Downgrade your Ezcad 3 Board to Ezcad 2 for LIGHTBURN!
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- Опубликовано: 23 июл 2024
- Hey guys what’s up it’s Alex over at Laser Everything and today I’m going to be walking you through, step by step, on how exactly to downgrade your Ezcad 3 controller to an Ezcad 2 controller. Why on earth would you want to do this? Well, the initial release of LightBurn for Galvo lasers will only work with Ezcad 2! Now, to be clear, Ezcad 3 support isn’t hopeless but it’s far from confirmed. If you want to be absolutely sure you can use LightBurn with your Galvo laser this is the guide for you! Focus up! This is going to be a tough one, but if you follow the instructions you should be able to tackle this project without any special skills or experience. Enough chit chat, let’s get into it.
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0:00 - Intro
0:53 - Ezcad Overview
1:34 - Purchasing an Ezcad Board
3:19 - Supply List
4:45 - Taking Apart Your Case
5:44 - Case Configuration
6:33 - Ezcad 3 Controller Overview
8:00 - Ezcad Lite Controller Overview
9:41 - Ezcad 2 Controller Overview
11:00 - Ez3 - EzLite Swap Game Plan
11:50 - Ez3 - Ez2 Swap Game Plan
12:33 - Rotary Note
12:57 - Multimeter Voltage Testing
14:23 - Disconnecting the Ez3 Control Board
15:45 - Rewiring the General Inputs
18:40 - Rewiring Rotary/Extension Axis
21:31 - Connecting Power
24:00 - Reconnecting Cables
25:55 - Testing our Modifications
30:50 - Final Thoughts
31:46 - Supporting the Channel
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Great content as usual.... thanks for the effort that you put into this
Thanks, glad you liked it!
A very well made video. This looks intimidating but you made it very straightforward.
Thanks, glad you liked it!
Great tutorial!!!
Thanks!
Hey Alex great job on the channel it's been extremely helpful to many! Quick question as it relates to Fiber. I currently own a 50W Raycus but coming to realize the limitations that I was not aware when initially buying the machine. Do you know if the Mactron 30W that you link to in your description supports the broader frequency band that you often discuss and that would be compatible with your Steel Anneal settings? I would of course get the Ezcad2 version in anticipation of Lightburn - that is a huge development! As a side note have you tried using the rotary with your UV machine - specifically with glass applications? Thanks in advance for your insights!
Sorry for the short response but I'll try to answer your questions succinctly. The limited frequency is due to it being a Raycus, not the manufacturer. Any laser with a JPT source in it instead of a Raycus will grant you a larger frequency range. Of course I'll always recommend the Mactrons! Ez2 for Lightburn absolutely. I have used the UV with rotary. Standard chuck rotaries are nearly impossible to use with glass. You'll have to wire up some sort of roller rotary for gantry lasers for use with the UV, it would work MUCH better.
Hi could you plz make a tutorial about how to adjust xy axis for moving tables in ezcad!
I'll have to buy one and find out which of my systems support xy tables but its something we can definitely look at.
Good video. Two things I'd encourage everyone to do, 1) Use a voltage tester after turning off the power, and before opening up the case. 2) Do it again after turning off the power again when the case is opened up after you cycle the power off (14:20), before you start disconnecting anything.
Good tips Sam! Thanks for sharing!
it is very interesting! but if i have to replace a seaCAD board to put an ezcad2 board, do i have to launch the connectors as well?
How can I do that? with the seaCAD board I can only use their BSLCAD software, but I don't like it at all and I would like to be able to use lightburn!
can you help me? Thanks
Luckily, I have EZ Cad 2 board but BRAVO ALEX for that video to help the people that need it.
Who would have guessed ez2 would have been a blessing in the long run? lol
Hello an excellent video. Thank you very much.
I am looking for the tax card and have found 3 types
Model A B and C which one to use if you have a rotary axis?
Thanks for your answer
Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean by tax card.
What was not covered well was - what capabilities do you LOSE in doing this? He said "no z axis support" - does this mean it doesn't even do Z focus? What about a MOPA laser - does Lightburn allow adjustment of "Q" or ns?
excellent tutorial , do you know if a clone board (cyclone) would be a straight swap with that board, apple mac wont connect to the cyclone board and thats what has came in my laser
Yeah, I haven't used one but my understanding is it should be more or less a straight swap.
nice sir i have JCZ FBLI-B-LV4A control which pin give 5v supple + and which pin give -
Hi Alex, thanks for your video. Do you know if Lightburn also supports BJJCZ Lite instead of BJJCZ standard cards?
Yes, upon relase Lightburn for Galvo will 100% support Ezcad Lite Boards.
Just went over this video. I heard on one of the Laser Everything Podcasts there was someone who created a board that makes all this easier. Is that the case? Thank you!
Seems like we could make an adapter cable for this to make the swap easier?
Db37 and DB9 wired to the DB25, a few male/female plugs with the wires interconnected then you can just unplug and plug in the jumper cables. Of course you would have to source the opposite gender plugs but it would make it easier to swap back later?
Should be relatively straight forward yes!
Hello, very good video, I'm from Brazil and for me to purchase this equipment, it is very expensive due to the fees. A $200 cabinet costs 9,000 reais in Brazil when imported. Could you recommend a store there that would have stock in Brazil with the parts?
Can you do like a 10 dos and donts with a fiber laser? Particularly the donts.
Yeah good idea I can definitely do that!
Will be so glad to ditch EZ crash. It'll be even better if Lightburn eventually has a way to circumvent the activation limit with EZCAD3.
IF they can do it the way I think they will be able to do it, it will skip activation all together as the activation only really affects the software, not the hardware controller.
Can't wail for Lightburn. I already have the EZcad2 ver
Nice, you're done then haha. Should be soon!
is it possible to use lightburn software with BJJCZ Lite version board?
if its an ezcad2 lite board, then it should be compatible.
My machine has a clone bjjcz board. Can it work on lightburn ?
There are clone BJJCZ boards that work with ezcad, and others that work with seacad or other softwares. I'm not sure about other software/controller combo compatibility, but the boards that work with ezcad2 should work with lightburn. If you go to their site and download the trial, you can install the driver and test it freely to verify before purchasing.
hello sir ..
is possible to use ezcad 3 controller without galvo head
for table only like co2 laser ? it means y&x table and normal head with fucos lanse
hope to replay soon
You could utilize an ez3 controller with a standard head and tower if you wanted (or powered tower controlled by the controller would be what the industry calls a 2.5D laser). The X/Y table if controlled through the controller would just need to be wired into a controller that has additional axis input.
If you don't need X/Y and could get away with just a single axis, we are testing out a powered X indexing table with lightburn now actually, in place of a traditional rotary.
@@LaserEverything
thank you sir I am grateful for your response and explanation I hope in the future that you will make a detailed explanatory video for us on this idea. Thank you again my regards
I have a question. We bought a 2.5D fiber laser. I tried to set it up, and realized I can't use it because it was built for ezcad 3. I reached out to the person we got it from New. And no help. The machine didn't come with a dongle. And has no name plate anywhere telling me a model or serial number. What option do I have to use this machine? Is going from ezcad 3 to ezcad 2 an option on a 2.5d? At this point, I don't care about the auto focus feature. We were sold this machine with misinformation to begin with. So I just want tonuse it samebas we use our other fibers.
That's a tough situation for sure. I've pretty much exclusively seen the Z control being a ez3 thing on 2.5D lasers. While I've heard of some claim ez2 use with Z control, I've never personally seen it or been able to dig into the implementation.
Ezcad3 requires the dongle as you mentioned, since it utilizes an old style of physical authentication/licensing activation. If you were sold this by a vendor/seller, I would try and reach out again to work out the missing dongle so you can at least activate and use the software. Without that, I would argue that its an incomplete/non-functioning machine as is, since that is required in order to utilize the controller. If they sold it and described it as a complete and functioning machine with ezcad3, and if that description omits the dongle status, then you can also go to your credit card company / paypal (depending who you paid with) and ask/look into if its possible to fight the charge since the item doesn't function as described and fight for an item return/refund in full. Ezcad3 licensing isn't cheap, and if they sold you the controller, it should have come with the dongle/activations of a new controller.
Another thing to look into is buyer protections, whether it was through amazon, aliexpress, alibaba, or ebay even.
If its a used machine, you'll need to dig through the description and hopefully there are buyer protections available to you.
If all else fails and you want it to work on ezcad2 like the rest of the machines, you can do the downgrade, and you can even wire the Z tower to a tethered up/down set of buttons and use ez2 or lightburn.
Hello Alex, my name is Steve Miller. I just bought a new 5watt Inngu UV laser with ezcad3. What a mistake getting ezcad3! I'm wanting to downgrade ezcad3 to ezcad2. I don't feel confident enough to do the downgrade myself, can you point me in the direction of someone who would be willing to do the job for me. Thanks, Steve
Unfortunately Steve I don't have a recommendation for you off the top of my head. Any domestic entity capable of doing this work is going to charge you more than the value of the laser to do it. I would really recommend attempting it on your own. It isn't too bad I'm sure you can handle it.
@@LaserEverything I guess I'll have to give it a try later. Thanks for your quick response. Have a Great day! Steve
What do you lose by moving from JPT 2.5D ezcad3 towards ezcad 2?
If you use a 3d head + software controlled Z axis (a 3D) or just a software controlled Z axis (2.5D), you would lose the ability in software to control either of those in software and would be functionally back to a standard 2D laser configuration. Hopefully Lightburn is able to add/offer Z control in the future, but that would also require a model of the controller with extra axis support to wire and control the Z axis to, but that's a whole different conversation lol.
@@LaserEverything In practice you lose the possibility of working with 3D files, therefore "in layers" (Z axis, 2.5D/3D). With these EzCad3 controllers, they are creating quite a few problems... I don't want to say that I don't understand why, the I think the reason is to be able to have exclusivity on the sales of EzCad3. it's a real shame.. there is a general disappointment among users who purchased "3" controllers, seriously complicating the laser experience in a strong way. I wonder 2 things, one is: but, an agreement with the LightB programmers. giving him the possibility to read the flow of the Z axis, in case asking him for a one-off on sales, wouldn't it be ideal? Thus, as word spreads, users will be increasingly reluctant to purchase "3" controllers. And I still ask myself: I don't want to talk about 3D, but for 2.5D works, (I say this as a person who has recently approached this world) a way of manually stratifying the files and processing them in multiple steps, even with a 2D controller, will exist ? One thing is for sure, I already regretted buying a "3" controller... What advice do you feel like giving, as a couple using software, to process 3D files and then feed them to EzCad3? I hope they come to an agreement.. because everything is very complex like this.. 2 months of 100w 2.5D laser, I haven't yet been able to work a layered file with Z axis. Ezcad is limited, and it's all very complex, even on the simplest things. If they gave the opportunity to use Lightburn on "3" controllers it would sell three times as much. The only way is to spread the concept around as much as possible on the web, to highlight the difficulties well, and reduce the sales of the "3" controllers
Of course I speak from my experience, having a second 20w Ezcad2 and therefore I was able to try Lightburn on it.
Complete rip-off.
Advice on the software to pair, to stratify files, and then feed them to Ez3..
Of course I will purchase Lightburn for the second laser.
I take this opportunity to compliment you on all the work you do with the videos (even taking into account my lack of knowledge of English) which leads to exaggerated lengthening of times..
I apologize for the English from Google Translator.
I would like to add one thing: (sorry for the ignorance) but, it is possible that they have a monopoly on Z axis controller cards and that no one nowadays is able to manufacture laser machines with alternative controllers that work and can be used with software non-owners?? I can't believe this is happening. Maybe there is an Ezcad3 patent for the Z axis?
With all the technology and robotics that exist today, my guess seems like a long shot!
Any updates for ezcad3 with LB?
Yup! Not compatible lol
@@LaserEverything Thx! Can't switch till they do. :(
Thank god i did not ordered my machine with ezcad3. Was so close to do that..
Lol same
Bullet dodged!
I got lucky getting my machine around October 2021 and have the crash-prints EZCAD2, whew! Right?!?
Is light burn easier to use ? Or why would you downgrade ?
Significantly more stable, processes files faster, and a Dev team that actually listens to user feedback and wants to improve the software.
I am part of the beta test group for LightBurn and for comparison sake decided to work with a file that was giving me trouble in EZCad2. EZCad2 took 8 minutes just to open and when open really bogged down the software. A friend with EZCad3 said they had to wait a long time for the file to open as well and the software was sluggish doing so little as zooming or selecting a curve. LightBurn opened almost instantly and I was able apply hatch settings and start marking parts well before EZCad even opened the file.
Definitely easier to use along with the comments from these other guys which are both accurate. Everything about it is better.
Hahahaha, "this is bad even for..." @21 min
Soooooooooo true tho.
I would disconnect that unused 12V power supply
Any particular reason? Just wasting power?
@@LaserEverything some chinse power supplies doesn't like to be without load it might cause some problems
Ah gotcha I'll pull it then just in case ☺️
I just ordered a 2.5d 50 watt JPT laser. It comes with Ezcad 3. Can you still do the 2.5d reliefs n such if you down grade to Ezcad 2 to use light burn ?
Yes absolutely.
@@LaserEverything Why? EZCad3 is much powerful. Lightburn doesn't allow work with X/Y table, there is no even Z-axis movement! At least it doesn't work in latest version 1.13.01. I agree about EZCad 2, which is really crap, but 3rd version and hardware works excellent. I have both (Lightrburn + board and EZCad 3 with DLC board)
it's the only answer I don't see.. to which I would have liked to know the answer too.. what do you lose from 2.5D ezcad3 by switching to ezcad 2?