Cameo 3 or Cricut?

[peteski]

Hmm...and I get paid on Friday! Yay for me.
Thanks for the links. I wonder if the Corel is authentic or a bootleg?
I do have 3rd Plan-it,,I could draw in that as well....
Hmmm...
Cya,
Y-it

What worries me about the other similarly priced cutters is that their (very sparse) specifications seem to imply that they only accept bitmapped images for cutting artwork.  That to me seems counter-intuitive.  A laser cutter should natively accept vector graphics to drive the X-Y motors.

I suspect that the Corel Draw version included is probably old. Bootleg?  Don't know. But that should not be a problem  Corel is up to revision X8 (18). I still regularly use versions 10 and 12. They already have more features than I need for my designs.

Too bad that the descriptions of all those inexpensive Chinese laser cutters are so vague, and in broken English. But I guess you get what you paid for.

[rodsup9000]

. I wonder if the Corel is authentic or a bootleg?

Hmmm...
Cya,
Y-it

 I could never get the copy of Corel that was sent to work. The biggest thing to remember is that when you import your drawing into Laser Draw is to have the box around it for the size and make that the size of your work space in Laser Draw. I should be able to help you through it if you have problems.

[rodsup9000]

What worries me about the other similarly priced cutters is that their (very sparse) specifications seem to imply that they only accept bitmapped images for cutting artwork.  That to me seems counter-intuitive.  A laser cutter should natively accept vector graphics to drive the X-Y motors.

I suspect that the Corel Draw version included is probably old. Bootleg?  Don't know. But that should not be a problem  Corel is up to revision X8 (18). I still regularly use versions 10 and 12. They already have more features than I need for my designs.

Too bad that the descriptions of all those inexpensive Chinese laser cutters are so vague, and in broken English. But I guess you get what you paid for.

 These cheap laser cutters are very, very lacking in the software area. That is one of the reasons there are so cheap. I paid more for my X7 laser controller (from Light Objects) for my big 100 watt laser that I paid for the complete cheap laser. Marco, who owns Light Objects is just a phone call away if I have any problems and he has always be very helpful to me as I have been building it too.

 Somewhere I saw a plugin for Inkscape that will operate these cheap lasers directly too.

[Chris333]

Can you cut with  .dxf AutoCAD file?

[rodsup9000]

Can you cut with  .dxf AutoCAD file?

No, it will not directly import it. I think you can do it the way I do with sketchup, by importing it into inkscape, and then export it a file that the laser will take.

[railnerd]

Many of the K40s can retrofitted and driven with this software.  Otherwise, you end up using some questionable stuff.

https://lightburnsoftware.com

-Dave

[rodsup9000]

Many of the K40s can retrofitted and driven with this software.  Otherwise, you end up using some questionable stuff.

https://lightburnsoftware.com

-Dave

 For what it would cost to retrofit the K40 to use this, you might as well buy a better laser in the first place. I don't have any problems at whatsoever using the laser the way I explained in my thread on it. It's actuate and does what I want it to do and didn't spend any extra money to do it. The OP wanted something cheap.

[peteski]

Many of the K40s can retrofitted and driven with this software.  Otherwise, you end up using some questionable stuff.

https://lightburnsoftware.com

-Dave

Hmm . . . this is on that website:

Please note that LightBurn does not support the stock M2-Nano board in the popular K40 laser. This board does not offer control of power through software- we recommend upgrading the board to take full advantage of LightBurn.  How much is a retrofit controller board?

I'm also  surprised that thy cannot import Corel Draw (.CDR) files. As I understand, many laser cutters (and their drivers) play nicely with .CDR files.

[rodsup9000]

 Here is the link to LaserDRW extension for inkscape.
LaserDRW is what the K40's uses.

http://www.scorchworks.com/LaserDRW_extension/laserdrw_extension.html

[soo]

From the sound of it...the cutters do not play nice with others.
I might just stick with a pencil, scale, straight edge, and a #11 exacto.
Thanks again guys,
Y-it

[peteski]

From the sound of it...the cutters do not play nice with others.
I might just stick with a pencil, scale, straight edge, and a #11 exacto.
Thanks again guys,
Y-it

Sorry for scaring you away.  Rod has the cheap unit and seems to be doing ok with it (and with whatever software came with it).  You know us on TRW - we usually over-analyze and want perfection, and that is sometimes a tall order.

[soo]

Peteski,
     4 bills is a chunk for me to spend on something that might drive me away from working on the layout. I am pretty good at using 3rd Plan-it,,so I know a learning curve will be involved.
     Still spending the dough on something that may or may not work like I want it to is worrisome.
Wyt

[kornellred]

Well, then:  there is always the Micro-Mark  Wondercutter!

For #@&'s and giggles, check this out: 

[railnerd]

For what it would cost to retrofit the K40 to use this, you might as well buy a better laser in the first place. I don't have any problems at whatsoever using the laser the way I explained in my thread on it. It's actuate and does what I want it to do and didn't spend any extra money to do it. The OP wanted something cheap.

Yep: the standard practice for the cheap K40 printers is to do a bunch of work— my friend's K40 was a serious piece of crap before replacing the controller board.

-Dave

[soo]

Hearing everything here,,,no laser for me. I do not have time for a piece of garbage that does not work or needs improvements.
Thank you for everyone's time
Wyt