Help with own laser cutter.

[Jose V]

I recently bought a cheap 1.5w laser cutter(engraver) off amazon. The problem is it uses some cheap Chinese software which is incredibly bad. I was wondering if there was a program compatible with every laser cutter? Also a way to make it so it cuts the outline of a shape and not cut from side to side? Thank You! 

Link to laser engraver: Cant find the exact link anymore but here is a similar one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071K5BPYD/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Craig]

Ok, the slow laser left/right format is the result of sending a
biit map to the laser (burn series of small dots -- lots of detail).
The fast "line format" is the result of sending a vector format
to the laser (follow set of continuous lines - larger files).
The controller board and/or supplied software may not support
the vector format directly. Eg driver may conver to gcode behind
the scenes.
I'm assuming that the intent wasnt to change an image into a
line image (eg http://www.snapstouch.com/ ;
http://wiki.evilmadscientist.com/StippleGen )
but to convert the file format from bitmap format o vector format.

One open source program used to at the space to do the
conversion is inkscape. Inkscape is a full featured, open source
raw program. Note: either the controller board for the laser, the
Laser software driver, and/or software sending the file to the laser
will need to support using the vector format.

The following is a short pick of the results from doing a google
search on "open source laser software" :

One open source program that may support sending/using the
vector format with the mentioned laser cutter is laserweb
https://github.com/LaserWeb/LaserWeb4-Binaries/blob/master/README.md
http://www.openbuilds.com/projectresources/laserweb-laser-controller-software.191/
http://hackaday.com/2016/07/17/open-source-laser-cutter-software-gets-major-update-new-features/

Lasergrbl : http://lasergrbl.com/en/

Curated list of 8 laser software programs : https://www.sculpteo.com/blog/2016/07/11/top-8-software-for-laser-cutting/

A replacement laser control system : https://redmine.laoslaser.org/projects/laos/wiki

Craig

[Jose V]

Thank you Craig!

[Craig]

Your welcome.
If all else fails as far as trying to get a driver/software to work
with what you have, can always try replacing the controler board.
Obviously, swapping out/upgrading the controler board envolves
a bit work to get things up and going.

Craig

[Craig]

Ok, posting this as something interesting to try out --
bit map as outline : http://www.3ders.org//articles/20170802-flowrep-software-identifies-curve-networks-to-sketch-3d-shapes-as-2d-line-drawings.html
Might be interesting to see if this provides an acceptable trade off
between long detailed bit map laser cuts and the large amout of
time/effort to convert/clean up a bit map to vector file conversion.

Craig

[Jose V]

Thanks for all the additional help, unfortunately non of the 3rd party programs seem to work.

[Don Smeller]

Jose,

At only 1.5 watts, this is not a laser “cutter”.    It is only a laser “engraver”.  And that’s what the words in the Amazon description say.

Apparently you are trying to get it to do something it was not intended to do, to “cut”, right?

You may get it to “cut” something really thin, paper for instance, but the edge will be charred and ragged and it’s likely to burst into flames.

Bring it down to the space, I’d like to see it.  

I can help you to learn Inkscape if that’s where you want to go.  Between GIMP and Inkscape (both are free downloads) you can learn to manipulate images, extract edges and regions of color and send the results to a laser.  I should think, even your little laser machine can be made to sing and dance if we feed it the right input.

Don Smeller

On Aug 5, 2017, at 12:12 AM, Jose V via 10BitWorks <sa-hackerspace+APn2wQddNianbYuwR...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

I recently bought a cheap 1.5w laser cutter(engraver) off amazon. The problem is it uses some cheap Chinese software which is incredibly bad. I was wondering if there was a program compatible with every laser cutter? Also a way to make it so it cuts the outline of a shape and not cut from side to side? Thank You! 

Link to laser engraver: Cant find the exact link anymore but here is a similar one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071K5BPYD/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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[Jose V]

Thanks Don, I'll bring it by next time I go to 10bitworks

[Craig]

Ok, guess it's time to start up a "creaping feature creature" fridays
in order to be able to put everything from 3d printing tuesday;
Software wednesday; and hardware thursday together in order
to attempt the unrealistic expectatiin of having a flawless
presentaion/demo for saturday. :-)
So, Jose V.'s laser engraver basic upgrade would be getting
a smoothie control board (or other control board that works with
laserweb) added to the laser engraver so laserweb worked with it.
This would also make sending vector files possible.
Perhaps swappinng out the actual laser for one salvaged from a
dvd to at least be able to cut cardboard (would need to look at
upgrading built-in protection/saftey measures if this is done)

Going for the makerspace version of home improvement project
(Aka spending the money saved with the less expensive laser
Option) :
Need to add node (https://n-o-d-e.net/pislim.html ) -- headless pi
sever to coordinate robotic arm used to select/place/remove laser
materials, web cam for viewing laser action, remote access to
laserweb software and of course the automated fire
detection/suppression system.

Craig

[Jose V]

Thanks, Yes at full power with 2 passes it will only go trough cardboard. I saw options about replacing the laser with  BluRay burner since hose seem to be stronger. If it was me I would have just bought this one: https://www.amazon.com/Orion-Motor-Tech-Engraving-Engraver/dp/B01EJDH1BO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502053340&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=laser+cutter&psc=1 but parents didnt let me sell my xbox to buy it lol

[Adam Bark]

Perhaps a CD diode laser would be your best chance as it's infrared at
least? I wonder if you can get high enough power to cut anything though.
Perhaps if you could focus many diodes at one spot but you would need to
be extremely precise and would likely need an interferometer to position
the lasers to avoid destructive interference.