I normally hang out in the turning forum. Years ago I bought a cheap diode laser engraver to embellish some of my work. Laser was 1.5 watt and for what it was, it did what I wanted it to. At that time, power options were very limited unless a person wanted to spend thousands of dollars for a CO2 machine. Advances have been made and I recently upgraded to an Ortur 10 watt diode machine. An Ortur LM3.  Wow, what a difference. I also upgraded my software and bought a license for lightburn. A software designed just for laser engraving. Even though it's intended for laser engravers I can see the software being useful for general design and especially for scroll saw artists as it is a powerful, intuitive drawing program as well. This is my first "from scratch" project using the new laser and lightburn to do the graphics. As a complete novice it took me maybe an hour to draw this and it takes about 2 minutes to burn. I could probably  draw  it in just a few minutes now. The plane cork coasters are very reasonably priced from amazon.

 

I see you got the engraver communicating with the PC

28 minutes ago, lew said:

I see you got the engraver communicating with the PC

 

Yes and no, but more no than yes. I've had a windows 8 machine dedicated to the shop to use with my eleksmaker. Windows 8 was ill conceived, ill developed, and a contender for worse OS ever with millenium, but that's just my opinion. I have followed several tutorials, upgraded to the recommended driver, rebooted, uninstalled, reinstalled, rebooted, etc. etc. That computer just does not like this laser. The computer sees it but as a thumb drive and none of my controller programs will connect. So, I am using a windows 10 machine that I'm carrying back and forth to the shop. Not the best solution but workable.

3 hours ago, Steve Krumanaker said:

Windows 8 was ill conceived, ill developed, and a contender for worse OS ever with millenium,

Agree 100%

 

Did you see this page- https://www.ortur.cn/software_download/

Just throwing stuff out here and maybe you have tried them- supposed to work for W8 too

 

OLM2 Pro - DRIVER WINDOWS 7.pdf

https://www.reddit.com/r/OrturLaserUsers/

This might be an alternative-

https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-upgrade-from-windows-8-to-windows-10-windows-11

 

It's a free upgrade. Your laptop will probably support W10 but probably not W11

Edited April 24, 20233 yr by lew

1 hour ago, lew said:

Just throwing stuff out here and maybe you have tried them- supposed to work for W8 too

 

OLM2 Pro - DRIVER WINDOWS 7.pdf 316.33 kB · 0 downloads

 

Lew, that's the driver I've been trying to use, it just doesn't work for this machine. In addition to being a windows 8 machine, it was also a cheapo gateway from wamert(walmart) and was pathetic in every sense. I tried to upgrade to windows 10 several times during the free period and it just wouldn't do it. Sometimes, I just really miss DOS.

I’ll keep looking 

Good information Steve. I've been watching some YT videos from a young fellow called SamCraft (they also have a family channel GreenAcre Homestead). Just a "good 'ole boy" but seems to be very knowledgeable and proficient with lasers as well as Lighburn. He has both laser and CO2 units and has does various comparative tests. IIRC, in one of his videos, he talks about a similar communication issue you have experienced with Lightburn. Might be some help there??

 

Sam does coasters using slate. BTW, nice job on yours.

Found this- Not sure if it is what you need-

 

https://sparks.gogo.co.nz/ch340.html

Hey Steve,

Lightburn is a great software. I have a X Tool D1. Ortur makes a great product. Lew has been giving some great advice. Have you looked at the lightburn forums? Very helpful. https://forum.lightburnsoftware.com/

20 hours ago, Grandpadave52 said:

Good information Steve. I've been watching some YT videos from a young fellow called SamCraft (they also have a family channel GreenAcre Homestead). Just a "good 'ole boy" but seems to be very knowledgeable and proficient with lasers as well as Lighburn. He has both laser and CO2 units and has does various comparative tests. IIRC, in one of his videos, he talks about a similar communication issue you have experienced with Lightburn. Might be some help there??

 

Sam does coasters using slate. BTW, nice job on yours.

Thanks Dave, I will check him out. I've been watching Louisiana hobby guy. He has really good lightburn tutorials and I've learned a lot from him.

20 hours ago, lew said:

Found this- Not sure if it is what you need-

 

https://sparks.gogo.co.nz/ch340.html

 

Thanks Lew, I will give it a look.

12 minutes ago, KevTN said:

Hey Steve,

Lightburn is a great software. I have a X Tool D1. Ortur makes a great product. Lew has been giving some great advice. Have you looked at the lightburn forums? Very helpful. https://forum.lightburnsoftware.com/

Thank you Kev, I will look at their forums.

I finally found a solution for the laser situation and the windows 8 machine. It was simple really, I trashed the computer and bought a mini desktop off Amazon. Windows 11, Intel Celeron quad core processor with 8 gig of ram and a 256 ssd hard drive. Well less than 200 bucks. I spent 20 bucks on a wireless mouse/keyboard combo, already had a monitor and I was up and running. It's about 5" square, 2" high and I am seriously impressed by this little computer. This is my first burn using it.

Basic design is from a Louisiana hobby guy video and drawn with lightburn using off the web elements. Plywood  is from a dollar store. About 3" diameter.

You trashed a Windows 8 machine? Oh, the humanity!! 

Seems to be what the doctor ordered.  The details are small yet the cuts are crisp.

Nice project results!  La Hobby guy is crazy good

Love it Steve, both the work and the subject manner. Glad you got everything going. Sounds like a great deal on the mini-laptop too.

 

RIP, WIN 8. You changed the world...for the better to WIN 10