I updated lightburn and my Artisan Firmware, created gcode in lightburn with Origin bottom left, going to Artisan and ran boundary. Useless. I set Origin bottom left on my workpiece on Artisan and ran boundary. It is running some square outside the working area. The lasering itself run in the correct Position, but the boundary is crap.
I hate being nickle and dimed to death by software developers. If an upfront cost was REASONABLE, like $25 for a lifetime license I would be more likely to use it. $99 is pretty steep - especially with updates for only 1 year. Updates should be for life and it should be able to be used on 3 computers, not 2.
On license page from Lightburn
The license is perpetual (aka forever)
How many computers can I use it on? The license lets you use the software on up to three computers at once, they don’t have to use the same operating system, and a license can be easily moved if you get a new computer. New licenses automatically come with 3 “seats” (computers).
If you need more seats, or a floating license setup, we can do that too - contact us for pricing and details.
Take a look at the prices for other software.
1 Like
Back on the topic of things outside of price that are problems with lightburn (although, I still prefer it over luban):
- Incapable of running the laser projects remotely (yes, I can use sm2uploader or some custom bash scripts I wrote myself, but it’d be wonderful if LB worked like Octoprint)
- Uploaded files don’t have the preview like files from luban
- No integration with the snapmaker’s auto leveling (you can do it, but the process is just a bit clunky)
- No (working) integration with the snapmaker camera capture, it would be great if there was a simple way to use the SM’s camera API to be able to generate a background in LB. For now I’m resorting to using an external webcam.
Uploaded files with the recent versions of Lightburn do have a preview.
Auto-Levelling: With Laser? What would you need this for? Or do you mean focusing?
Camera Capture: I never tried, but weren’t there some people who got it running? Buit I admit I might remember something wrongly here… Thing is: When I saw the Kickstarter videos for SM 2, I thought: Uh, this camera capture-alignment, that looks cool! But to the day, I never used it, as I find positioning the laser directly on the workpiece so much easier…
1 Like
Sorry yea, I meant auto focus.
Camera capture is really nice when you’re engraving on some existing objects, no need to measure or align anything, you just throw it on the bed, snap a pic, and then design on top as if you’re drawing directly on it.
Je suis bien d’accord avec votre remarque : ce serait vraiment bien de pouvoir utiliser (entre autres) la caméra de cette manière. Mais aussi tant d’autres choses pourraient être faites ! Globalement pour moi, Lightburn est un programme formidable, et je me régale avec les autres lasers qui sont presque tous bien compatibles. Avec Snamaker c’est un supplice, mauvaise utilisation des fontions “directes”, une suite de sinistres et finalement dangereuses recettes de cuisine à appliquer qui ne permettent pas d’utiliser toutes les ressources de ce très bon programme et donc cela gâche le travail et m’enlève tout le plaisir et la sécurité de la gravure laser.
Personnellement, je vois donc les choses de façon générale : nous avons des machines dont le matériel a des propriétés très intéressantes MAIS le logiciel pour l’exploiter est traité “à l’économie” et rend ces belles machines carrément mal utilisables. Ne croyez-vous pas qu’il serait plus positif (au lieu de se débrouiller tout seuls et de “souffrir en silence”) de se retourner nombreux et fermement vers la direction de Snapmaker et de leur faire bien comprendre qu’une société sérieuse actuelle ne peut et ne doit pas bricoler avec le logiciel et ne peut pas se permettre de fournir des “programmes sous développés” sans mettre en péril sa survie ? J’ai un peu l’impression d’être seul à leur dire cela avec insistance depuis des mois et ça a l’air de faire le même effet qu’un emplâtre sur une jambe de bois 
Si les choses changeaient, on pourrait se régaler avec plein d’astuces techniques et créatives que permettrait ce matériel + Lightburn, au lieu de s’épuiser sur des recettes de cuisine inintéressantes voire dangereuses (je pense notamment aux cas où le laser ne s’éteint pas quand il est mal géré par Marlin / GRBL).
J’aimerais vraiment avoir vos avis.
I have spent hours trying to setup the rotary using lightburn. There are so many how tos out there and guides that have gone over many years and have many changes.
Lightburn just doesnt have the straight forward follow these setup instructions for your model.
Moi aussi j’ai perdu beaucoup de temps à utiliser mes 3 lasers+module rotatif sous LightBurn : on y arrive avec plein de limitations, d’anomalies, de dangers et de gaspillages. Mais je ne dis pas les choses de la même manière que vous : ce n’est pas à Lightburn de s’adapter car il est compatible avec quasiment TOUS les lasers (GRBL) mondiaux mais seul Snapmaker ne veut pas faire l’effort de rendre l’Artisan compatible avec ce “standard mondial” reconnu et incontournable. Il y aurait pourtant de nombreuses solutions possibles. Je suis même convaincu que beaucoup, coincés comme moi, accepteraient d’investir un peu par exemple dans une petite carte dédiée (idée pour la direction gourmande ?). Cela a pour conséquence de, soit obliger à utiliser le gadget sous-développé Luban laser, qui ne permet pas de graver grand-chose, ou de passer à n’importe quel autre laser qui ne se moque pas du monde. Ce n’est pas bien de ne pas respecter les clients et de les mettre dans les ennuis !
Since a few versions of Lightburn it is as easy as that:
That’s it. GCode just works as expected. Diameter/Circumference of course need to be adjusted to your workpiece.
1 Like
Thanks. I have done this but for some reason mine doesnt work. It will frame and move ok but when I click start it sits and does nothing other that start the progress timer.
I have tried setup as Marlin, Marlin snapmaker, GRBL.
I can get it to burn and function on a flat surface but as rotary…Nothing.
There is no easy as way I have found for a step by step setup
Admittedly, I do not control my Snapmaker via Lightburn directly, but export GCode and then run it via Touchscreen. If you do the same: Can you upload some example GCode? I’ll compare to what I get and maybe we can work it out from there…
Btw.: My Lightburn setup uses Snapmaker Marlin as base machine.
For the rotary module Marlin Snapmaker is the correct choice. This afternoon I post my settings.
Is the rotary module activated in the LB screen?
Snapmaker_40W_snapmaker_marlin_rotary_encoder.zip (2.8 KB)
!!! The inside G-code have the Z and X data from my SM. You must correct this for you’re situation.
; 40W Laser - Example value only for orientation, use at own risc!!!
G0 Z189.1 F6000
And
; IMPORTANT, this is the offset you found following my laser guide!
G0 X156 Y-6 F6000
G0 B180 F3000
Important:
2 Likes
Thank you. Yes I have the rotary module activated in the LB screen.
Everything seems to work and it all drives when I frame. It just doesnt seem to burn when I begin the engrave.
I will be back home with the machine next week to give it a try
I’ve been playing a bit more with the snapmaker and lightburn over the past few days, and there’s one more thing that I’d love to have @Jade:
Some pre-built config with lightburn such that I can use the entire available build volume. I’m currently using the 10w laser, and it’s a bit annoying that the machine homes at -19 in the X axis, but you can’t really easily use those extra centimeters in lightburn. I see there’s some guides to get everything working using GRBL, but it’d be cooler if it could work correctly in the “snapmaker lightburn” that you can fully utilize the machine’s travel space.
1 Like
I don’t know if it works this way in lightburn, but it does in simplify3d.
Why not set a workspace offset?
It should even be possible to set the work origin 0/0 to -18/0mm, isnt it?
https://wiki.snapmaker.com/en/Snapmaker_Luban/manual/2_supported_gcode_references
G92 - Set Position
Description
- Set the current position to the values specified, and the software endstops are adjusted to preserve the physical movement limits. Thus, you could use
G92to set the middle of the bed to (0,0,0) and then run .gcode.
LightBurn has a taper warp feature that would be a perfect use case for your specific tumbler.
The Snapmaker profile should allow air assist to work. Currently it does not, in 2.0 RC3