Another Laserworks question please.

[John Stevenson]

OK another question please.
Was doing a screw cutting chart for a lathe tonight.

Doing all the text as scan, lines as cuts.

Got to the start of the lower tables and machine stopped with an error " Not enough extend space, please ESC "

Thinking it was out of memory I deleted all the files off the laser, downloaded the file again and re ran it - same message.

So deleted the upper table cleared the memory and ran the file again, same message.

Re processed the file changed layer on the lower table and re ran it, same problem. Frame runs Ok so not out of travel.

Even tried running the file under a new name, just the lower text and got the same message.

Any ideas please ?

[Ross Moshinsky]

I think the issue is that there is a border around the image and if you put it right on the edge, the laser freaks out because it wants to engrave the border but can't reach it. That's just my best guess.

I also don't see that image engraving well at all. The quality is very low.

[Rich Harman]

It looks like the text on the lower table starts further to the left than the text in the first table. Try moving your workpiece an inch to the right and try it again.

p.s. It will be helpful if you add your equipment to your sig.

[John Stevenson]

Just to clarify.
The sheet is a full sheet and not a precut sheet so plenty of waste around the edges.
Working off a very clear DXF so no problem there, the thumbnail is a bitmap off the CAD program.One thing I forgot to mention is I cut the lines first, all cut OK but they are heavy and burnt in the corners.

On my old software there was a corner speed setting on the power / speed page.
can anyone shed any light on where the cornering speed is in Laserworks V 6,.0 please ?

[Rich Harman]

Just to clarify.
The sheet is a full sheet and not a precut sheet so plenty of waste around the edges.

On my machine I could easily place something to be engraved where there is plenty of waste on the left edge, yet is still too far to the left for the laser to engrave it.

Move your workpiece, and the laser's starting point a bit to the right and see if the problem persists.

[John Stevenson]

Will do Rich and report back tomorrow, gone midnight here.

Good point about equipment but not sure what machine it is, generic Chinese 50w machine
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270853027106

I'll update my profile when I know what to list it as.

[Rodne Gold]

That message means something is outside the bounds of the machine. There is a function that will trace the boundaries of the engraving and cutting , go scale or something like that , I forget...
Try that.
Also try to start the machine from a home origin if its feasible.
Otherwise , select what you want to engrave and cut in Corel , export out or cut and paste in another instance of Corel and export to AI or whatever and then import it into laserworks , bypassing the Corel plugin.

[Rich Harman]

It looks like the text on the lower table starts further to the left than the text in the first table. Try moving your workpiece an inch to the right and try it again.

To expand upon what I said - For vectoring you can place your work at 0,0 and all will be fine. When rastering however the laser needs a bit of room on each side to accelerate/decelerate. The OP said that rastering was working until it started on the bottom table. If you look at his image you can see the text (the only thing he said was being rastered) starts further over to the left then the text in the first table. That may be enough of a difference in distance that the laser does not have enough room to raster that portion, so gives an error.

If he moves the piece an inch to the right and the problem persists then it is something else but it is quite possible that it is as I have described. Meaning - you can set it up to do exactly what the OP says is happening.

I don't think the "Go Scale" command will trace out the area that is required for rastering over-run.

[Uros Sovilj]

I had the same problem few days ago. I went crazy since i wasnt able to figure out what is going on. On the end i found that Laserwork somehow reseted itself on original settings and put origin point for laserhead on upper right corner instead on uper left i was used to. It was most obvius thing i should check first and since i didnt i lost 4 hours losing my mind.

[John Stevenson]

Again to clarify.

I think Rich may have a point here. Scale is working and it's already cut all the frame lines but it is close to the edge of the machine although not close to the edge of the material.

If it wants acceleration room it may not have it. Seeing as that bit of material is scrap I'll run the code over the top of the job and see if it cures it.

Going to redo the job anyway as the tables are too low down and sit on the bottom of the frames, doesn't look nice.

Still two unanswered questions ?

[1] The burning in the corners of the frame ? Only setting I can see is min laser and max laser settings, are these the ones that work out corner power ?

[2] What do i call my machine, link in post 6 above ? Then I can update my profile.

Rod, don't have Corel and so not using the LW Corel plug in but the stand alone copy of LW.
I use CAD or Vectric's VCarve pro to get a DXF into LW.

[Rich Harman]

[1] The burning in the corners of the frame ? Only setting I can see is min laser and max laser settings, are these the ones that work out corner power ?

[2] What do i call my machine, link in post 6 above ? Then I can update my profile.

[1] Burning? Can you post a picture? The min and max I think are only used when doing ramped engraving (like for making stamps) or for 3d engraving. I've never messed with corner settings, nor noticed any problems.

[2] If you don't know the manufacture you could just call it a "Chinese 300 x 500 50W" or something like that.

[John Stevenson]

OK moved the origin over a bit and this cured the problem, Thanks Rich.
With frame working OK didn't suspect it was running out of room but still learning.

Played with min amd max. Was cutting at 200 speed 20% power on this metalised Romark type material.
Set min to 10, max to 20 and it missed out doing the corners, 15 / 20 still burning but not as bad.

Finished up 11 / 20 and it looks nice now.
will update profile tonight, working at present but many thanks to Rich for the help.

[Mason Atom]

I'm late to the party and it seems like all of your questions have been answered... but I'll chime in anyway.

When your machine tells you that you have run out of space, 99% of the time it means that the scan/raster portion of your work is off scale (i.e. beyond the edges of your bed). As Rich mentioned above, this is due to the fact that the laser head needs excess space to accelerate and decelerate on each line it cuts. So basically, you watch the direction of the scanning and note which direction is closest to the edge of the bed, then you pause the machine and move your work piece a little bit away from that side. Keep doing this until you are no longer off scale.

An important thing to point out here is that the 'Go Scale' function doesn't tell you the full story. It only covers the area of your artwork that is engraved, NOT the area that the laser head will need to travel to do the engraving. Also keep in mind that the faster you engrave, the more extra space you'll need for your laser head to speed up and slow down. This is important to remember, because in the case of doing an engraving where the straightline laser firing is small, you can actually INCREASE the amount of time a scan will take with higher speed. When I do 0.4" high text on a control panel, 400 mm/s actually engraves faster than 500 mm/s. If I'm scanning a logo that is 3" tall, 500 mm/s engraves about 15% faster than 400 mm/s.

OK, the other thing - corner intensity on 'cut' settings. I use the min and max power settings to control cornering. If I'm cutting through 1/8" acrylic, 15 mm/s speed and 90% max power does the job, but I set the min power at 65%. If I keep it at 90%, the keft width increases at the corners and the material will burn more - this is because the laser head needs to slow down when cornering and if you keep the same speed, you hit your material extra hard. If you're cutting really small rectangles or holes, I sometimes use even more dramatic differences in power. There is nothing worse than a small box (say 1/4" by 1/4" that has increased kerf width on the corners.

i know most of these answers are redundant, but I'm hoping I added a little bit more information that might help people better understand their systems.

Mason

[John Stevenson]

Many thanks for all the replies and help guys, just about sorted now and when the job is done I'll post the results.

Going to do this screwcutting chart 4 different ways.

[1] Brushed Aluminium Romark material

[2] Perspex, back sprayed silver, cut from the back and infilled black

[3] Stainless steel plate, black letters using dry moly lube

[4] Stainless steel plate, lettering cut direct onto the plate.

[David Rust]

John, glad to hear your problem is solved. Sometimes it's the simple things, like forgetting to verify the rulers in CorelDraw for the top left corner...