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Manually adding a Laser

If LightBurn can't automatically add your laser, because it's not connected to your computer, or is connected over a network, you can add a laser manually.

I don't have a laser right now!

If you don't have a laser hooked up to your computer, you can create a laser manually as shown below, using your best guess for the settings. If you have a specific laser in mind, you can look up the appropriate settings for it in that machine's support.

Start by clicking the Devices button in the Laser window to open the Devices Page.

Devices

Click the Create Manually button on the Devices page.

Create Manually

Device type:

LightBurn will open the New Device Wizard, and the first thing you'll see is a list of the controllers supported by your version of LightBurn:

Create Manually

Choose the entry that matches the type of controller or firmware in your laser and click Next.

Connection type:

The next step is choosing how you connect to your laser. The choices you see will depend on the type of connection methods supported by your controller and LightBurn. Serial/USB is the most common. Some controllers allow connection by Ethernet (note that this includes both WIFI and wired).

Create Manually

Choose how you wish to connect, and click Next.

Name and work area size:

You can name the laser, which is very useful if you have more than one, or just leave it as is.

NameAndPageSize

You must set the size of the work area for your laser so that LightBurn can make try to prevent things from going out of bounds. If you don't know the exact size, you can easily change this later in the Device Settings page.

Laser Origin and homing:

The origin setting is where the 'zero' point of your X & Y axis meet. If you get this wrong, you can change it later in the Device Settings page. This setting also controls the orientation of the output - if it's wrong, the output from your laser may be mirrored or upside down.

NewDeviceOrigin

If you have a GCode based controller, like GRBL, Smoothieware, or Marlin, commonly used with diode lasers or smaller hobby systems, in almost all cases the origin will be in the front-left. With GCode based systems, you are given the option to send the homing command when LightBurn first connects. If your laser does not have homing switches, leave this off.

If you have a DSP controller, like Ruida, Trocen, or TopWisdom, common in larger CO2 lasers with metal cabinets and LCD displays, the origin corner will be the corner that the laser head seeks out when you power it up. With DSP controllers, the controller will automatically home itself when powered up, so you will not see the option for homing on startup.

All done!

That's it - The final page will show you a summary of your choices. You can go back and fix anything if necessary, or click Finish to create the new device entry.

NewDevice-Finished

Next Step: Connecting to the Laser