Luban 3.15 - explanation of different laser toolpaths

Hi!
I just upgraded to Luban 3.15 and created a Laser engraving file.
I note that now there are 4 options for the toolpath:

  • horizontal
  • vertical
  • diagonal
  • diagonal2

Could you please comment on the differences between these toolpaths?
What is the motivation behind having these options?
Are there certain pros/cons for each option?

Thanks in advance!

This isnā€™t new. It was in 3.8.0. Maybe they dropped it at some point, but pretty sure itā€™s been there
It just affects the direction of passes. Whether you want to use it depends on you and your artwork. Iā€™ve found that occasionally (especially when the artwork is hand drawn like pencil or charcoal) it just helps to go in the direction that the strokes of the artwork already have.

-S

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It could indeed be that this option existed beforehand, but Iā€™ve only become aware of it today.
I was surprised that as I was creating the toolpath, the default option was ā€œhorizontalā€, so along the X-axis, instead of ā€œverticalā€ along the Y-axis.
Up until now I hadnā€™t seen this option and all my toolpaths were created with the vertical direction.

The idea of re-creating the original strokes of an artwork with the laser makes sense, good point @sdj544!
Iā€™m still curious whether these patterns have any pros/cons when there are no obvious strokes to consider.

The only other thing that might make it matter is wood grain.
It might work better to go cross grain than with (or vice versa)
Or make no difference.
I tend to leave it at horizontal default most of the time unless I see some definite reason to change.
One last thing, the path might be faster if itā€™s going the direction as the majority of lines.

-S

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I am new to this system. However I do know something about wood and wood grains. not everythind but a lot. anytime you are cutting across the gain you are going to get a what I call a hair fussy. I have done three different laser projects now and have looked at them very close with a Microscope. the fusses are their. if you cut along the grain you get a better detail, however as the laser crosses over a growth line it get a fussy. you will not see this with the eye. you have to see it under magnified conditions. My question is when printing on a slice of tree trunk can you create a toolpath that will take the laser in a cycler motion? thank you Humble and gratitudeā€™s. Master crafter.

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Does this setting do anything? No matter what setting I select, the gcode (and output) is always horizontal. Using Luban 4.3.2