Thankfully with LightBurn, the process is almost exactly the same. The only key difference, is that the contour/box outline in ezcad would just be a checkmark on the hatch settings; with LightBurn, the contour is done via a sublayer. This can be done quickly by just double-clicking on the layer in the cut/layer window at the top right, and selecting the + button to add a sublayer, or next to it is a duplicate current sublayer button where you can make the second sublayer a line. As a line, it would just run an outline around the perimeter, just like a the contour box would :) We cover doing it live (Kyle and Matt do it together, using their identical Co2 Galvo's. If you like the more casual style of doing it live and troubleshooting, that's in our Live section of our channel and should come up if you search our channel for Timing Hope that helps!
@@LaserEverything clear as mud to a newbie like me. So draw a box, open the cut settings window, leave the box as a line and add a sublayer line - does the line get drawn by default or how do i get a line to appear? also change the laser off to 1000, create another box and sub layers and change the laser off to 500...?
It is *almost* there in LB but when you hatch something, it doesn't like the shape like EZC3 does. Though it doesn't do timing, check out the new Galvo config under Laser Tools in the latest Lightburn.
I just wanted to say that as a first time fiber laser owner ( 60 watt Mopa Jpt), this video is such an invaluable piece of information to me! I can't thank you enough for taking the time and effort to put this out there ! So thank you for this and all the other great vids! Huge fan of you and the channel, and keep up the great work!
I am not sure how you have only 20k subs. by chance every time I have googled a laser question since beginning my fiber laser quest your videos keep coming up, and contain the most accurate and comprehensive information on many diverse topics within lasering. Thanks a lot, you're a great help!
This video is a life saver. I just bought my 4th galvo and frankly never had to deal with this before as my others worked flawless with the provided cor files i had. I was stumped on what was happening and this corrected all my issues. You're the best!
Brilliant! So clear and helpful. Indispensable. I didn't realize how much information I would need to optimize my 60W mopa, and you have succinctly presented a TON of great insight and instruction that would probably have taken hours just to locate -- in much less usable form. The whole crash course package is truly a masterpiece of technical instruction without the confusion so many instructors can't get beyond. This is really impressive work, and I thank you for all the effort, thoroughness, and clear thinking that had to go into composing and presenting so much material so beautifully.
I don't know what to say Alex. This is hands down the best timing tutorial video i've seen. Very detailed and clear. This is why I support your channel... Awesome work..
You say at the beginning of the video that things are going to get confusing, but then you explain them in a way that they are not. Your videos on galvo lasers are by far the best (and most thorough) on the internet. They help me tremendously. Thank you.
I'm new to the laser world and I was finding all those settings very confusing, and didn't know what they were for. After watching this video in its entirety I have a good understanding of all that now. I thought it was just get the laser and go. Thank you for all the information you have provided, this lecture was a God send!
Extremely helpful and thorough video. Thank you for this one! I thought I was content with the timing values I had dialed in previously, but now after watching this video I’m gonna have to go back and take another look at them.
Thank you for this great tutorial. But in my case it only engraves the middle lines of the rectangle if I set the line spacing to 2mm. I suspect that this has to do with the "Mark Contour" setting (05:27), which I probably didn't set. I work with Lightburn. Can someone tell me briefly where I can find this “Mark Contour” setting in Lightburn. Thank you in advance Sandro
If you double click on the layer to see the details of the layer, you can add a sublayer at the top right with the + button, and make sure that sublayer is set as a line. set your power speed and frequency, and that'll be your contour :)
Only you Alex to make so useful and full guide about timing setup. This is essential for people who have just acquired a marking machine and even for pro guys.
I just bought my first Fiber laser and I will be doing everything in this video as soon as it gets here. Awesome video def joining the discord! And also picking up a microscope too...
When you get it we have a playlist on the main channel page called "Lasers 101" that walks you through literally every step of getting your galvo laser setup, this video included. Don't skip it!
Gotta Love your stuff 👌👌👌 Just got a JPT 60 watt MOPA Totally overwhelming Your videos keep the headaches to Minimum BUT I have figured out to do my NWT with fiber
Thank you SO much!! I tried to just plug it in and use it, and although I got good results, it wasn't perfect. I was changing things, and they weren't giving the expected change in output. Followed this and now my photos on anodized aluminum look like photos. Guess I know that I'll need to actually do the proper calibrations in the future. Thanks again
Awesome thank you so much. I just bought a new diode module and have been struggling to dial everything in with engraving images. Can't wait to get home now and start adjusting!
Unless it's a galvo diode laser running on Ezcad or LightBurn they likely do not offer you the ability to adjust these values. Most galvo diodes on the market right now use proprietary software and that software is usually really limited when it comes to tuning. If you're using a gantry laser, this tutorial does not apply to you at all and you can safely skip it.
Excellent video thank you! I used this with LightBurn to dial in my timing. One gotcha that burned some time for me is that for the timing settings to be meaningfully visible, you need to set the Speed to 1000mm/s. LightBurn defaults to 100mm/s so I made a couple test cards and couldn't tell a difference at all before I figured out what was going on.
Related: since you've demonstrated that the same settings are probably valid up to ~4000mm/s, would it make more sense to run these tests at even faster than 1000mm/s? If the speed is faster, couldn't you see more of a difference between the timing values and be able to dial in the perfect values even more precisely?
Thank you for the professional instructions. (and the video, as a hobby video editor, I appreciate how much work was put in to producing such a video) 👍 Found your video for Lightburn all device settings also, Great!
Wow... Alex. That was an insane amount of work. The value is huge. Thanks for putting in all that work. I will be tweaking every last bit to make my 10K+ investment the best it can be. Thank you again for all the effort. Matthew (CSH)
Great video! Everything was clearly explained, and the tests make perfect sense. Do you have similar explanations for Freq and Pulse-width? I glanced at your videos (after subscribing), but nothing jumped out. I just bought a 60W ComMarker b4 MOPA so more information is better.
I would LOVE to see this revisited with the new Lightburn. Unfortunately a lot of what EZC3 does just doesn't work the same way with LB. The hatch doesn't make a box, just lines, so it's REALLY hard to tell the start/stop numbers.
Thankfully with LightBurn, the process is almost exactly the same. The only key difference, is that the contour/box outline in ezcad would just be a checkmark on the hatch settings; with LightBurn, the contour is done via a sublayer. This can be done quickly by just double-clicking on the layer in the cut/layer window at the top right, and selecting the + button to add a sublayer, or next to it is a duplicate current sublayer button where you can make the second sublayer a line. As a line, it would just run an outline around the perimeter, just like a the contour box would :) Hope that helps!
In theory you shouldnt have to but the reality is each lens has its own distortions that will aggravate the corrections being made. Ultimately at the very least confirming the settings may be a good choice.
The hatch settings for the jump delay settings are very unclear to me. Can you please elaborate the hatch settings for this test, starting at around 18:00? Preferably for Lightburn
hello sir alex ive been watching you since i operate this ezcadlite 500 and you been great help thanks a lot. just want to ask somethng i have a problem with my marking machine the markings did not correspond with my input size and red sign it decrease it size when i start to mark it please help me
First and foremost GREAT Video, very informative. I almost have my MonPort GA 100 dialed in. The laser OFF TC in lightburn is not allowed to be negative. Anyone have suggestions to overcome this ?
Thank you very much for the video. I have a question when I'm cutting metal most of the time when starting the laser gives as a small jumps stops cutting some areas and then already cut in a smooth manner. What is the reason for that. I have a 50w fiber laser
Without seeing anything, you may have a problem with your artwork. This is going to be very tough to diagnose on TH-cam comments. Join our Facebook or discord for more help, link is in the description.
Amazing video guys thank you so much. The timings on lightburn are named a little differently: laser on tc laser off tc end tc polygon tc so there is no start tc. can I assume start tc = laser on tc?
Great video! I read your comments below regarding "LightBurn does not generate contours around vectors automatically." Should I just make a box in Lightburn, set to Fill, adjust the line interval to 2mm (no cross-hatch) and then add a sub-layer that is set to "line"? Will this give me the "box" and "lines" required to follow along and calibrate the laser? Oh yeah...should I disable Bi-Directional Fill or does that not matter? Thanks!
100%, that's exactly it! Only generate 1 object, and add a line sublayer and it will act as a contour. bidirectional or unidirectional is fine, you just need to know what you're looking for. unidirectional will put all the starting points on one side, and ends on another. bidirectional will alternate start/end in the case that might be easier for some people to compare/see results. Its preference, just gotta know which is which and what you're looking for, given the above details. Kyle and Matt did this live for the matching pair of Co2 galvo's they got on live stream a few months ago too if you wanted to see how they did it. Same process as this, just live troubleshooting and working through tuning. th-cam.com/video/Zp14-HpVKUs/w-d-xo.html&pp=ygUaY28yIGdhbHZvIHRpbWluZyBhbmQgZGVsYXk%3D
Thanks so much for this video Alex! I'm trying to set up in lightburn but it doesn't seem to want to etch the outline of the boxes, just the 2mm hatch (so 4 lines per box). Do I just need to create another layer for the outline?
Glad you’re getting value from it! With lightburn, we don’t get a checkbox for contour like we do in ezcad. You don’t need to add a whole new layer, but if you double click on the cut/layer, you can add a line sub layer using the same power/speed. The + button at the top right, or button next to it to duplicate the sub layer and change it to a line will get you going with that :)
Use the standard (non bi-directional hatch at zero degrees. The only real difference should be the fact that you're looking at DPI/Interval instead of line distance. Your interval should still be around 1-2mm. Make sure flood fill and cross hatch turned off. Otherwise it should really be the same process. I'll double check the next time I'm at my machine and if needed I'll publish an update.
I have this problem in lightburn. I follow the instructies but I just get horizontal lines, even the tekst next to the 'box' are just some horizontal lines. I try really hard to find the solution but I'm lost here. I have mode:fill , bidirectional fill off, crosshatch ( it's called raster here ) off , lineinterval 2mm, lines per inch 12.700, angle 0°, angleingcrement 0.0 , any help is welcome
The settings are going to depend on a combination of your wattage, but also the lens size you work with. Smaller lens have much better density, which means less power is needed. Larger lens will require more. If you use an aluminum business card, I suggest only using enough power to mark the surface gently to get to the metal. If you overpower it, it will make it hard to see the fine details you are tuning to improve.
Hey, since Lightburn has uses these settings as global, what speed should we use to make these adjustments? Will LB adjust the settings automatically when you go up in speed?
If you find you need to make adjustments for high speed settings you can override the timing on a per setting basis in the cut setting menu. For speeds up to 4000mm/s the global settings should be fine for most marks and you shouldn't have to edit them regularly.
Just when I thought I was getting my machine dialed I start noticing issues in my engravings and now I see there’s all this timing stuff. Is this going to affect my other settings in my library like my colors for stainless? Or will this mostly give crisper edges?
How do I get a box to engrave around the four lines in Lightburn? I'm pulling my hair out! All I get is four horizontal lines and no box around them for reference.
Alex - Will LightBurn you are demonstrating in this video serve in place of EZCAD2? I use the latter to operate a 3W UV laser and it t is frustrating. BTW, are you using and demonstrating the trial version of LB in this video?
I enjoyed your information on setting up the fiber laser. I have a MOPA and Just got it setup and did a test burn. I ask Cloudray for some information on settings for frequency for different colors and they are sapost send me material parameters. I hope you will do some test burns on different materials as it would sure help me get started.\ Thanks, Rick
On the Jump Delay card you said that you set the hatch to .02 line spacing. Did you mean .2mm or am I confusing settings? If I mark at .2mm it appear to be even finer of a hatch than what is on your card in the video. I think I finally have everything honed in to peak performance. For Jump settings I ended up not seeing much effect and went with the manufacturers recommended settings at 4000 sp 200min 400max which seemed to match up well with your findings as well.
AWESOME video, setting mine up now. I have 3 lenses. A 110, 220 and a 300 on a 50W JPT. Does it matter what size lens to use, or is it all universal since it's the galvo and not the lens? Also, what wattage machine are you using in the video? Thanks for any help sir!
Best I can figure, once you have timing down it has to do with firing the tube which shouldn't be affected by the lens. Lens will change power/speed/intervals. At least that's my understanding.
This video does a pretty good job describing the differences in the different lens field sizes, if you haven't seen it I highly recommend it: th-cam.com/video/I_M19yy4G9g/w-d-xo.html
LightBurn (for Gantry) and Diode lasers have a completely different timing process unrelated to this one which you're able to do right inside LB itself. We have a video covering how published as part of the LB for Gantry Crash Course available free right here on the channel. LB for Galvos users however, MUST access a copy of ezcad, preferably one that came with their machine, in order to run through this timing process as LB does not currently support NATIVE lens corrections.
LightBurn does not generate contours around vectors automatically. In order to reproduce this you'll need a separate layer or sublayer set to cut with the appropriate settings to mark the contour of the shape.
Hello, The other time my ezcad got out of configuration and now there is a margin of error with the measurements. Where in the program can I fix that? I have used the guide that my supplier sent me to set up the machine but I still have the problem. For example in the program I draw a circle of 5 mm and when I mark it has 4.7 mm :(
Hello Alex, my mas os Miguel from Portugal, thank you for your work. I am preparing to buy a laser fiber machine for marking stainless steel jwelery. Could you advise me some machine. Thanks
The 30w or 50w JPT LP units from Mactron would be perfect for this. You can read more about them on the buying guide: www.lasereverything.net/buyingguide
Timing only really effects galvo lasers. Diode and CO2 lasers have a scanning offset adjustment that does something similar (but different) that needs to be addressed.
I have a question? Is there a way to deal with timings at different engraving speeds? Settings at 2000mm/s are not working with 4000mm/s Or just picking a speed to engrave with it all the time? Any advice would be great!
If you're doing significantly higher speeds like at 4000mm/s vs a more typical 500-1500 range, it might be good to have a second set of timings for the 4000 speed. You can have individual timing settings per parameter in ezcad, and in Lightburn you can as well by using the override on the layer details screen. I find running a timing test at ~2000 speed is good for anything up to or around that, but once you start exceeding 3000 speed, it tends to need a little more time to settle the lenses. Most setups just don't often need to hit those speeds for the material to be effectively marked, unless it's a lot of pmags/polymer marking. Most metal engraving is much slower unless you have a higher wattage laser than average, but you can totally have multiple timings set and is a good way to handle that. Having a base timing for common mark settings overall, then override for the couple of VERY high speed ones is how I'd likely handle it.
@@LaserEverything Thank you very much for the detailed answer. I literally discovered override settings option yesterday 😅 It banged me immediately. Because i did my timings for 4000mm/s, but with these setting I got aometimea noticeable ghosting/blurring on some texts at slower speeds. First I thought that if we set lasers max possible speeds, then we can use them for lower speeds too 😂 🙏 Thank you again! ✌️
I tried to draw same test file in lightburn, unforcenetly it works totaly different than on your video with ezcad. Is it possible to share file, or somehow explain how to do that in lightburn please ?
In lightburn, you would create a sublayer (the plus button at the top right of the layer pop-out window) and set the sublayer to line. There isn't a checkbox for contour in lightburn like there is in ezcad, so that's something we need to specify as a sublayer explicitly. We have an example of this with Matt & Kyle doing this live when they were setting up their Co2 Galvo's together. Here's the link if you wanted to watch them go through the process of doing it for 2 identical systems with very different results: th-cam.com/users/liveZp14-HpVKUs
This video should be included on a flash drive for every new machine. My machine's jump delay settings were way off. The timing and delay were off marginally. Thanks, Alex.
We do our best to help, glad you got value from it! Often times, manufacturers don't tune for timing/delay since they used to be traditionally set per parameter (based on the speed setting impacting them), so if you had a setting that used 1000mm/s speed, it would have a potentially very different timing/delay set to a parameter that used 5000mm/s. Lightburn consolidated it to a the device profile as a global setting instead of per parameter, and allows for overriding it individually if needed which is nice.
Any machine that projects it's beam through an f-theta lens onto a workspace with galvo mirrors is a galvo laser. Both of your fibers, CO2 galvos, and UV lasers are all great examples of galvo lasers.
Thanks ver much Alex I was getting confused hearing you talk about Galvo lasers. Now I understand. Just need to inbox my new JPT and learn ezycad 3😂😂 Thanks again for all your utube training videos.
Is there a video for this in just lightburn? I am trying to follow the directions but it won't fire correctly. It only makes 4 lines instead of a box, and at only does tips of the text.
Not a concise video (yet), but we did a livestream where we discussed how we did this in lightburn with our Co2 galvos (Kyle and Matt together). Not a short stream, but skip around if you have the time to the parts where they specifically do timing and delay. It's very similar, you just need to remember to add a sublayer as a line to get the outline shape, otherwise you'll just have horizontal lines and no enclosed box. th-cam.com/video/Zp14-HpVKUs/w-d-xo.html
Dumb question, but for Jump Delay, scan angle of 0? Im on LB, trying really hard to see the differences, also what font? Maybe that will help me see easier.
It's a good question! Scan angle of 0 is good (you want the scan angle to be going across the letters as it fills them, so it jumps from one letter to the next). Font doesn't make a huge difference. To see the difference a bit more easily, go from one extreme to the other, high/low, using a relatively fast parameter for marking (not crazy fast, but maybe 1500-2000 speed). It should help give you a better idea of what isn't working well vs what is and make it easier to tune.
Speeds can impact it a bit. Generally, when doing timing and delays, the tests will be valid for a pretty typical range of speeds that would commonly be used. If you really push the speed frequently (for example, 3000mm/s or higher) where a more common speed would be under 2000mm/s, it can cause discrepancies to appear and you may need to have a high speed and low speed timing/delay values. Ezcad has these built into each parameter, and lightburn has an overall machine value for this but you can override it on the parameter individually if it varies from the rest of your parameters.
Do these settings need to be set for each different lens? Say I set them on my 210mm lens, if I use my 110mm lens I will have to change the default settings again correct?
Good question! Yes and No. For the VAST majority of use cases, the timing/delay values will be very close, if not identical between lenses, mostly and with an asterisk. For anyone who likes to know the WHY, I'll dig into the gritty details further. Comparing across 8 different lenses & sizes on the same laser, I found that for me at least, everything from 110 up to 300 was within a very close margin (and required no change on on/off/polygon). Once I had a tuned value for one lens, and retested on other lenses, it was close enough where it didn't need adjustment and could carry the values forward. Moving down to my 70mm lenses (2 of them), the values weren't far off, so still served as a good starting point, but I did need to adjust my laser on/off values a bit because there was a noticeable (in plain site) difference and was clearly off a bit. TLDR: At the moment, I would say once you've tuned for one lens, you should be able to likely utilize that for other lenses in likely most cases. You could run a single quick box just to validate its good, and in a worst case it might need minor adjustment and still get you into the rough ballpark as a starting point.
@@LaserEverything So i set my 110mm lens up and got it engraving nicely, I put in my 175mm lens and the settings were not even close to what I had set my 110mm lens to, and it didnt engrave text very well, they didnt change from what they were to start with. I changed the settings for all my lenses to match the 110mm lens settings.
@@ChargerDude70 ,Yep you got it, no response. Have not delved further as these timings do not seem super crucial to me at the moment. I will hit Lightburn support when I do, I have found them very helpful previously.
@@damianmaloney5535 I’ve tried every way to Sunday to see what those settings do in LB but only difference I seem to get is when I change the start value, nothing on the stop seems to do anything. I’ve put 1000 in there thinking it doesn’t care if it’s a negative value. Still can’t get it to stop short of the Y vector line
@@ChargerDude70 I definitely saw a difference when changing values. One 'thing' is that mine seems to start the ladder box bottom right not bottom left as described, this led me to believe that the horizontal lines are beginning on the right also, I could not reduce the start delay to a point where I had them start on the vertical line, always a very tiny gap, this is why I wanted to go into negative but could not.
We have a support forum on our website, free discord and free facebook group where we offer support, so that's the best place to ask questions if you're looking to have them answered quickly.
I don't even own a laser machine and yet I watched most of your laser videos! ..... No, I'm not wasting my time... It's, "aspirational", because maybe I'll get a laser someday! Lol 😂
Glad you're liking the content so much! I hope you're able to get a laser someday. Maybe start with a smaller diode laser - they're much more affordable and much smaller. Great for beginners and hobbyists that want to dip their toes in the water!
Hi Alex Thank you very much for these informative videos about what you do. On your Free Starter Laser Settings Packs page you say that you should take a screenshot of your timing values on galvo lasers, which of course I didn't do. Now my question. I saw that you also have an EM-Basic 2R in your possession. Can you please send me the original settings for Ezcad 2 and Lightburn via a screenshot. I also wrote you an email if that was easier. Thanks a lot in advance.
Sorry for the delay! The timing/delay values will often be completely different from one laser to the next (even the same model. We tested this with Kyle and Matt's matched pair of Co2 Galvo's).
how do you do the box test at the beginning at the video in lightburn ?
Thankfully with LightBurn, the process is almost exactly the same. The only key difference, is that the contour/box outline in ezcad would just be a checkmark on the hatch settings; with LightBurn, the contour is done via a sublayer. This can be done quickly by just double-clicking on the layer in the cut/layer window at the top right, and selecting the + button to add a sublayer, or next to it is a duplicate current sublayer button where you can make the second sublayer a line. As a line, it would just run an outline around the perimeter, just like a the contour box would :)
We cover doing it live (Kyle and Matt do it together, using their identical Co2 Galvo's. If you like the more casual style of doing it live and troubleshooting, that's in our Live section of our channel and should come up if you search our channel for Timing
Hope that helps!
@@LaserEverything clear as mud to a newbie like me. So draw a box, open the cut settings window, leave the box as a line and add a sublayer line - does the line get drawn by default or how do i get a line to appear? also change the laser off to 1000, create another box and sub layers and change the laser off to 500...?
can you do this video with lightburn im lost
It is *almost* there in LB but when you hatch something, it doesn't like the shape like EZC3 does. Though it doesn't do timing, check out the new Galvo config under Laser Tools in the latest Lightburn.
I just wanted to say that as a first time fiber laser owner ( 60 watt Mopa Jpt), this video is such an invaluable piece of information to me! I can't thank you enough for taking the time and effort to put this out there ! So thank you for this and all the other great vids! Huge fan of you and the channel, and keep up the great work!
Thanks so much for your kind words, I'm glad it's been helpful!
@@LaserEverything sorry, I may have missed this but what watt machine were you using for these parameters? Thanks in afvance
100w jpt mopa brand new here I feel the exact same after watching this
This is such a good video! Thank you for taking the time!
Glad it was helpful!
I am not sure how you have only 20k subs. by chance every time I have googled a laser question since beginning my fiber laser quest your videos keep coming up, and contain the most accurate and comprehensive information on many diverse topics within lasering. Thanks a lot, you're a great help!
So glad I could help out 😎 thanks for watching!
He's awesome, but it's a small community!
This video is a life saver. I just bought my 4th galvo and frankly never had to deal with this before as my others worked flawless with the provided cor files i had. I was stumped on what was happening and this corrected all my issues. You're the best!
Glad you're getting your lasers back on track! Sometimes those little timing things can be tricky to figure out.
Brilliant! So clear and helpful. Indispensable. I didn't realize how much information I would need to optimize my 60W mopa, and you have succinctly presented a TON of great insight and instruction that would probably have taken hours just to locate -- in much less usable form. The whole crash course package is truly a masterpiece of technical instruction without the confusion so many instructors can't get beyond. This is really impressive work, and I thank you for all the effort, thoroughness, and clear thinking that had to go into composing and presenting so much material so beautifully.
Thanks so much for the kind words. We do our best ^^
I don't know what to say Alex. This is hands down the best timing tutorial video i've seen. Very detailed and clear. This is why I support your channel... Awesome work..
So happy to hear that John, thanks for the wonderful compliment! Glad it helped you!
You say at the beginning of the video that things are going to get confusing, but then you explain them in a way that they are not. Your videos on galvo lasers are by far the best (and most thorough) on the internet. They help me tremendously. Thank you.
Thank you and glad we could help! We do our best! 😀
Thank you so much for this! I was already desperate about my engravings and now with the info from this video it just works.
That's what I love to hear! Glad you're finding success!
I'm new to the laser world and I was finding all those settings very confusing, and didn't know what they were for. After watching this video in its entirety I have a good understanding of all that now. I thought it was just get the laser and go. Thank you for all the information you have provided, this lecture was a God send!
Always glad to hear it helped!
Very good lesson, Thank you for sharing
Glad you liked it 😀
Extremely helpful and thorough video. Thank you for this one! I thought I was content with the timing values I had dialed in previously, but now after watching this video I’m gonna have to go back and take another look at them.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching :D
Thank you for this great tutorial.
But in my case it only engraves the middle lines of the rectangle if I set the line spacing to 2mm. I suspect that this has to do with the "Mark Contour" setting (05:27), which I probably didn't set.
I work with Lightburn. Can someone tell me briefly where I can find this “Mark Contour” setting in Lightburn. Thank you in advance Sandro
If you double click on the layer to see the details of the layer, you can add a sublayer at the top right with the + button, and make sure that sublayer is set as a line. set your power speed and frequency, and that'll be your contour :)
Thank you ! @@LaserEverything
This video cleaned up my Engravings so much. You're the man!
Rock on! Glad it helped!
Only you Alex to make so useful and full guide about timing setup. This is essential for people who have just acquired a marking machine and even for pro guys.
Glad to hear you enjoyed it Rick, thank you!
wow just wow! Thank you so much! I feel like I have a real grasp of what these settings are!
That's awesome to hear Ben so glad it helped you!
I just bought my first Fiber laser and I will be doing everything in this video as soon as it gets here. Awesome video def joining the discord! And also picking up a microscope too...
Haven’t bought my fiber laser yet but when I do I’ll rewatch ALL these videos. Super informative. .
When you get it we have a playlist on the main channel page called "Lasers 101" that walks you through literally every step of getting your galvo laser setup, this video included. Don't skip it!
This is educational artwork, forever bookmarking this video.
Haha glad you liked it Kyle!
Gotta Love your stuff 👌👌👌
Just got a JPT 60 watt MOPA
Totally overwhelming
Your videos keep the headaches to Minimum
BUT I have figured out to do my NWT with fiber
Thanks Nicky, hope you're getting it figured out!
The Secret Sauce! Thanks. This vid is great!
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you, Alex, for this helpful video!
Thank you SO much!! I tried to just plug it in and use it, and although I got good results, it wasn't perfect. I was changing things, and they weren't giving the expected change in output. Followed this and now my photos on anodized aluminum look like photos. Guess I know that I'll need to actually do the proper calibrations in the future. Thanks again
Absolutely an incredible wealth of information! Thank you so much for this.
Glad it was helpful!
Alex love this video! All your videos are live savers!
Glad you like them!
you are awesome! Thank you for an amazing explanation for mid users !
Glad it was helpful!
Awesome thank you so much. I just bought a new diode module and have been struggling to dial everything in with engraving images. Can't wait to get home now and start adjusting!
I don't think we have to do this with a diode laser but I'm not sure
Unless it's a galvo diode laser running on Ezcad or LightBurn they likely do not offer you the ability to adjust these values. Most galvo diodes on the market right now use proprietary software and that software is usually really limited when it comes to tuning.
If you're using a gantry laser, this tutorial does not apply to you at all and you can safely skip it.
Thanks for all the detail
Thanks for watching Zack!
Excellent video thank you! I used this with LightBurn to dial in my timing.
One gotcha that burned some time for me is that for the timing settings to be meaningfully visible, you need to set the Speed to 1000mm/s. LightBurn defaults to 100mm/s so I made a couple test cards and couldn't tell a difference at all before I figured out what was going on.
Related: since you've demonstrated that the same settings are probably valid up to ~4000mm/s, would it make more sense to run these tests at even faster than 1000mm/s? If the speed is faster, couldn't you see more of a difference between the timing values and be able to dial in the perfect values even more precisely?
Such crazy timing. What a technology to have inside your own home!
Thank you for the professional instructions. (and the video, as a hobby video editor, I appreciate how much work was put in to producing such a video) 👍
Found your video for Lightburn all device settings also, Great!
Thanks so much, nice when people get what goes into these - appreciated!
Extremely valuable! Thank you Alexander!
Thanks ark! Glad you liked it!!
Wow... Alex. That was an insane amount of work. The value is huge. Thanks for putting in all that work. I will be tweaking every last bit to make my 10K+ investment the best it can be. Thank you again for all the effort. Matthew (CSH)
Thanks Matthew, sincerely appreciate your support! Glad you're happy with it :D
Amazing video. Well done.
Thanks Alex, appreciate it!
Great video! Everything was clearly explained, and the tests make perfect sense.
Do you have similar explanations for Freq and Pulse-width? I glanced at your videos (after subscribing), but nothing jumped out.
I just bought a 60W ComMarker b4 MOPA so more information is better.
Just picked up a 50w jpt it was great to have this video to calibrate it
Glad it was useful, thanks for watching!
great video man. Gonna have to do this
Thanks for watching!
I would LOVE to see this revisited with the new Lightburn. Unfortunately a lot of what EZC3 does just doesn't work the same way with LB. The hatch doesn't make a box, just lines, so it's REALLY hard to tell the start/stop numbers.
Thankfully with LightBurn, the process is almost exactly the same. The only key difference, is that the contour/box outline in ezcad would just be a checkmark on the hatch settings; with LightBurn, the contour is done via a sublayer. This can be done quickly by just double-clicking on the layer in the cut/layer window at the top right, and selecting the + button to add a sublayer, or next to it is a duplicate current sublayer button where you can make the second sublayer a line. As a line, it would just run an outline around the perimeter, just like a the contour box would :)
Hope that helps!
My Fibre is still on it's way to me. I'm so glad I saw this before it arrives. Another excellent tutorial.
Awesome! Thank you! Hope it arrives soon!
Will I need to adjust timing for each lens or are theses setting not impacted by changing out lenses? Thanks for the helpful video!
In theory you shouldnt have to but the reality is each lens has its own distortions that will aggravate the corrections being made. Ultimately at the very least confirming the settings may be a good choice.
@@LaserEverything Thanks for the feedback.
The hatch settings for the jump delay settings are very unclear to me.
Can you please elaborate the hatch settings for this test, starting at around 18:00?
Preferably for Lightburn
Great info thank you for the time you put into the community
No problem 👍 Glad it's helping you!
Seriously….awesome! That was a great video. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
hello sir alex ive been watching you since i operate this ezcadlite 500 and you been great help thanks a lot. just want to ask somethng i have a problem with my marking machine the markings did not correspond with my input size and red sign it decrease it size when i start to mark it please help me
Adjust Red light pointer.
F3 Param > Other > Red Light Settings > Offset and Scale, adjust those two parameters to get the red light to match what was engraved.
First and foremost GREAT Video, very informative. I almost have my MonPort GA 100 dialed in. The laser OFF TC in lightburn is not allowed to be negative. Anyone have suggestions to overcome this ?
Excellent Excellent video/information!!!
So glad it helped! :D
👏👏👏👏 you're amazing and a life saver!!!!! thank you for your hard work!!!!
No problem 😊 Glad you got some use out of it!
Thank you very much for the video. I have a question when I'm cutting metal most of the time when starting the laser gives as a small jumps stops cutting some areas and then already cut in a smooth manner. What is the reason for that. I have a 50w fiber laser
Without seeing anything, you may have a problem with your artwork. This is going to be very tough to diagnose on TH-cam comments. Join our Facebook or discord for more help, link is in the description.
Amazing video guys thank you so much. The timings on lightburn are named a little differently:
laser on tc
laser off tc
end tc
polygon tc
so there is no start tc. can I assume start tc = laser on tc?
That is correct :). The naming is a bit different but its the same fields/functions essentially.
Fantastic explanation, thank you!!!
Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for watching!
Great job!
Thank you! Cheers!
what about dot time from ezcad to lightburn ? can't find that setting in LB
Great video! I read your comments below regarding "LightBurn does not generate contours around vectors automatically." Should I just make a box in Lightburn, set to Fill, adjust the line interval to 2mm (no cross-hatch) and then add a sub-layer that is set to "line"? Will this give me the "box" and "lines" required to follow along and calibrate the laser? Oh yeah...should I disable Bi-Directional Fill or does that not matter? Thanks!
100%, that's exactly it! Only generate 1 object, and add a line sublayer and it will act as a contour. bidirectional or unidirectional is fine, you just need to know what you're looking for. unidirectional will put all the starting points on one side, and ends on another. bidirectional will alternate start/end in the case that might be easier for some people to compare/see results. Its preference, just gotta know which is which and what you're looking for, given the above details. Kyle and Matt did this live for the matching pair of Co2 galvo's they got on live stream a few months ago too if you wanted to see how they did it. Same process as this, just live troubleshooting and working through tuning. th-cam.com/video/Zp14-HpVKUs/w-d-xo.html&pp=ygUaY28yIGdhbHZvIHRpbWluZyBhbmQgZGVsYXk%3D
excellent....thanks for the info! @@LaserEverything
Awesome video, very helpful.
Thank you, glad it helped!
Thanks so much for this video Alex! I'm trying to set up in lightburn but it doesn't seem to want to etch the outline of the boxes, just the 2mm hatch (so 4 lines per box). Do I just need to create another layer for the outline?
Glad you’re getting value from it! With lightburn, we don’t get a checkbox for contour like we do in ezcad. You don’t need to add a whole new layer, but if you double click on the cut/layer, you can add a line sub layer using the same power/speed. The + button at the top right, or button next to it to duplicate the sub layer and change it to a line will get you going with that :)
@@LaserEverything perfect thanks so much!!!
Would these tests be most accurate using your widest lens to get the most travel and really pushing the accuracy limits?
You are really great 🙏❤️
Thank you so much 😀
How often do you just run these checks to see if everything is still dialed?
What's the best way to set up the test box in lightburn? The fill settings are different than Ezcad2 and I'm not getting the same look. Thanks
Use the standard (non bi-directional hatch at zero degrees. The only real difference should be the fact that you're looking at DPI/Interval instead of line distance. Your interval should still be around 1-2mm. Make sure flood fill and cross hatch turned off. Otherwise it should really be the same process. I'll double check the next time I'm at my machine and if needed I'll publish an update.
@@LaserEverything Thank you. I'm amazed at the dpi difference between my 150mm and 112mm lens
It 100% makes a difference.
I have this problem in lightburn.
I follow the instructies but I just get horizontal lines, even the tekst next to the 'box' are just some horizontal lines. I try really hard to find the solution but I'm lost here.
I have mode:fill , bidirectional fill off, crosshatch ( it's called raster here ) off , lineinterval 2mm, lines per inch 12.700, angle 0°, angleingcrement 0.0 , any help is welcome
@@AlexknorP Create a new sub-layer of the 'line' type. Watch this video: th-cam.com/video/OdKGz0VbqvA/w-d-xo.html
Awesome tutorial, well thought out and delivered. THANK YOU! What font and text size did you use for the Jump Speed tests?
Glad it helped H, I think the font is just Arial, not sure about the size but just for scale the boxes I believe are 20mm x 10mm
thanks for this bro
Thanks for watching :)
So for each speed the time and delay will have to be calibrated does that go for jump delay also?
Not really no. For speeds under 4000 the timing settings should be universal. For speeds above 4000 they may require some adjustment.
Thanks man, I plugged my fiber in again and am going at it again..
Glad to hear it!
Hi Alex. Your videos help me a lot. You are great. I have a Raykus 50w. What parameters are suitable for timing and delay?Thank you
The settings are going to depend on a combination of your wattage, but also the lens size you work with. Smaller lens have much better density, which means less power is needed. Larger lens will require more. If you use an aluminum business card, I suggest only using enough power to mark the surface gently to get to the metal. If you overpower it, it will make it hard to see the fine details you are tuning to improve.
When doing the laser off tc I can’t put negatives in on lightburn. It seem like 0 is the best I can get with my laser. Any ideas on what I can do?
Hey, since Lightburn has uses these settings as global, what speed should we use to make these adjustments? Will LB adjust the settings automatically when you go up in speed?
If you find you need to make adjustments for high speed settings you can override the timing on a per setting basis in the cut setting menu. For speeds up to 4000mm/s the global settings should be fine for most marks and you shouldn't have to edit them regularly.
Just when I thought I was getting my machine dialed I start noticing issues in my engravings and now I see there’s all this timing stuff. Is this going to affect my other settings in my library like my colors for stainless? Or will this mostly give crisper edges?
When I do this test, the outer box does not burn for me. Just the 2 inside hatch lines and the text. (Lightburn)
How do I get a box to engrave around the four lines in Lightburn? I'm pulling my hair out! All I get is four horizontal lines and no box around them for reference.
I get the same. I resorted to creating another layer with same size box and making it a line layer
@@ChargerDude70 that’s what I ended up doing also.
@@jgrimmy1 how did you get into the negative values?
@@ChargerDude70 I didn't in lightburn
Create a new sub-layer of the 'line' type. Watch this video: th-cam.com/video/OdKGz0VbqvA/w-d-xo.html
Alex - Will LightBurn you are demonstrating in this video serve in place of EZCAD2? I use the latter to operate a 3W UV laser and it t is frustrating. BTW, are you using and demonstrating the trial version of LB in this video?
Yes lightburn will serve in place of EZCAD once it's released sometime in Q2 2022 but in this video we're using ezcad
@@LaserEverything So maybe in the next 6-weeks. Is LB currently being BETA tested?
I enjoyed your information on setting up the fiber laser. I have a MOPA and Just got it setup and did a test burn. I ask Cloudray for some information on settings for frequency for different colors and they are sapost send me material parameters. I hope you will do some test burns on different materials as it would sure help me get started.\
Thanks,
Rick
On the Jump Delay card you said that you set the hatch to .02 line spacing. Did you mean .2mm or am I confusing settings? If I mark at .2mm it appear to be even finer of a hatch than what is on your card in the video. I think I finally have everything honed in to peak performance. For Jump settings I ended up not seeing much effect and went with the manufacturers recommended settings at 4000 sp 200min 400max which seemed to match up well with your findings as well.
Definitely meant .2 not .02. Good catch.
AWESOME video, setting mine up now. I have 3 lenses. A 110, 220 and a 300 on a 50W JPT. Does it matter what size lens to use, or is it all universal since it's the galvo and not the lens? Also, what wattage machine are you using in the video? Thanks for any help sir!
Best I can figure, once you have timing down it has to do with firing the tube which shouldn't be affected by the lens.
Lens will change power/speed/intervals. At least that's my understanding.
This video does a pretty good job describing the differences in the different lens field sizes, if you haven't seen it I highly recommend it: th-cam.com/video/I_M19yy4G9g/w-d-xo.html
So liteburn and diod users are out of luck I take it?
LightBurn (for Gantry) and Diode lasers have a completely different timing process unrelated to this one which you're able to do right inside LB itself. We have a video covering how published as part of the LB for Gantry Crash Course available free right here on the channel.
LB for Galvos users however, MUST access a copy of ezcad, preferably one that came with their machine, in order to run through this timing process as LB does not currently support NATIVE lens corrections.
Thank you so much
I'm using lightburn and when I try and make the box, it only uses the horizonal lines not the outer box. What am I missing
LightBurn does not generate contours around vectors automatically. In order to reproduce this you'll need a separate layer or sublayer set to cut with the appropriate settings to mark the contour of the shape.
Hello,
The other time my ezcad got out of configuration and now there is a margin of error with the measurements.
Where in the program can I fix that? I have used the guide that my supplier sent me to set up the machine but I still have the problem. For example in the program I draw a circle of 5 mm and when I mark it has 4.7 mm :(
This video will help you fix that: th-cam.com/video/llflAf0G62Q/w-d-xo.html
Hello Alex, my mas os Miguel from Portugal, thank you for your work. I am preparing to buy a laser fiber machine for marking stainless steel jwelery. Could you advise me some machine. Thanks
The 30w or 50w JPT LP units from Mactron would be perfect for this. You can read more about them on the buying guide: www.lasereverything.net/buyingguide
Hi Alex. Does this affect Diode lasers as well? Also: I see you mentioned it affects C02. Could you elaborate on that?
Timing only really effects galvo lasers. Diode and CO2 lasers have a scanning offset adjustment that does something similar (but different) that needs to be addressed.
I have a question?
Is there a way to deal with timings at different engraving speeds?
Settings at 2000mm/s are not working with 4000mm/s
Or just picking a speed to engrave with it all the time?
Any advice would be great!
If you're doing significantly higher speeds like at 4000mm/s vs a more typical 500-1500 range, it might be good to have a second set of timings for the 4000 speed. You can have individual timing settings per parameter in ezcad, and in Lightburn you can as well by using the override on the layer details screen. I find running a timing test at ~2000 speed is good for anything up to or around that, but once you start exceeding 3000 speed, it tends to need a little more time to settle the lenses. Most setups just don't often need to hit those speeds for the material to be effectively marked, unless it's a lot of pmags/polymer marking. Most metal engraving is much slower unless you have a higher wattage laser than average, but you can totally have multiple timings set and is a good way to handle that. Having a base timing for common mark settings overall, then override for the couple of VERY high speed ones is how I'd likely handle it.
@@LaserEverything Thank you very much for the detailed answer. I literally discovered override settings option yesterday 😅
It banged me immediately. Because i did my timings for 4000mm/s, but with these setting I got aometimea noticeable ghosting/blurring on some texts at slower speeds. First I thought that if we set lasers max possible speeds, then we can use them for lower speeds too 😂
🙏 Thank you again! ✌️
donde bajo el archivo para hacer las pruebas?
I don't have a pre-built file for you to test with but we do include instructions in the video on how to make your own test shapes.
I tried to draw same test file in lightburn, unforcenetly it works totaly different than on your video with ezcad. Is it possible to share file, or somehow explain how to do that in lightburn please ?
In lightburn, you would create a sublayer (the plus button at the top right of the layer pop-out window) and set the sublayer to line. There isn't a checkbox for contour in lightburn like there is in ezcad, so that's something we need to specify as a sublayer explicitly. We have an example of this with Matt & Kyle doing this live when they were setting up their Co2 Galvo's together. Here's the link if you wanted to watch them go through the process of doing it for 2 identical systems with very different results: th-cam.com/users/liveZp14-HpVKUs
Ezcad2 does not allow to make delays negative, except for Start TC.
This video should be included on a flash drive for every new machine. My machine's jump delay settings were way off. The timing and delay were off marginally.
Thanks, Alex.
We do our best to help, glad you got value from it! Often times, manufacturers don't tune for timing/delay since they used to be traditionally set per parameter (based on the speed setting impacting them), so if you had a setting that used 1000mm/s speed, it would have a potentially very different timing/delay set to a parameter that used 5000mm/s. Lightburn consolidated it to a the device profile as a global setting instead of per parameter, and allows for overriding it individually if needed which is nice.
Hi. Alex. I have just sold my 50 w Racus laser and ordered a 60w JPT. But what is a galvo laser?
Any machine that projects it's beam through an f-theta lens onto a workspace with galvo mirrors is a galvo laser. Both of your fibers, CO2 galvos, and UV lasers are all great examples of galvo lasers.
Thanks ver much Alex I was getting confused hearing you talk about Galvo lasers. Now I understand. Just need to inbox my new JPT and learn ezycad 3😂😂 Thanks again for all your utube training videos.
Glad they're helping you Steven! 😁
Is there a video for this in just lightburn? I am trying to follow the directions but it won't fire correctly. It only makes 4 lines instead of a box, and at only does tips of the text.
Not a concise video (yet), but we did a livestream where we discussed how we did this in lightburn with our Co2 galvos (Kyle and Matt together). Not a short stream, but skip around if you have the time to the parts where they specifically do timing and delay. It's very similar, you just need to remember to add a sublayer as a line to get the outline shape, otherwise you'll just have horizontal lines and no enclosed box. th-cam.com/video/Zp14-HpVKUs/w-d-xo.html
This is amazing
Thank you! Thanks for watching!
Would this work on a 100w Co2 laser?
There is, I'll do a video on that next
@@LaserEverything Just finishing the dpi tutorial at the moment so I can't wait for that one|! Cheers!
Dumb question, but for Jump Delay, scan angle of 0? Im on LB, trying really hard to see the differences, also what font? Maybe that will help me see easier.
It's a good question! Scan angle of 0 is good (you want the scan angle to be going across the letters as it fills them, so it jumps from one letter to the next).
Font doesn't make a huge difference. To see the difference a bit more easily, go from one extreme to the other, high/low, using a relatively fast parameter for marking (not crazy fast, but maybe 1500-2000 speed). It should help give you a better idea of what isn't working well vs what is and make it easier to tune.
👍 Good Info!
Glad it helped!
Is there a file for this?
hi, will the laser on and laser off for different speeds be different or the same?
Speeds can impact it a bit. Generally, when doing timing and delays, the tests will be valid for a pretty typical range of speeds that would commonly be used. If you really push the speed frequently (for example, 3000mm/s or higher) where a more common speed would be under 2000mm/s, it can cause discrepancies to appear and you may need to have a high speed and low speed timing/delay values. Ezcad has these built into each parameter, and lightburn has an overall machine value for this but you can override it on the parameter individually if it varies from the rest of your parameters.
Do these settings need to be set for each different lens? Say I set them on my 210mm lens, if I use my 110mm lens I will have to change the default settings again correct?
Good question! Yes and No. For the VAST majority of use cases, the timing/delay values will be very close, if not identical between lenses, mostly and with an asterisk.
For anyone who likes to know the WHY, I'll dig into the gritty details further. Comparing across 8 different lenses & sizes on the same laser, I found that for me at least, everything from 110 up to 300 was within a very close margin (and required no change on on/off/polygon). Once I had a tuned value for one lens, and retested on other lenses, it was close enough where it didn't need adjustment and could carry the values forward. Moving down to my 70mm lenses (2 of them), the values weren't far off, so still served as a good starting point, but I did need to adjust my laser on/off values a bit because there was a noticeable (in plain site) difference and was clearly off a bit.
TLDR: At the moment, I would say once you've tuned for one lens, you should be able to likely utilize that for other lenses in likely most cases. You could run a single quick box just to validate its good, and in a worst case it might need minor adjustment and still get you into the rough ballpark as a starting point.
@@LaserEverything So i set my 110mm lens up and got it engraving nicely, I put in my 175mm lens and the settings were not even close to what I had set my 110mm lens to, and it didnt engrave text very well, they didnt change from what they were to start with. I changed the settings for all my lenses to match the 110mm lens settings.
Eggcellent!
I've been told it was well eggecuted.
I would hope to see a new video channel talking about creating stl file for ezcad3
thank you very much
Hi, just wondering hoe you can go into negative values on Lightburn, seems 0 in the lowest I can go.
Did you ever get an answer to this question? Obviously not on here.....
@@ChargerDude70 ,Yep you got it, no response. Have not delved further as these timings do not seem super crucial to me at the moment. I will hit Lightburn support when I do, I have found them very helpful previously.
@@damianmaloney5535 I’ve tried every way to Sunday to see what those settings do in LB but only difference I seem to get is when I change the start value, nothing on the stop seems to do anything. I’ve put 1000 in there thinking it doesn’t care if it’s a negative value. Still can’t get it to stop short of the Y vector line
@@ChargerDude70 I definitely saw a difference when changing values. One 'thing' is that mine seems to start the ladder box bottom right not bottom left as described, this led me to believe that the horizontal lines are beginning on the right also, I could not reduce the start delay to a point where I had them start on the vertical line, always a very tiny gap, this is why I wanted to go into negative but could not.
We have a support forum on our website, free discord and free facebook group where we offer support, so that's the best place to ask questions if you're looking to have them answered quickly.
I don't even own a laser machine and yet I watched most of your laser videos! ..... No, I'm not wasting my time... It's, "aspirational", because maybe I'll get a laser someday! Lol 😂
Glad you're liking the content so much! I hope you're able to get a laser someday. Maybe start with a smaller diode laser - they're much more affordable and much smaller. Great for beginners and hobbyists that want to dip their toes in the water!
Hi Alex
Thank you very much for these informative videos about what you do.
On your Free Starter Laser Settings Packs page you say that you should take a screenshot of your timing values on galvo lasers, which of course I didn't do. Now my question. I saw that you also have an EM-Basic 2R in your possession. Can you please send me the original settings for Ezcad 2 and Lightburn via a screenshot. I also wrote you an email if that was easier. Thanks a lot in advance.
Sorry for the delay! The timing/delay values will often be completely different from one laser to the next (even the same model. We tested this with Kyle and Matt's matched pair of Co2 Galvo's).