Corel, Adobe, Laser Master...?

[James Terry]

Howdy folks. I am a first-time / newbie owner of a second-hand Pinnacle 25 watt laser commonly sold by signwarehouse to the sign shops. It is a Laserpro Mercury L-25 which I understand to be the Mercury I version of things based upon the keypad layout. I have done multi-layered wood laser projects through a vendor and am familiar with what is required as far as layout and data into the machine, but I have a lot of reading to do to gather up what I need for general operation of the laser. This unit seems to have very low hours and has the usual basics included as well as the rotary. This weekend I dragged this in a uhaul trailer from Virginia back to Texas and that roundtrip was some long hours of nonstop driving. I got lucky in that the previous owner still had the original crate, so it rode home on top of the shipping foam, in a sprung trailer with loose straps to keep it from moving too much while still allowing for some bounce movement. I am going to be very careful when I finally get this thing turned on to make sure that the beam is still aligned; another post for later. I also need to clean the optical path before I brave a power on. My first question to the group is: What is the software to be using with this thing? It came with Laser Master v2 and a key dongle for it. I think it got an upgrade to LM v8.5 as I have a cd for that. I see that many of you folks use Corel as a standard which is great to be able to share files. And I dont know that I have seen anyone using Adobe products. So what's the jiist here with software? What are my options and why? Also, as far as input to the machine, these only have serial and parallel. Would this be able to work off of a parallel print server device so that I can network it and use wifi for communication? Or does it actually do a bi-directional kind of thing such that it really needs a direct connection? It pretty much looks like a big old printer to me as far as communication goes. So with that I'll say Howdy all! I'm looking forward to doing some neat stuff and collecting a few garage fire stories

[Scott Shepherd]

James, you sure made a long trip. I looked at that machine two weeks ago Right down the street from us. Glad it found a good home. Should be a good machine with plenty of hours left on it. Plus you got the rotary attachment too!

[James Terry]

He told me that someone came and took all of his supplies. Perhaps that was you? It is sad when a business has to close down but I was glad to be able to take this off of his hands and it seems like it is in great shape. I hope to get it operating soon but I have some steps to take and lots of questions to ask. I could actually benefit from one of those day long tutorial sessions, but I'm curious if anyone has any videos or documents on Lasing 101. I need to get the optics cleaned and I am not even sure where to start with that. I did find a video and it suggests Kodak lens cleaner and being super gentle with the mirrors as far as "no scrubbing" ...

[David Fairfield]

I work mostly in Adobe.

[Larry Bratton]

James, you have come to the right place to learn about lasers. Lots of info here. However, before I got my laser, I signed up with Laserbits "Laser University". It wasn't very expensive and it allowed me to learn the basics without doing a lot of research.
In so far as the laser being in alignment-I doubt it. Most of the time when one is moved, it has to be realigned. I just moved mine 500 miles and went through the process with Epilog to get mine back.

[Darren Null]

I also have the mercury I, but with a GCC badge. For software, I'm using -like most folks here- Coreldraw to drive the machine; but there are a couple of Illustrator afficionados kicking around.

As far as printing goes, mine won't work using the print buffer...I can only get a result by setting the GCC driver to 'print directly to printer'. I don't know whether that precludes wifi or not...not tried it.

[Jack Burton]

Welcome to the group!

[Richard Rumancik]

Welcome, James. As far as the print server idea - I doubt it. I think you will need a direct connection. You aren't even supposed to use those old "switchboxes" that people used to use to select from multiple para-port printers.

Serial will work fine too, it just takes a lot longer to transfer a file to the machine.

[Gail LaPorte]

Hi I have a mercury and a epilog I use CorelDraw for both .

[Ross Moshinsky]

I use Adobe CS3 and Gravostyle 5. Gravostyle may have a lot of quirks and be pretty damn expensive, but it has several huge time saving methods and features. I'd say Corel has a lot of the same features, but they aren't as intuitive as Gravostyle because Corel can do so much more than Gravostyle, while Gravostyle is soley made for engraving.

[Rodne Gold]

Download the GCC drivers and firmware from www.jorlink.com and use it with corel, thats what the manufacturers designed it to be used with , will do all you want and more , especially if you use corel x3 or x4 or x5
The laser only uses a downloaded file into its ram , it does not communicate further with the puter after that, in fact you can repeat and sequence jobs in the laser itself.
Check the jorlink site of other documentation on the machine , afair it has owners and maintenance manuals for download + other tips and tricks

[JAIME PUJOL]

James
I am also new to Sawmill but have been engraving for six years and have a EpilogTT 35. Also just relocated from Philadelphia to Texas and made that drive. Had to do a realignment on my laser. I use CorelDraw X4 with my laser. And some I use Adobe Cs3 on things I don't know to use on corelDraw. My opinion is just get comfortable with one. I think CorelDraw is little more friendly for Laser engraving. I would just keep reading in Saw mill these people are very very knowable this is a great place to come.
Getting use to Texas greeting
Howdy All