Engrave and Cut with LaserDRW Inkscape Extension
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- Опубликовано: 7 фев 2017
- I walk through the process of using Inkscape with my LaserDRW extension to create a design then engrave and cut it on a cheap Chinese laser cutter (K40).
The Inkscape extension used to create the LaserDRW files in the video is available at ScorchWorks.com
www.scorchworks.com/LaserDRW_e... 
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Love it! This will make working with my K40 much less of a hassle. Thank you so much for publishing this
This is a great plug in. That was the biggest worry I had with my new laser. Thank You
Thank you so much! This is an awesome addition to both Inkscape and the laser cutter!
I really appreciate the time you took to make this video. I felt like I learned a lot.
Thank you for all of your work in the creation of this fantastic extension, hosting it, and creating a video that answered every question I had! I very much appreciate it.
@Ahmad Pablo What a stupid way to advertise. Replying to a 4 year old comment? What a terrible bot.
@James Valentin Seriously? Bots replying to bots, hours behind each other? In a comment chain that has nothing to do with the spam...
This is great. You just fixed the major problem I have with my k40. Thanks.
You are the man! I just got my k40 last night. This will make learning the program much easier for me thank you so much!
Hello! Is the K40 worth it? Thanks
Awesome!!! Thank you so much! My projects would go SOOO much faster if I could do everything in stages, mark first, then cut. I am new to this and just figured out how to run multiple tasks. Anything to try and automate the process is helpful.
You make it look easy, I've tried a lots of ink Scape extension and watched many RUclips videos with no results.
thanks for the quick reply. great info by the way, it has helped a LOT!
Like everyone else said, thank you so much for this video (and your other)! Also, thank you for the plug-in. I recently got my laser and I would rather use this than the software that came with it!
thats the most usefull extension iv seen many thanks for that i can use aspire now to desighn and export it into inkscape then laserdraw
Great to see a vid of creating the work then going to the laser to do the job. I have Weike laser which is really good so far but uses lasercut5.3. some people dislike it. I use inkscape to create save as dxf and then change settings in lasercut. But this was interesting thank you.
You are top man mate!!!! So glad that found your video!!!
Great video and software. Thank you!
this is really, REALLY cool. Having the ability to use software like inkscape makes me think about buying one of these. In fact, the only thing somewhat cumbersome in your process is still that vendor software. I wonder if someone could analyze the gcode and write something to go from lyz straight to the cutter and bypass it altogether.
anyhow, it is so great when folks donate their time on software like this. I think you've made the K40 much more valuable!
Frank Graffagnino I don't have many issues with LaserDRW, my only wish is that the task jobs could be saved within the LYZ file itself.
man
you are awesome..
I just bought the laser, and tried to export from corel 0.01 mm lines with 1000 dpi as jpg
it just don't seems to work
looking for the net, your work the only lets passing vectors to laserdraw..
and it works with inkscape..
thank you so much
Hi yes all seems good with that option by the way thanks this is a real help and I need it
I don't know why the zip option is not working for you. If you want to continue to try to get it to work e-mail me. scorch at scorchworks com
Thanks so much for the extension, I'm just about to load it & work with it. I'm pretty sure the racket from the steppers is the machine following each pixel, some of which aren't in a straight line, it's the sudden jerks at high speed. Maybe. :)
Good thought but I am able to get the same noise when when engraving circles (created in LaserDRW) at the same speed. So I suspect it is not pixel related.
buena tarde, me gusto mucho el video, una pregunta, cuanto usa de potencia en el laser para cortar un MDF de 3mm
Excellent thank you for making this extension! Does anyone know how to make the laser engrave from bottom to top? Cheers
Brilliant!
I am using the F_engrave which I think is from you guys and like it it is simple to use on my Router and will try this one hopping it is as good as it looks.
Thanks
Yes, I also wrote F-Engrave. I now prefer K40 Whisperer over this extension. K40 Whisperer has a much cleaner workflow.
GOT IT THANKS
hi just to let you know i finally got the extension to work had to use windows vista tried all others only one to work
Thank you for the extension ! - there is a sort of arcing sound in the video if I heard that correctly - I had that when I first tested the laser running tab water because I didn't know any better when I got the laser a few days ago - since then switched to distilled water and the noise is gone... Do you hear anything when pressing the test button on the laser ? if yes this is not how it should be - actually should be hard to tell if the laser is firing (except on the meter of cause) without a workpiece that gets marked - hope it helps
Hmm, that is interesting. It does make a little noise. I will have to try distilled water to see if there is a difference.
Hello. Firstly, thanks for your video.
I have a question for you related with both engraving and cutting. Could be possible to use this Inkscape extension with an A3 Eleksmaker Laser Pro, and Gcode sender? Thank you and regards.
No, it cannot.
Where did you get your air assist set up from? I really like the concept of it,
It is 3D printed the details are here: www.youmagine.com/designs/k40-air-assist-nozzle
This is amazing! Thanks for putting this together. It has been incredibly helpful. I keep getting USB-Key errors. Did this happen to you? I am a bit flummoxed at how to fix it. Thanks again!
Anders Flodstrom No, I didn't experience that error. You need to have the USB key installed in the computer you are using. If the key error continues to be a problem you could try K40 Whisperer it does not require the USB key.
quick question, how many mA did you set for cutting, I can't seem to cut 1/4" in one pass at about 20mA
In the video I cut with 14ma at 12mm/s.
Lately I have been cutting slower with less power 10ma at 9mm/s. Your 1/4 inch material may be very different than mine so there might be significant difference in required power. Also air assist helps alot.
Hi, got a question. Let's say I got a picture of Texas ( like someone drew) and has the capital of the state with a star. How would I get the laser to cut all the curves and notches out of it? Can you use the bezel tool and move the points around to make the vector for the laser to cut it out? How would that be done? Thanks
You can start with this link: inkscape.org/en/doc/tutorials/tracing/tutorial-tracing.html
You may want to adjust the colors in Gimp (i.e. use "Threshold" to make it black and white) or another imaging program before you bring it into Inkscape. The exact process will be image specific but there are videos out there that cover the topic of converting images to vector data.
Hello! Where can I get the Laser Draw program? I can't find it anywhere.
nice add on! but even more interesting is your solution to get rid of the fumes!! did you build this on your own?
I assume you are talking about the coiled air hose and air assist nozzle. Yes, I 3D printed the nozzle and the hose is from McMaster Carr. If you google "k40 laser air assist" you will get plenty of variations.
Very helpful. Inkscape is a LOT more manageable than LaserDRW3.
1) Is the wood you are using 3 mm .. . or 6 mm? I haven't had much success with my 40W Chinese laser even cutting through 3 mm in one pass.
2) Do you know if a LawerDRW4 is available . . . and if it is, will this extension also work?
Thanks! Big help.
1) It is plywood a little thicker than 6mm. The core is pretty low density. The core may be balsa.
2) I am not aware of any LaserDRW4
Hi I like what you did. I remove the c3d for now while waiting for lw4. Is there a way I can print directly from Inkscape?
Thank you very much. Good job.
No, and I have no idea what c3d and lw4 are. Good luck.
Another QUestion, How do you send the exported file (all) at once to the laser or do you have to do each individually?
You have to open them individually in Laser Draw. FYI, more people use K40 Whisperer than this extension (including me) because it is much easier to work with.
Would it be difficult for me to configure slightly? I only use two modes, cut and mark, but I use the cut mode twice. The first cut I use on paper to leave me some grid lines for medium alignment, second burn is the real cut without the grid lines and the third is the marking run. Any suggestions on how might be able to still make this work? I know I am probably the odd guy out and the only one wanting two different cut files haha. Thanks again for the plugin.
Can you just make the grid lines blue and your cuts red? Then you would use the blue line file for your grid and the red line file for you cuts. You can still use the black items for raster engraving if needed.
It is certainly possible for you to modify the code. How difficult it would be depends on your previous experience with such things.
Feeling so dumb haha, yes that would work. Thank you.
During the cutting portion, what tells it to cut the star before the border? I believe if it were to cut the border before the star then the entire piece could fall out and not be in position for the star to get cut. So cut order I feel is important but I don't know how this is controlled. Can you help?
K40 Whisperer determines which cuts are inside of other cuts and cuts them first.
Hey SW,
Thank you for solving this headache for us all... I am having an issue when trying to transfer my LYZ file from Inkspace to LaserDRW3. After selecting how I would like to save the file I get a prompt box saying " Inkscape has received additional data from the script executed. The script did not return an error, but this may indicate the results will not be as expected..... units Not understood assuming px at 96 dpi" I am hoping this is a simple error from being a newbie! if you have any knowledge regarding this I would be very grateful for some help. Luke
In Inkscape go to document properties then set the Units to mm or inches. That should get rid of the message.
I worked! Thank you!! :D
Are there specific line colours that are for engraving and cutting out.
Cos I've watched a few and I got a bit confused. Red for engraving and blue for cutting out? Or does the object have to be filled up like a silhouette to indicate that it's gonna be engraved??
I really wanna understand. Thank you
The answers are in this video. But the answers in the video only apply to the LaserDRW inkscape extension.
K40 Whisperer is so much easier. Thanks for your video. I'm also wondering why mine can't cut trough 1/8 birch. What is the secret?
May be very dense wood, poorly aligned mirrors, dirty mirrors/lens, speed is too high or a combination of problems.
ok new question for you about your extension. Mine doesn't seem to see the difference in colours and exports the entire image as one type of cut. I have black and red in the image but it won't give me a cut file.
Here is a link to a blog post that I wrote to address the most common issues. The post was written for "K40 Whisperer" but it applies for the extension also.
www.scorchworks.com/Blog/k40-whisperer-vector-colors-and-text-in-k40-whisperer/
hi i cant get the zip file to work properly everything goes into the all folder and the raster engrave folder but no vector engrave,vector cut or raster engrave! can you help please.
Do the files work if you save them individually. (i.e. the non-zip .lyz option)
My inkspace version is 0.4 maybe due to that my zip file gives error and Lyz file can not be opened in laserDrw
hi, will this work with every laserdrw compatible printer? like the LS-3020 for example
oh and also, on the LS-3020 it used a digital power percentage, any recommendation on how much power should i use to cut a 3mm plywood?
The extension saves LaserDraw files so yes it works with any laser you are using LaserDraw with. This extension was written before K40 Whisperer. I prefer K40 Whisperer over this extension. I don't know what percentages to use on the digital version.
@@ScorchWorks ah i see, thanks for the tip!
Also, i've had troubles on cutting clean 3mm & 6mm plywoods, any tips on how to?
@@EnmaRyuzawa98 Put painters tape on before you cut or sand the surfaces after you cut.
@@ScorchWorks i see, thanks for the tip!
What speed and percent laser power are you set up for cutting ?
I used 10 mm/s my machine has an ammeter not the digital display. I set it to 10 mA.
@@ScorchWorks need advice, just replaced 40 W for 50 W laser tube, by setting 85 % lase power and 6 mm/s still can not cut 3mm plywood in one phase? What I should do ?
I would guess the power supply is not powerful enough to drive a 50 watt tube but I am guessing (I have a stock tube)
Hi. Any idea how to change the depth of engraving on laserdrw or machine? No matter what setting I mess with it it cuts fairly deep into wood. Also no matter what density I put it in it is pretty much same exact very dark engraving. Any ideas to change these two settings? Wondering if I got a faulty machine as it seems like it just has one setting. Please help. Thanks! Shannon
Use a lower power setting and/or increase the speed.
Thanks! I will try that!
what am i doing wrong i create a simple rectangle with a star inside the stroke on the rec. is red the stroke on the star is blue i create a zip file. the cut file is blank the vector engrave file is correct and the engrave file is the rec.
I can not tell without taking a look at you svg file. I you want to you can send it to me. scorch at scorchworks.com
Are you keeping the actual water pump in the water?
Yes, I have a submersible pump, that is where a submersible pump is designed to be.
Do you find you have issues with the image down scaling when importing into laserdrw? I seem to lose about 60%
There are a lot of idiosyncrasies with SVG files when it comes to relating the data back to a real physical size. The program used to create the SVG file may affect the scale on output. One trick is to start a new document in Inkscape then import any existing SVG files this will help normalize the data in the final SVG file. My newer program K40Whisperer is more picky about the SVG files it accepts for this very reason. I exclusively use K40 Whisperer now because the workflow is so much simpler. If you can't get the scale right by importing the design into a new file you can send me a sample file to look at. scorch at scorchworks.com
it scales properly from inkscape to laserdrw. but the measurements of the item I am engraving are set to the size of the item. but when it comes out of the engraver it is much smaller then the dimensions are that is listed on the program.
+Jeremy Benson That can happen if you change the resolution setting in LaserDRW. The resolution should be set to 1000 dpi.
you sir are a god send. I have been racking my brain trying to figure out what was causing that to happen. and speaking to the people I purchased it from didn't help. So again thank you very much.
I keep getting the error "some operations could not be performed because the system is out of memory. I have tried multiple solutions but to no avail. I can't get laserdrw to open my raster file.
I don't know why you are getting that. If you e-mail me the input SVG file I can try it to see if I can reproduce the error. scorc at scorchworks.com
Hello SW,
I follow all the steps in your tutorial but when I try to load my LasserDraw the vector designed in Inkscape is no valid or incorrect, I have Laser Draw 2013.02 Inkscape 0.92, could you helpme out ? thanks
FYI ...I tried in zip file and individual file lyz but no....
I can try but you need to give me more details. Please provide more details by e-mail: scorch at scorchworks com
What if you start with the file named "all"? The machine will know where to engrave and cut in one job?
You can run that file but you would not have the opportunity to change power settings between engrave and cut operations.
hi how are you? i have a problem with my laserdrw when i import a big file it stop working do you have any idea about that?
+Elie Mrad you are probably running out of memory. LaserDRW is a 32 bit app so it does not have access to all of your memory if you have more than 4 gigs.
is their any solution for this?
How can I let's say do this with Logos which are in png or jpg format? I used my Logo and edited the Colors red, blue, and black for each item in a graphic designer(XARA). Opened the picture in Inkscape and then exported as Lyz.rar file(received an message that two items are at 96dpi that it's not an error but something might not be right... I opened it in LaserDRW and when I open the individual files nothing shows up but if I open the all file... everything shows up?
Could it be that I made the colored lines too thin?
Is a png or jpg editable in Inkscape as it is in a Graphic Designer? What do I need to do to make this work?
Thank you guys
You can't vector cut or vector engrave raster images (i.e. png, jpeg, etc.). Everything in raster images is interpreted as raster engrave. You would need to convert the raster image to vector format by using the bitmap trace function in Inkscape or creating the design as a vector to begin with.
@@ScorchWorks thak you for your reply, I will try to get that done and see if I can manage.
@@ScorchWorks So Basically I would have to export from my Graphic designer each object individually as an Vector. I'm trying to make an mixed creation with Vector , Engrave and cutout sections and I am still really new at all of this.
Hi!
What kind of air compressor do you use?
Thanks
I use an aquarium air pump. Mine is 110 Liter/minute. I don't know if it needs to be that fast or not but that is what I bought.
i had a same laser cutter. Are you satisfied with the cutting or engraving? The wood does not get burned?
@@k5ekedo It works fine for me.
@@k5ekedo It works fine for me.
Thank you very much for your help!
I am using ubuntu for my OS and it is not letting me copy the files to their folders. I have adjusted permissions and such but to no avail. Anyhelp would be grealty sppreciated.
Here is a link to some Ubuntu specific instructions:
www.ubuntubuzz.com/2016/05/how-to-install-inkscape-extension-in-ubuntu.html?m=1
Ok got the link and thank you...however. When I follow the example of NiceCharts and type in the code I only get the sudo menu of command options. What am I missing? New to Ubuntu so please bare with me. Thanks. (i feel this is easy and I am just missing something silly)
They might have made it more complicate than it needed to be... The shell command to copy files is just 'cp' You need to use elevated privileges so you use the "sudo" command in front of it. So to move a file you do "sudo cp /directory_name/filename.py /destination_dir/" There are other tricks to make it "easier" but if you are just learning this will get you the results you need. (replace directory_name,filename and destination_dir with the file names and directory names needed.) If you need help with any Linux commands use the shell comand "man" with followed by the name of the command. (for example "man ls" will show you the manual page for the "ls" command)
I saw the k40 go down to 275 then I went to buy one and it is now up to 450ish. :(
unfortunately no 3d printer. how much would you charge for one?
I don't sell thinks but you can have a sevice like 3D Hubs or TREATSTOCK print one for you. The little tabs broke off of mine, the design isn't perfect.
cj
hi I can't get the files to paste into inkscape, they copy ok but will not paste, I have followed the given steps but nothing is pasting, I am quite a learner at transferring files so probably doing something wrong, advice please!
Nothing is cut or pasted in the video. So I am not sure how the question is relevant.
@@ScorchWorks then how do you get the extension files into inkscape? I have watched the video again but I still don't understand, I have tried to type the files in but that isn't working either.
@@colinjohnson6824 You need to put the files in a specific folder on your. computer. The instructions are here: www.scorchworks.com/LaserDRW_extension/laserdrw_extension.html#documentation
@@colinjohnson6824 You don't paste the files into Inkscape you just identify which folder to put them in by looking in the Inkscape window. You can use File Explorer to drag and drp them into the correct folder.
what w or mw is your laser
40W
How the hell do you open Laser DRW? its installed.
Double click on the Laser Draw shortcut that was created on your desktop when you installed Laser Draw.
Good morning excellent tutorial, you have a like.
One question, I downloaded laserdrw3 from the official site, but it does not connect to my machine (cnc3018 with 10 w laser) and gives me this message:
"THIS FUNCION NEED USB-SUPPORT" thanks for the help, the software would solve me some problems.
Laser Draw will not work with that laser.
Very kind you saved me time. I would like to take photographs, and cut text, but in the midst of thousands of tutorials, yours was clear and working until the end. I have inkscape, laserweb, I would like to cut good cards but I'm on the high seas. However yours is a nice tutorial- congratulations.@@ScorchWorks
Hello I am unable to add those extensions. Can you guide me thru?
Adding Inkscape extensions is documented many places online. If you Google it you will find many helpful sites.
Thank you for your answer.
rdworks does it apply for a 40w engraving laser from what do you know?
+Michele Bù adding an Inkscape extension is the same process no matter what extension you are adding. This extension does not work with rdworks.
I downloaded the extension but i don't know how to put them in the software :/
+Michele Bù There are instructions on the web page:
www.scorchworks.com/LaserDRW_extension/laserdrw_extension.html#documentation
what amps did you use to cut?
About 14 mA
Came to ask the same question. Your knob must be on differently to my one as i would be well over 15ma at that point.
you cut through 6mm thick Plywood on 14ma and 15mm/s? Have you upgraded the laser tube or mirrors / lens? I can just about cut through 3mm plywood at 10mm/s and 12ma in a single pass lol.
Thanks for sharing this Inkscape extension, this will be a godsend for me... literally priceless. Thank you again.
I have not upgraded the mirrors or laser tube. The air assist makes all the difference. (in the video I ran at 12mm/s)
Ok, same here, i have the LO Air assist head and a 60LPM air pump... maybe AMP meter is off or something. Thanks for the reply.
hi
how to engraving a picture on a wood with laserdrw?
+pretorian369 You need to dither the image before bringing it into LaserDRW.
whether it matches the phottograv program?
Sorry, I don't understand your question.
Scorch Works
whether this program is working with laserdrw?
www.photograv.com/aspnet2/
pretorian369 I don't know anything about that program.
I'm trying to use this software but every time I do I get the following error "USBKey is not pluged" anyone know what I need to be able to use this software
You need to have the USB key installed in a usb port on the computer running Laser Draw for Laser Draw to work.
Scorch Works but where do you get the key?
@@georgemellis5212 comes with the machine. Please check what controller board you have. I.e what is written on the board the USB cable plugs into. LIHUIYU, Moshi or something else.
Scorch Works Thank you, no USB came with my engraver the only thing written on the mother board is “Makerbase” MKS DLC. So I suspect this software won’t work my engraver
@@georgemellis5212 You are correct.
For the people who search the software Laser Draw (LaserDRW 2013.02) you can find it on this link: lasergods.com/downloads/
Regards :)
My problem is I'm getting and image when engraving that's the sizing is off
That is hard to read. Are the vector cut, vector engrave and raster engrave all scaled the same. Or is the raster engrave image scaled different than the vector data.
@@ScorchWorks what's happening is it's swishing the image making it oblong
@@ScorchWorks kind ovaling the image
If you e-mail me the file I can look into it. (e-mail address is in the help menu)
@@ScorchWorks and engravement is bigger that what was made on inkscape