Create a clock face using LightBurn 

That is a great idea! I hadn't even through about a face place for a gauge. Thank you for mentioning that!

Thank you for the kind words. It is always good to hear that our videos are helpful.

That is great! I have a thing for clocks but you can only have so many in your house. ;-)

That is great! I hope you enjoy that machine. :-)

You are welcome!

That is good to hear. I am glad that you were able to get something from the video. I am not sure if there is a way to do what you are asking. That would be cool if there was. I will look into it to see if there is some way to do that more efficiently. If I find something, I will let you know. Having some sort of auto fill functionality like there is in Excel would be cool. Enter 1, 2 and have it figure out 3, 4, 5, 6....

It looks like you might be able to do this! I am going to play with this to see if I can get it to work. I'm not sure if it will be quicker or not but who cares, it would be cool! Here is the wording I found at LightBurn on this: docs.lightburnsoftware.com/Tools/VariableText.html#automatic-arrays Automatic Arrays✉¶ When copying a text shape using Grid Array, Circle Array, or Copy Along Path, LightBurn can automatically advance the 'Offset' value on your variable text objects for you. In this way you can quickly create full sheets of items containing serial numbers or CSV file references.

I just couldn't leave it alone and I had to try it. I was eventually able to get it to work. The trick is dealing with the 12 O'clock position. If that is our first variable (serial number), LightBurn doesn't let the next one be 1 as it only allows positive increments. I guess I could read the values from a CSV file but that just adds more complexity to the project. What I found worked well was to put "dd" at the 12 O'clock position and then do an array at 30° and make the 1 O'clock mark. Then delete the 12 O'clock. The next step was to select the "dd" at the 1 O'clock position and change its text type to a serial number. Making sure its offset is 1. Then I did my circular array for 360° and 12 copies. When I set my serial number to start at 1, all is good. If you did this frequently, it might be faster than re-typing the position values. This was a great idea and I just might have to do a video on this. Another clock face but utilizing the variable functionality within LightBurn.

Great question. Everything you draw in LightBurn will be a vector. If it looks jagged on the screen, that is most likely due to what is called aliasing. It is why a diagonal line may look jagged but a vertical or horizontal line looks nice and straight. Because LightBurn works with vectors, the line will be straight when you burn it. Well, at least the code that is sent to your laser will be for a straight line. My laser likes to draw a little wavy sometimes. ;-)

Thank you for asking. You aren't the first. ;-) The art library that I am using is something that built within LightBurn. As I found images that I felt would be handy to have, I added them. I have had other people ask about downloading libraries for LightBurn. I have not found any as of yet. The main reason might be that everyone's needs are so unique and distribution of art work can be tricky unless you own the distribution rights to all of the the artwork.

Depending on what you mean by "fill wouldn't work", here is an idea. If your fill shows in when you do a preview but does not show when you are in the editing screen, here is what you can do. There is a setting you will need to change. Under the Edit menu, select Settings. Or you can click on the Settings icon that looks like two cogs. In the "Display / Graphics" area, turn on the "Filled Rendering (slower)" option, it is off by default. When you have a layer's mode set to "Fill", it will show filled while you are editing. This is slower as the computer is having to do more work. Unless you have a very complex drawing, you won't even notice the slowdown unless you are on a very old computer. 🙂 I hope this helps.

@@CNCATHome thank you I will try that out.

Good questions. It is exactly what it says. It performs a fill on your shapes and it burns a line around it. It does both fill and line for your burn. There are times when an extra burn around your fill can make it look a little nicer.

@@CNCATHome Thanks for the answer. If I asked you to share your art library, would I be asking you too much?

@@Dancopymus - I have gotten that request before and I really can't to that. Most of the images are ones that I found on the internet and I do not have copyright permission on them. I am not using them for sale so I am not working outside of the copyright laws. Once I start selling or distributing them, then it starts to be an issue. The best way to get a library is to search on images and save the ones you like. If you are going to use that image on something you plan to sell, contact the image owner and see if you can get permission to use it. 🙂

@@CNCATHome Thanks

Thank you for the question. The Art gallery is a feature that LightBurn provides empty by default and you get to create a library of images that you would like to have. There are plenty of out on the internet. I am unaware of any libraries for LightBurn art libraries that you can just download. Sounds like a good question for their forum! :-)

@@CNCATHome Thank you so much for your reply. I appreciate your help if you can provide me with the download link from any website.

@@samrust8020 - I did a little looking and did not find any art libraries for LightBurn. Start your own library by importing images that you would like to burn or just have available to plop onto a project. If you have a logo, that would be a good thing to have at the ready. The art library seems to be very unique to each individual. Let's keep people up-to-date with what we find, if anything.

I had a big long explanation of I don't know what is going and then I remembered, there is a setting that tells LightBurn to either display fill or not. In the "Window" menu, you want to select "Filled / Coarse" or "Filled / Smooth". Otherwise, you can see things filled in by doing a preview (Alt + P). Great Question.

@@CNCATHome Thanks for your reply I will give it a try

There are several things you can do that may help with engraving quality. Number 1 is to make sure your laser is focused properly. Insure your lens is as clean as it can be. Setting your feed rate and other parameters is critical to getting a clean burn. Each material type will needs it own settings. By experimenting with your laser configuration, you can come up with what work for you. Here are some parameters you will want to fine tune: feed rate, laser power, lines per mm, over scan. Sometimes, the order in which things are burned in your project can affect the quality. There is no one magic thing to improve your quality. Keep in mind that the characteristics of your laser will change over time and you may need to adjust your burn settings to adjust for this. I hope this helps.

Dovresti essere in grado di scoprirlo su Internet con una rapida ricerca. Ecco un esempio di quello che ho trovato: images.app.goo.gl/fC52726GwCWqKbWYA In bocca al lupo! :-)

If you are talking about the graphic that I used, I really can't. It isn't my artwork. I found it on the internet with a search. Start here: www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=i.pinimg.com/originals/47/f0/7a/47f07ab86b3944cd0dd4f68ab1b58455.jpg&imgrefurl=www.pinterest.com/pin/377669118723874530/&tbnid=UMZy3n21eYEnLM&vet=1&docid=ycKI-Rk2O0piRM&w=300&h=300&itg=1&hl=en&source=sh/x/im

@@CNCATHome Cheers for replying, no I was thinking about the lightburn clock face file. Probably getting too excited as I wait for my laser to be delivered. I have lists of projects I want to do :)

@@patjosullivan1 - Ha ha! I see. I am going to make you work for your clock face. While you are waiting for your laser, you can learn how to work in LightBurn. You can get a 30 free trial version of LightBurn and it is fully functional. If you can follow this video and make a clock face, then I was successful in my video. Let me know if you are able to and if you do run into issues and are unable to create your own clock face, then we can work out getting you the LightBurn file.

@@CNCATHome Cheers, no worries, I'm one of those hit the ground running guys :) Already bought and am learning Lightburn, have loads of files ready to go :) Thanks for sharing the video.

@@patjosullivan1 - I have been known to do the same thing. I hope your laser comes soon.