I was looking for a software capable of cutting both vinyl and leather using a cutting plotter (dragknife) attached to my 3D printer. I tried various programs within a span of six days, including basic Cura slicing software, Carbide, Fusion 360 (without a drag blade feature), Inkscape, Corel Draw, LightBurn, Creality Workshop, Silhouette, DXF2Gcode, Vectric (Aspire), CamDraw, and many more that I cannot recall. Unfortunately, the mentioned software either had restricted access to the drag blade feature, or the generated G-code for my 3D printer (Creality Ender 3 V2) was not functioning properly on my printer. I assure you that I tested all of them as I had a deadline from a client.
I was seeking a software to command my printer, specifically the drag knife, to cut into leather in passes to avoid putting unnecessary strain on the Z-axis and the blade. I wanted the same setup to be used for cutting vinyl, where the plunge step into the vinyl or decal paper could be selected to 1. LightBurn software allowed me to do so, even though the vinyl cutting wasn’t entirely successful due to the absence of parameters needed to operate a drag knife (offset value). Nevertheless, the end result for vinyl cutting was approximately 90% satisfactory, while achieving 100% success for leather cutting.
I also use the same printer to print delivery addresses for my customers, as the town I reside in has only a few xerox machines and paper printers. And unfortunately, those xerox and printer owners are not kind enough to set their printer settings to the envelope size I have. With this topic, I am attaching a few images.
Also please let me know if you’re interested in this topic then I’ll upload screenshots of the settings I have for lightburn (I may not respond in time, due to the deadline I have:()
Enjoy!
