WeCreat: Using Lightburn Starter Guide

Hello,
This is how I have gotten LightBurn to control the original 20W WeCreat Vision laser directly without having to go through WeCreat’s recommended process of exporting gcode from LightBurn and importing it into WeCreat MakeIt.
Things to keep in mind, the WeCreat laser has to be connected directly to your computer via USB, the camera isn’t compatible, there is no autofocus (that I know of), the Home location on the laser bed isn’t obvious, and I don’t know anything about the rotary tool. In this guide I will be covering how to deal with the lack of autofocus, creating an offset jig so you always know where home is, and a couple other best practices.

“Cut” in WeCreat MakeIt is “Line” in LightBurn
Likewise “Engrave” translates to “Fill”

First step is to download the WeCreat config file from their website and import it into LightBurn.

Controlling Z Access
I don’t really care for the autofocus feature, it just takes extra time and sometimes fails, but manually focusing is easy enough once you know how.
First open Device Settings from the ToolBar


Under Z control Enable Z Axis and Optimize Z moves
image
Now we need to set the Z offset so LightBurn can tell the laser how far to travel on the Z-axis.
Open the window for your Layer under Cuts/Layers
Set the Z Offset (mm) to 100
It should say “In” next to the Offset, this means the laser will travel down.
image
100 mm comes from that the laser has a 40mm focal point (written on the side of the laser) and the max height of the Z axis is 140mm (this came from the WeCreat website), so it has to travel 100mm to get above the laser bed.
You may have to manually set the Z offset for every different layer.
Back under the Cuts/Layers there should be an option for Material (mm) thickness. Set this accordingly. It will offset the laser Z movement by that amount.
image

WARNING
You should absolutely test this travel distance using the manual Move Controls LightBurn has to make sure you don’t crash your laser heard. There may be variations between WeCreat machines.

Making a Home Jig
The WeCreat laser I have doesn’t have any sort of physical hard stop rails inside to accurately line up materials for processing, so I made an offset jig. Pick a firm but thin material, cardboard or 3 mm basswood works fine. Place it snug in the upper left of the laser bed.
In the LightBurn software draw a vertical line the length of the material you are using. Set it’s XPos and YPos to 0. Repeat for a horizontal line. Set the appropriate Speed, Power, Thickness, and Z Offset for the material and Cut. You Should end up with a nice L shaped jig to align things.

WeCreat Power and Speed Settings
The MakeIt Software comes with presets for cutting and engraving various materials. I find the Cut settings are much higher power and slower speed than they need to be. I try to run power as low as possible for a given task to extend the life of the laser. If your settings are too low you risk wasting material, so always test before committing to a full project run.

Better Fill/Engrave
Whenever you do a fill layer, open the settings window for that layer and TURN OFF Bi-directional fill. Bi-directional fills look terrible on the materials I have tried. Lot of residual engraving outside the lines.

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Colin, welcome to the Lightburn forum. Thank you for providing this information so soon after joining. Your title choice is good and I am sure this info will be welcomed by WeCreat machine owners.

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Sorry to step in.
Please add to your post Wecreat firmware version.
Thanks.

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I don’t seem to be able to edit the original post so I’ll add it here.
At the time this guide was written (5/2024) I had
LightBurn v 1.6.00

WeCreat:
mcu1: 000119
mcu2: 000011
Firmware: 2.0.19.005
Software: 2.0.0

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Poor results with di-directional fill usually points to either mechanical slop or missing/innacurate scanning offsets values.

For anyone who finds this and WANTS to use the AutoFocus feature, adding the following to a macro will do the trick: M130X125Y150

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Thanks for the info.
I went with the default offset values and I while the current version of the WeCreat software doesn’t offer bi-directional I believe earlier versions did, so my guess is they never figured out how to make it work well.

Thanks!
Helpful to know

Thanks for sharing, I was also trying to work the bi-directional fill issue. I don’t think its mechanical slop. So as cggorman suggested maybe inaccurate scanning offset values. Anyone know a good way to adjust/test/calibrate these?

Hello everyone!

I am new to Lighburn. I have to have a sign cut out into pieces by the end of this week. I am new here and have been watching videos and there is nothing for the WeCreat.

Also, when I had tried to download the software for Lightburn on WeCreat it only show up in Lightburn.

I would really appreciate any tips or help!

Hi Lisa,
I can try to help, but I need some more details.
Are you trying to use the LightBurn software for this project of the MakeIt software Wecreat provides?
If you’re using LightBurn you need to download the WeCreat configuration file and upload into LightBurn. You can then design in LightBurn and export a gcode file, open that in MakeIt and have the MakeIt software control the laser, or you can follow the posted guide to control the laser directly from LightBurn.
If you need more help, please let me know at what specific points you’re running into trouble.
Thanks

Steve Makes Everything (YouTube) provided an autofocus macro, seems to work well so far. Thank you for sharing!

Macro: M130X200Y150

An addition to this tip: change the numbers after X and Y to change the autofocus position :slight_smile:

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Figured out how to use the WeCreat camera in Lightburn, but it’s not for the faint of heart (or those worried about warranties);
Using WeCreate Vision Camera With Lightburn, and Why You Shouldn’t

totally a self-plug here but a less invasive way of using the camera:

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