[CARTOGATE]

I am new to the laser engraving systems and I've recently purchased a XYZ Tech Chinese Laser 80W with a MPC6515 motion controller.

I am using the LaserCut 5.1 Software but I make the designs in Corel Draw X3.

Please help me with tips and tricks about exporting the drawings from Corel to LaserCut. The designs use mostly text and simple drawings.

[SkipW]

I have LaserCut 5.0 and Corel 12, but the process is the same. If you want to engrave the drawing, first select it, then right click and choose Convert to Curves. In the Object Properties assign a line width. You can make the drawing lines wider if you want them to show up more when engraved.

Then select Bitmaps from the top menu and Convert to Bitmap (Black and White 1-bit). Export as Bitmap to a folder somewhere. Now you can import it into LC5.1 and engrave it.

For cutting, convert the drawing to curves if it's not already, set the line width to hairline, and "Save As" and choose AI Adobe Illustrator and save itto a folder as an .ai file. Mine likes me to save as version 7 for some reason. Now you can import that into LC5.1.

Not the best explanation, I know. There's probably better ways of doing the above but this is what works for me.

HTH,
Skip

[CARTOGATE]

Thank you very much for your reply.

I have another question now.

We engrave commemorative marble plaques and wooden urns for a pet cemetery. What are the best settings for these types of materials, from your experience?

[SkipW]

I have not done marble yet so hopefully someone else will that has done it will answer that question.

I engrave wood quite often though. On my 80w I use 40 power, .150 scan gap, and around 200 speed for designs and text. That works good for cherry wood. I could probably go faster but I have no need.

If you are doing pet photos on wood, those settings probably aren't the best. You would probably need the scan gap at .086 which I think is about 300 DPI (Dots Per Inch) and less power maybe.

Here is some information below from an earlier post that may help you with engraving images:

In general the concept is to convert the image to gray scale mode then black&white , or black&white directly, but the software must have a variety of options to use when converting to black&white, this can be found in Adobe photoshop & CorelDraw, for example (Halftone, error diffusion, ordered, line art, stucki, ...).
choosing one of these methods will give a deferent engraving effects according to the pattern & number of dots produced.
the steps can be as follows:
-the image resolution should be 300dpi to get a good result
-if the resolution is less than 300dpi then rescan or resample the image
-convert the image to black&white using diffusion Dither, stucki, or Halftone method to get the best details on the engraved image.
-convert the image to black&white by any other methods to get artistic effects on the engraved image.
-every image needs some fine tune before or during conversion.

Steps in CorelDraw(12 & 13):
->import the image
-> select the image
- -> select Bitmaps Menu
- -> select Mode
- -> select Black& white 1-Bit
->select conversion method [stucki] and vary the intensity

Steps in Photoshop:
->open the image
-> select image Menu
- -> select Mode
- -> select Grayscale
-> select image Menu
- -> select Mode
- ->select Bitmap
->select method [Diffusion Dither] and output 300 pixels/inch


Trial and error is the best teacher...

Skip

[CARTOGATE]

Thanks' for your good suggestions, Skip.

Today I had a bad experience, twice my "improvised chiller" lost water.

I need urgently to find a good chiller for my 80W laser, does anyone know a place to buy one and what will be the good characteristics for it.

Temperature Range
Temperature Stability
Cooling Capacity @ 10 ºC
Flow Rate @ 0 PSI
Reservoir Capacity
Fittings
Dimensions
Weight

[SkipW]

Too bad about losing your water. That will smoke a tube real fast.

I've heard of people just using a 5 gallon bucket with distilled water and ice in it, and a pond pump.

My 80w came with a CW-3000 circulation cooler. I think it's a little too small. It might be okay for a 40w but not an 80w. Here's the specs:

Cooling water tank capacity: 9L
Cooling water tank material: Stainless Steel
Cooling: Radiator that forces the wind cool... ha
Amount of cooling: 65W/C
Maximum water current capacity: 15L/min
Maximum water pump lift: 6m
Diameter of input and output hole: 10mm
External Dimensions: 470x262x373 mm
Weight: approx. 16 Kg

These are made by S&A Electromechanical CO. LTD

I mean it's a good cooler but on a warm day the water temperature gets to about 25C fairly fast. It does keep it from going higher than that though. It seems to peak at 25 and stays there.

Skip