Help! Chinese laser large file error

[Michael Arruda]

Hello all,

I have a rather large file- compared to the small things I normally engrave- that I'm trying to raster. I am using a RedSail X500 with LaserCut 5.3.

The image is about 3/4 the size of the table; around 12" wide and 10" tall. My problem is that it lasers about 75-80% and freezes for about 10 seconds, then continues on like nothing happened- the problem is, when it continues on, it shoots over to the left, slams into the rail and continues on about 3" to the left of where it should be!

I have tried this 4 times with the same result in the same place. 400 speed, 300 speed, bidirectional, unidirectional... nothing fixes the issue. This is getting pretty annoying and time consuming- in bidir mode, it still takes about 24 minutes at 400 speed to get to the place it freezes up.

I have tried reinstalling the software, reuploading the config file to the laser, making a whole new engraving file- nothing is fixing the problem. I am thinking it's a buffering issue with the controller, like it's not erasing and rewriting properly, causing it to overrun and freeze up while the controller releases and rewrites to the buffer.

Any ideas? I really need to get this job out and I've been dealing with it for a couple days now.

Thank you!

-Michael

Edit- the file size that's being sent to the laser is 5.3MB

[Gary Hair]

How about sending it in a few chunks? I use a white filled rectangle with no outline to block off parts of a job I don't want to send, should be no reason you couldn't use the same technique to reduce the file size.

[Michael Arruda]

I thought about that, but I'm worried about positioning the white out boxes accurately in LaserCut 5.3. It does not have a good snap algorithm to place bitmaps perfectly. Back when I was going straight out of Corel into an Epilog Helix24, it was easy to do as you suggest, but this LaserCut software is, well, less that intuitive in comparison.

-Michael

[Pete James]

Be sure to delete all of the files in the engravers memory before downloading your current file. Do this each time you down load it. We make a habit of deleting all files on the engraver before downloading any current work file.

[Michael Arruda]

I delete all files on the laser before transferring a new file. Any other ideas? I can't believe that this thing is having this problem. I really expected better- does anyone else have this issue with their laser? Is the controller on the way out? If so, is the LightObject controller a viable alternative to another Leetro with LaserCut, or is it just as rudimentary and buggy?

-Michael

[Pete James]

I would try converting it to a vector file and then download it to the engraver. That should be a tremendously smaller file size.

[Dave Sheldrake]

Hi Michael,

around 12" wide and 10" tall

Not oversized really but it will depend on how much detail. A file that size could end up being HUGE once compiled.

the file size that's being sent to the laser is 5.3MB

As in the file size when on your PC or the transferred file size? (LaserCUT converts files to something it understands)

What model of laser is it?

best wishes

Dave

[Michael Arruda]

I cannot convert to a vector file- this is a raster engraving job off a 1 bit dithered bitmap.

The machine is a RedSail X500 60 watt. The 5.3MB file size is the stated size of the compiled file being sent to the laser- when you tell LaserCut to transfer the file, it compiles then tells you the file size as it transfers it to the laser controller. This file is around 5327000 bits, or about 5.3MB. The error is happening in the same spot, no matter how I run it.

I also had an issue where the laser sat idle for a month, and when I turned it back on and transfered a file, it was engraving a double image- after some trial and error with the backlash setting, I found it somehow got "off" at -1.5 where the best setting was -.25. That's working fine now, but this large file size issue is really a deal breaker for me utilizing this laser to it's fullest extent.

-Michael

[Dave Sheldrake]

The error is happening in the same spot, no matter how I run it.

Hi Michael,

Same place on the drawing / picture or same place on the bed? are you running in absolute or immediate mode?

best wishes

Dave

[David Irving]

I've been running 30 megabyte vector jobs out of LaserCut 5.3 for the past few weeks with no problems, so it may be specific to raster mode or a problem with your particular hardware. (I have a MPC6525, which is a newer version of the 6515 that you probably have.)

A couple people were reporting similar problems in another thread -- one of them fixed it by replacing their controller with a 6535. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?199307-Laser-possibly-losing-X-Y-position-settings-in-the-middle-of-large-engraving-jobs&highlight=6565

[Scott Shepherd]

I've been running 30 megabyte vector jobs out of LaserCut 5.3 for the past few weeks with no problems,

How do you get a 30MB vector job? What's it look like? Just curious because of all the files I've engraved and cut over 7 years now, I can't ever recall a vector file anywhere close to that size. Raster, sure, vector, I haven't seen one that large. Again, I'm just curious, nothing more than that.

[David Irving]

Scott,

It's actually a 500 kilobyte DXF that balloons up into 30 megabytes once you run it through LaserCut. It's nothing fancy at all, just 4000 little rectangles with 2 holes in them. It's the 8000 holes that end up taking up so much space -- I think LaserCut breaks them down into a bunch of line segments instead of just telling the laser to make a circle.

The DXF is only 33kb zipped up, so Leetro's binary format is about 1000x bigger than an efficient representation would be.