Hey guys. I went to run a job today and for some reason the Shape Start Points that I set are not being used. I ran some jobs last week where I set the start points and they worked fine. I have no idea why they just stopped being recognized.
I will mention that the shapes are not grouped. I have tried every setting in the Optimization Settings dialog and nothing helps.
You can see in the photos that the arrows are set but in the preview window they are ignored. And yes the laser follows the same path as the Preview window.
What is interesting is if I open one of the files I ran last week (that the start points were working in) and Preview it, the start points are still working.
I have tried creating shapes in LB and testing the start points as well as importing vectors from Inkscape. If I create shapes in LB the start points seem to work. When I import from Inkscape they do not work. BUT the files that worked last week were imported from Inkscape so I am completely at a loss.
For one it eliminates any issues if/when the start/end points may not align perfectly (causing visible and physical laser marks), which can happen from time to time. This is why I try to start/end in a corner.
Also if you have a long skinny part similar to the ones in the example, I prefer to have them start/end in the middle of the long side so that as the laser is approaching the end position the part is not being pulled down drastically which can cause some issues. I use jigs that I built that keeps my boards flat when cutting. The boards sit 2-5" off the bed (depending on the jig) when using the jigs. A lot of times if the part is long and it starts/ends on one end it causes one side of the part to drop down first so when the cut ends the part gets wedged and the ending side sticks up out above the board which can be a huge fail if the laser happens to hit the piece when moving across the board—which happened yesterday. I keep having to pause the cuts after every piece to knock the pieces down. Pausing and unpausing causes visible lines and burn marks which is a pain to deal with. By having the part start/end in the middle of the long side then the part can drop more evenly and is less likely to stick out.
These may not sound like big issues to most, but I would rather not have to deal with them. Being able to assign a Shape Start Point is supposed to be a feature of LB. I just want to figure out how to get it to work consistently.
Not a direct solution to the initial question, though some tips:
You can use lead-in and/or lead-out to make the laser start apart from the workpiece, such you don’t have any marks on the piece itself.
In this case, using tabs would be the way to go. You can experiment how they work best, but they can be as small that they fall off when you touch it, but not as long as the laser is active.
I was not aware of the lead-in/lead-out. I will have to look into that.
The tab idea is something think about. I have not had the best luck with tabs on the laser but may do a little more testing. I haven’t tried them since I built my jigs. Now that the board is held flat they may work better.
Thanks for the suggestions. They may help until I figure out what is wrong with LB.
I am actually on 1.4. My updates expired and I have not renewed yet. I have been wondering if that may fix my issue. But it sounds like 2.0 may have some issues as well. Same type of issues?
One user is reporting the speed settings aren’t being acted upon, i.e. he inputs a speed setting, but his machine runs at a different speed. For me, it’s the power settings that aren’t being handled correctly (see picture). I’ve only updated my design PC (it’s not connected to a laser) so I’m not sure how the laser will respond to the differences between the two settings. I’m going to run the job tomorrow and see what happens. Just thought you might be having problems with the new version.
Interesting that you mention that. I noticed last week that my speeds do not seem to be going as fast as they used to at the given speeds. I thought it was just me, but maybe something is off. BUT I have been running 1.4 since it came out so I am not sure how that could change. Although the Shape Start Point always worked before too so
In the case I mentioned, his laser was going much faster than was programmed. I’ve been running LightBurn since 1.0.01 and have been renewing it ever since. I got lucky a while back and participated in an online interview with a third party reviewer (it was after their convention), and I talked about my LightBurn experience. For my time, I got a couple years of free renewals. I don’t know how I got picked, but I’m glad I did.
