Software setup

STEP 6: engrave with lasergrbl software

1. Open the laser grbl software, select the corresponding COM port of the engraving machine, and click connect.

2. Click the file option at the top of the software, choose to open the file, select the pattern or code file we want to engrave, or directly drag the file that needs to be engraved into the grbl software.

3. After opening the picture file as shown in (1), you can adjust the parameters of the engraving pattern. If it is a code file, the parameters are generally set. You don't need to adjust. Set the engraving origin directly. After previewing, you can start engraving without any problems.

4. When the file is load, the following parameters interface can be adjusted:

• Resize: Smooth (HQ Bicubic)-smoothing mode, which makes the edges of the picture slightly smooth, Sharp (Neares Neighbor)-sharpening mode, which makes the edges of the picture sharper, generally the default smoothing mode is fine.

• Brightness: adjust the brightness of the picture.

• Contrast: adjust picture contrast.

• White limit: limit the white part of the picture.

• Black and white: accentuate the black/white color.

4.1. The conversion tool adjustment is as follow:

• Line-to-line tracking: Divide the picture into multiple lines to carve out and use multiple lines to form the picture.

• 1bit BW dithering: divide the picture into multiple pixels for engraving.

• Vectorization: Convert the edge of the picture into lines, engrave the outline of the picture, often used for cutting.

• Centerline: centerline carving, transforming the picture into a bone shape.

• Passthorugh: direct engraving, engraving the original picture of the picture, without any processing, generally suitable for black and white photos such as stick figures.

4.2. The functional area buttons are as follow:

• Restore all changes and restore the original image.

• Rotate the picture 90° clockwise.

• Rotate the picture 90° counterclockwise.

• Flip the picture horizontally.

• Flip the picture vertically.

• Crop the picture.

• Intelligently cut the picture, it will cut off the white part of the picture edge that cannot be engraved with the color.

• Reverse the color, reverse the black and white.

5. After adjusting the color of the picture and the engraving method, click Next to start setting the engraving speed, laser power range, engraving pattern size and other parameters. A new window “Target image” will open to adjust the settings as shown in (2). The settings to be adjusted are as follow:

• Speed-Engraving Speed: Adjust the speed of engraving images, mm per minute, please refer to the laser instruction manual for adjustment parameters.

• Laser option-Laser Mode: M3 constant laser power mode, constant laser power mode simply maintains the programmed laser power, regardless of whether the machine is moving, accelerating, or stopping. This provides better control over the state of the laser. This can lead to more consistent cuts of more difficult materials.

M4 dynamic laser power mode. When performing engraving work, the laser head must continuously accelerate and decelerate to follow direction changes. In M3 mode, this will cause more severe burns and slow down the laser speed. The engraving effect of M3 mode is that the engraving marks are shallow in the middle, and the engraving marks on the left and right sides are deep. The engraving effect of M4 mode is the same as that in the preview. Generally, the engraving in M4 mode is selected.

• Minimum S value Maximum S value: Adjust the power range of laser engraving patterns, S0- S1000=0%-100%, generally the minimum value is set to 0, and the maximum value is set to 1000. When engraving paper and other materials that are easy to engrave, you can appropriately reduce the maximum S value, for example, set it to S=500.

5.1. The Image size and position adjustments are as follow:

• Automatically adjust size: After checking this option, you can adjust the image DPI value. The larger the DPI value, the smaller the engraving image size, and the smaller the DPI value, the larger the engraving image size. This setting is generally not used.

• Size: W-adjust the width of the picture, H-adjust the height of the picture, the unit is mm. Offset: X-the distance of the engraved image from the starting point X axis, Y-the distance of the engraved image from the starting point Y axis, in mm.

• The small button behind the offset parameter: 1-return to zero offset value, 2-automatic offset, the starting point of the engraving coordinate is the image center point.

6. After completing the pattern engraving parameter setting, click Create.

7. Move the laser position to the starting point of engraving we need (the engraving pattern usually starts from the lower left corner, so generally move the laser to the lower left corner of the material), after moving to the starting point we need to set, click 2 to set the origin Button to set this position as the starting point of pattern engraving as shown in (3), click 3 to preview the engraving in (3), after the preview is complete, click to start engraving.

8. Set the number of times of engraving. The default is once. Click the start button to start engraving as shown in (4). You can also adjust if the laser power or engraving speed is not suitable during the engraving process as shown in (5).