Scanning offset adjustment fields

LightBurn Software Questions
1

Hi I was reading the links in the help files trying to set up scanning offset and run into a few questions no found in the help docs.

  1. the image shown for device settings has changed (the columns are now “line shift” and" initial offset") could we get an update on that to better describe what we should use each column for?
  2. when I measured the offset and input the numbers the issue got exponentially worse. Should I be using negative numbers or do I just guess random numbers?
2

“Line Shift” is how much to shift each line relative to the one before it. “Initial Offset” is how much to shift the entire engraving left or right, to align it with vectors. It’s rare that you need the Initial Offset values.

There are two things that cause scanning offsets: power supply lag and mechanical slop (backlash).

Power supply lag means that the controller tells the power supply to fire, and a millisecond or two later, it does. If you’re scanning at 500mm/sec, a two millisecond delay would be a millimeter late. For this you would use negative numbers to tell the software to start the scan earlier than usual.

Backlash is mechanical slop or looseness in the motion platform that needs to be “taken up” when you reverse direction by moving some extra amount. For this you would use positive numbers to tell the system to start scanning later than usual.

1 Like
3

Thanks for the info. That’s very helpful!