We’ve recently upgraded the laser cutter computer to run a little bit faster than it used to. This comes with a few things that regular laser cutter users should know:
Any files that were on the previous computer have been moved to a drive at the front desk. If you’d like to retrieve your files, please bring a flash drive and ask a volunteer to assist you.
Going forward, the laser cutter computer is going to wipe itself clean every night. This means that any files stored on the machine will be erased every night. Please bring a portable drive to store your files each time you use the laser cutter.
A new software, Lightburn, has been installed on the new laser cutter computer. Lightburn is generally considered to be an improvement upon what RDWorks has to offer. We’re working on getting it set up, but it is not yet ready, so look for an update on this post once we have secured a license.
Lightburn is great software. Youtube’s Louisiana Hobby Guy has a number of excellent videos focusing on different aspects. I highly recommend this one as an introduction: Lightburn 101 Learning Hobby Laser Software
I’m not sure the computer has ever been intentionally networked due to the philosophy that it is meant solely for controlling the laser cutter and not for design, similar to the CNC computer (which is also not networked).
Don’t mean to imply this cannot be changed by whoever manages the laser cutter, just providing a point of information.
Ideally this would be connected for these reasons:
-FaQ on designs
-image searches
-email access to pull down home made designs
There is some tension between not wanting people to camp on the laser all day and having easy access to content. Unless scheduling became a problem i would prefer it be networked