Fibre laser engraving random lines using EZ Cad 2

Hi there,

We have recently invested in a fibre laser to engrave stainless steel items. We currently have found (through trial and error) that importing vectors in Adobe Illustrator 3 format is the most efficient way to get our desired designs into EZ Cad. However, particularly when engraving on the rotary, random lines are engraved across the vectors with no obvious source for them in the artwork file. I have attached an example image below.

Attachment 426645Attachment 426644

One point of note is that with each time you engrave the vector, the lines are consistent. However, if you delete the vector and reimport the same file, the lines will change. We're thinking that that this must be due to some miscommunication of encoded data in the anchor points of the vectors but we are relatively new to this so our experience is limited.

Is there a better format for importing complex vectors into EZ Cad 2 than AI 3?
Or are we missing something in the settings or set up process that couple be causing this inconsistency?

I'm assuming you mean CS3, try version 8 instead.

EZ Cad 2 (or at least our version of it) won't accept CS3, only the older version AI 3. I have just tried using AI 8 files and it has worked and certainly improved the consistency of the engraves, however it is certainly still not perfect. Attached is an example that I have engraved just now. It is an imported AI 8 file that has been copied and pasted around a cup rim but as you can see, even though it is the identical copied file, some of the engraves have the aforementioned random lines which go in multiple angles and directions.

Any ideas what the source of the issue could be? I've seen suggestions of dodgy USB cables allowing interference into the signal but I assume that would manifest itself as dots rather than straight lines.

Attachment 426677 The mentioned engravings

This could be an 'end TC' or 'end compensate' (or similar) adjustment in the software out of whack. Check your EzCad manual, look for the laser's stop/start adjustments sections, and learn what the adjustments do, and mean... the mirrors move so fast that if you have a 10ms 'wrong' start or stop delay, the laser could be firing the laser during that 10ms creating your errant line(s) before shutting off, OR starting too early. The instructions are hard to understand but sometimes necessary ;)

HOPEFULLY that's all it is. Some mfr's don't take much, if any, time dialing in the software settings before YOU get it. When I got my first ebay fiber, the foot pedal wouldn't work. It worked fine on my Triumph fiber, and the Triumph pedal wouldn't work on the new machine either. I tore the cover off and found another way to make the pedal work (the 'remark' function), before someone asked me about my port settings (in the F3 menu).. turns out the foot pedal function was turned OFF in the port settings! Who's ever heard of that? But I just had to change a 'null' setting to a '1' setting and that did it...

Have you tried exporting as DXF in Autocad 2002 format? I use that and it works almost all of the time.
I DO get a stray vector occasionally, but it usually is a converted file that has looooong vector lines (I use Corel Draw)
Sometimes it is a trick to get them to work right.