Vectric Laser Module or Lightburn or?

Is 3rd party software, i.e., Lightburn or the Vectric Laser Module, required when using the Jtech Pro 7w with the Onefinity? If so, do either of these packages outperform, or have any advantages over the other? Looks like the Vectric option is $49 as an add-on to Vcarve Pro and Lightburn is $40. Trying to get my head around this.

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I have trial to lightburn currently because the crowd says it has greater capabilities. I am still researching the vetric module, but keeping it as an option. I have Vcarve pro but like that I can use lightburn on Mac without needing parallels.

If you have VCarvePro then I would use their module as it will be more convenient when creating toolpaths.

I do have Vcarve Pro, I just couldn’t understand if these packages were even necessary. I have no idea what the native capabilities of the Onefinity are when it comes to the laser, or what these packages will do for roughly $50.

Jeff, it is very well worth it. With the Woodworker you have a large workspace to laser print just about anything you need to. I love my laser. I design on VCarvePro and laser what I design. It’s simple and easy to do. Once you try it you won’t regret your purchase.

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I can’t wait to try mine this weekend. The J-Tech was on backorder when my woodworker was shipped last week, however it will arrive today. I decided on the Vcarve Pro laser add on to to keep it all in one program.

Nice! Please come back here and post your thoughts on it when you’ve had a chance to play with it. That’s exactly the setup I’m looking to have. I’ve got several months to wait before my machine arrives so in the meantime, all I can do is gather info.

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I have both and I like vectrics bc it is pretty easy to use especially if you use vcarve or aspire already. But man do I love the “Fast Whitespace Scan” option in lightburn. It seems to save me a bunch of time on larger/more detailed burns. If there is an option or way to speed things up in vectric someone please let me know. But I would say lightburn for the win. It’s built just for laser use and does it’s job really well. But if you plan on using vcarve and want to do cuts and burns on the same piece and stuff it may be better for you to get their module. You can always get lightburn later if you feel the need to get more. For the most part vectric’s module does everything I need it to just slower than lightburn.

Can I ask what controller did you buy it for
when I try to buy it ask “Below is a list of the machines and controllers that the laser module supports. Please select your configuration:” then it has a list
But it does not list Onefinity??? Please help

NextWave Machine with NextWave Laser Controller

GRBL Controlled X-Carve with a JTech or OPT Laser

GRBL Controlled Shapeoko with a JTech or OPT Laser

GRBL Controlled OpenBuilds with a JTech or OPT Laser

UCCNC Controlled StepCraft with a JTech or OPT Laser

Duet2 Controlled OozNest with a JTech or OPT Laser

Digital Wood Carve Machine with a JTech or OPT Laser

Other Controller

You can use any I chose GRBL controlled xcarve. They all lead to the same thing.

Ty for fast response, it says some controllers will not have laser picture capability
Does ours? Thanks again

Roger, I would like to know how Lightburn can speed up a laser burn any faster than VCarvePro when it is the power of the Jtech laser that limits the speed and depth of burn. VCarvePro can run it at any speed you like but the depth and darkness of burn lightens as you go faster. I run all my burns at 100% power and only adjust the speed to get the desired result.

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There’s a setting in lightburn called fast Whitespace Scan which you can set a high speed to. This is the speed at which the laser moves when it’s traveling over white space or parts of the design where it isn’t cutting. So say you have your cut speed set to 50 you can set your Whitespace Scan speed to 500. This means when you are burning with the laser it moves at 50 but when the laser is traveling over non-burning spots it moves at 500. I don’t think vcarve has this setting or I haven’t found it. I think vcarve moves the laser at the speed you set for the whole design. This setting is really useful when burning designs that have decent amounts of Whitespace. Pretty much just think of it as setting a higher traversal speed than the cut /burn speed.

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Yes you can use the laser for photo engraving

ty,Sir making purchase

I am getting a message in Vcarve pro, I have purchased the Laser Module, and the pp I have downloaded is what brings up the message saying line 34 LASER_SUPPORT = "“YES”
ON the pp drop down it will note show
Also same thing for Onefinity pp except line 22

Onefinity Laser (Inch).pp (4.9 KB)
J Tech GRBL NoZ V4 inch.pp (5.5 KB)

Will it not generate a gcode for you using the Onefinity pp? Or explain what issue you’re having or what you are doing that causes you to have an issue. Did you copy that post processor file to the PostP folder and then restart VCarve?

hi Roger,

I have downloaded the pp put it in MY_POSTP Folder, closed Vcarve Pro, when opening i get the config file , I’ll hit ok to see if it’ll still work design anything go to tool path and on the dropdown for pp’s its not there even though it’s in folder, here is link to photo’s of what I get

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1g9YT9XoRmdkf1x-ouy60hElvkp6yQCv5?usp=sharing

Hmm that’s weird. Copy it and move it into the “PostP” folder instead of the “My_PostP” folder. And try that. Then if that doesn’t work try clicking the “toolpaths” tab in vcarve and click “install postprocessor” button. Go into C:\ProgramData\Vectric\VCarve Pro\V10.0\PostP and click the laser pp and once it finishes restart VCarve and see if it shows up then.

Also, did you just buy vcarve? If so you should be on version 10.5 instead of 10.0. Also, the laser module wasn’t introduced until version 10.5 I believe so if you are running version 10.0 that may be the problem.