over the audio to English?
Sometimes, YouTube does that automatically, I hoped that it does it with mine as well. But it seems, that didn’t work
I will try to translate it manually. Or does it work to turn on subtitles and have them automatically translated?
The Youtube video auto-translate, English works fine.
No worry, issue resolved! 
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WOW! You folks are awesome. I apologize for posting it twice. Your knowledge far exceeds my current level of understanding, but I think I figured it out. I do a lot of the same size medallions, so absolute coordinates work for me. Thank you very much!
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That’s usually why you call them “newbies” 
Everyone, without exception, goes through that phase. That’s why those who have been in this “business” longer are happy to help those who are just starting out!
You are welcome to ask for help; everyone who intervenes helps within the scope of their knowledge.
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Very nice and informative thread and help for a new LB/laser friend. But…
Once you have a certain production volume, “Absolute Coordinates” is the only way (in my understanding and way of using the laser) to be precise and efficient.
I can simply pull up any saved job from my project library, put a new sheet of material in the laser and press start. No moving the laser head or the material back and forth, no framing (usually).
In my opinion, this is one of the few tasks that does not “require” Absolute Coordinates, it is unclear to me why you think the opposite.
When I have very small parts that I can produce from leftovers from other jobs, I throw the leftover material into the machine, take a picture overview, position my parts and start the laser.
It’s probably a bit machine-type dependent how you see it with the positions and home.
I always get so confused when I see my buddy with a diode laser, that he constantly moves his laser head with his hand to position or just to pick up items. My laser drives home after the job is finished and starts from home 0:0 again - all jobs, I only touch my nozzle when the lens needs to be checked.
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I wrote this because the camera function requires the absolute coordinate mode to work. It doesn’t work in the other modes. So, when using the camera, using absolute coordinates is mandatory. Otherwise the calibration won’t work. So it’s only a technical requirement in this case.
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…you always learn something new…, Thanks.
It’s probably because I almost only use Absolute Coordinates that I haven’t stumbled upon it.
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