Laser Picture

[JBourdeau67]

You mean a different POWER supply? What about a power strip, can they all be plugged into one together?

[scotttarnor]

The outlet on the controller is meant to control the router/spindle it will not power up with a laser file, if it did it would rip the wires out of the laser when the router/spindle spun, The laser module can be plugged into a shared power strip or any other available outlet.

[JBourdeau67]

Ok, that's what I thought. I have everything in a power strip. Thought maybe I had missed something else. I have played and played with all of these settings and am still just getting charred silhouettes. I'm wondering if its possible to use a different post processor other than Next Waves for this. I've changes laser power down to 30% upped my feed speed to 700ipm, the machine and laser still seem to be operating at the same exact speeds and intensity as it it were at 100 and 50. I dont get it at all.

[scotttarnor]

This link has the post processors from the past versions of software, I have not played with my laser in a while.

https://nextwaveautomation.zendesk.com/ ... processors

[scotttarnor]

NOTE if you use an older PP make sure your spindle has no power applied, I have seen on forums where individuals stated they spun their laser and ripped the cable out of the laser.

[wilkigr]

I'm having excellent results on tiles, acrylic, MDF and wood, and would like to help. If you don't mind, I have questions:

1. I'm not knowledgeable on your individual set ups. Are these grbl controllers? I have a Sienci Long Mill that uses a grbl controller and to make things work well, I need to set the laser mode to on and the speed to the same as in my CAM software.

2. Do your laser and controller both support pwm/ttl control? If they do not, your laser will burn at full power no matter what you tell the CAM software.

[Jan.vanderlinden]

I have the J-Tech 7watt and while settings will change a bit depending on the material being cut, this is where I generally get decent burns to start with.
60 IPM
75% power
212 DPI

[scotttarnor]

Very nice work!

[JBourdeau67]

So, an update to not being able to burn an image using the photo-laser module I purchased. After numerous attempts (almost 100 hours on the laser) I reached out to Next Wave to see if maybe there was something wrong with my 2w laser. After several exchanges of emails, I received this from Next Wave. "The Vectric laser picture toolpath seems to be having an issue with our lasers. Instead of moving across in one fluid motion, it burns in little steps which makes setting the feed rate useless. The owner of Next Wave CNC is working directly with Vectric to solve this issue." I'm not happy considering what the base cost of the software is, plus the extra $50 they charged for the laser module. I have reached out to vecteic via email and have only received the notification that they received it. The Next Wave Ready to Raster program worked once for me and after adjusting the feed rate, proved to be unreliable in that it would stop running halfway through the image. Getting extremely frustrated here. If any one knows of a better, more reliable software package, please share!

[gkas]

After several exchanges of emails, I received this from Next Wave. "The Vectric laser picture toolpath seems to be having an issue with our lasers. Instead of moving across in one fluid motion, it burns in little steps which makes setting the feed rate useless. The owner of Next Wave CNC is working directly with Vectric to solve this issue." I'm not happy considering what the base cost of the software is, plus the extra $50 they charged for the laser module. I have reached out to vecteic via email and have only received the notification that they received it.

The Next Wave Ready to Raster program worked once for me and after adjusting the feed rate, proved to be unreliable in that it would stop running halfway through the image.

Getting extremely frustrated here. If any one knows of a better, more reliable software package, please share!

This doesn't sound like a Vectric problem. If the Next Wave Ready to Raster program doesn't even run correctly, then I would guess they have a problem. What did Next Wave say about that shutdown problem?

[scotttarnor]

Reach out to Nextwave they have always provided me with a fast response!

[JBourdeau67]

GKAS I've gotten the laser to work with Ready to Raster, Nextwaave suggested I use a small desk top fan to help dissipate smoke from under the cup. Seems to work much better. Still cannot get it to work with Vcarve Desktop 10.5 properly and was informed that this software is not designed to work with lasers. Doesn't make any sense to me why you would sell a module to a customer/user who won't be able to use it. Vectric has offered me a refund for the module but I am curious if any one knows if the Desktop Pro is advanced enough to run photocarve files properly? I have an email into them but they are closed for the holiday.

[CRV]

Hello john

Just in case you see this first I have written back to you on your ticket with us. Its important to bear in mind that Nextwaves ready2raster system works in a very different way to our laser module. Our system uses a GCode system whereas Ready2raster uses a proprietary based method. If you can take a look at the email I have send back to you we can take things from there.

Chris

[JBourdeau67]

Thank you Chris. I appreciate the email replies. I'm hoping we can continue to work together to get the situation resolved. Your patience and kindness are appreciated. I'd like make a suggestion re: the page in which the laser module is purchased and downloaded. Perhaps for the time being, Next Wave compatibility should probably be removed to avoid frustration by potential customers wanting to download the product. I know my frustration was to the point of losing sleep, thinking I was doing something wrong. Which speaks to the reliability of the Vectric products. Although disappointed, im relieved to now know its a compatibility issue and not me. I am confident it'll all get worked out.
Thank you.
John

[Jbenson]

Can someone tell me what I have to do to get my Shark HD4 laser to do photographs. I can do Vectprs all day long but unless I convert the picture to a vector (suck) it wont take it