Commercially available laser controllers

[fullspeceng]

Thanks for getting it done to compare results! I am excited to see apples to apples on the same image. Now we need to run the same image on an Epilog or Universal

Looks not too bad!

My comment is the areas where it is supposed to be flat are uneven.

The lower resolution DPI clearly shows jagged edges on lines that is supposed to be flat.

At the very center there is face. Look to the right side of the dinosaur between the teeth. Look how clean the image is on our raster compared to the uneven marking on yours. Now look to the right of that to the arrow. The edge of the arrow is not straight. All the areas that are black should be the same consistency but it is not on your raster.

Here is ours in comparison.

This takes about 10mins at 1000dpi on our $1625 laser. All you do is double click to "Engrave" button. No other prep needed

[lasersafe1]

I see what you mean and I agree. The conversion algorithm is losing info in my controller. Still, I've already spent the money on it, so it's difficult to fork out more for your controller.

I just did a scan of the engraved cut on my flatbed scanner at 1200dpi. It is too large to post the whole image, but here is the area you were talking about.

[fullspeceng]

Don't worry about it - yours is pretty good (but as we said before, ours is better). We can send you one of our controllers for free if you spend time taking some photos of stuff you make for our brochure We need people like you that can spend time testing to get perfection. Email us for details.

[lasersafe1]

Well that sounds like an offer I can't refuse... Thanks! I'm going to start a new thread in the software section about the ART preparation. I'm sure you will be able to help out greatly with the image processing.

[macona]

Layers looks good. Appears to be almost identical to lasercut but can't see anything that makes it superior. Is there a limit to the amount of layers?

How does the unlock disable the drives? Is there an enable line to the steppers?

Also it appears that the computer can now control laser power?

You say the cuts are more even. What does that mean?

A simple motor tuning interface like mach's would make a world of difference. Even oem's are not going to want to hand edit an XML for every machine. As you say, finding the sweet spot for a machine takes time. Even a rudimentary XML editor would be nice.

Homing and limits are not advanced features. These are basic necessities that all cnc machines need to have to reduce the chances of mechanical damage.

[lasersafe1]

one thing I forgot to confirm. What is the size of the Full Spectrum Laser engraving shown? My engraving is 2.5" across. If the Full Spectrum is 4" across then we still aren't comparing apples.

[dirktheeng]

Hey... I wonder if we could convince Mark to give us the code for his controller so we can add the functionality that we want. We've got some good programmers on this forum including myself who would like to work on it. As for myself, I would be willing to share what I develop. I like the full spectrum stuff, but there is added functionality there that we could really use. As I understand it, the hardware is capable, but the time to get the software working is limited at full spectrum. They are focusing on getting OEM and their own laser system developed first, which I can't blame them for. Their goal is to make money, not serve our needs/desires. I think we could make some good progress doing this ourselves and it would be fun.

[Tweakie]

Hi Guys,

Just thought you might like to see another comparison. This is 90mm diameter and was laser cut into Traffolite (engraving laminate) using the Mach3 impact engraving plugin. Not quite up to the resolution that LS1 is getting still I may just try it again with some wood, using a smaller stepover and see what happens.

Tweakie.

[lasersafe1]

Actually that looks like higher resolution than my last run. Notice the stripes at the tip of the arrow. True, it is a little larger. 90mm instead of my 63mm. Looks good. I'm glad to see people are getting the Mach3 laser plugin to work. It would seem that plugin is the place where some smart programmers could try to make more improvements. I understand that Art released the code for anybody to try to improve.

[Tweakie]

Sounds like a challenge for dirktheeng. Hows your C++ Dirk ?

The Mach plugin is open source and can be downloaded from the Artsoft website complete with the source code http://www.machsupport.com/plugins.php
Some work has already been done, to correct for the aspect ratio problem, but there is lots still to do.

LS1 - I will make the next one 63mm for a better comparison with your work but it is really the FSE I would like to compare with. What is the diameter of theirs I wonder ?.

Tweakie.