About this guide
- LightBurn offers a powerful rotary feature, empowering users to harness rotational capabilities for laser engraving.
- In LightBurn, GCode coordinates include the X-axis and the rotation axis, offering precision in control.
- Since F1 with Rotary Attachment (RA) supports axis substitution, it is possible to replace the rotation axis in LightBurn with the RA's U-axis by adding certain command substitutions in the GCode. This enables the software to efficiently process tasks with the RA.
- This guide walks you through the steps to activate this feature by configuring the Y-axis as the corresponding rotation axis (A-axis support is pending).
Things to know first
The command substitution — M116AaBb — is to replace the "b"-axis with the "a"-axis. More precisely, "a" and "b" can be assigned values of ±1, ±2, ±3, ±4, corresponding to the X-axis, Y-axis, Z-axis, and U-axis. The symbol "±" denotes the direction, for example, "+1" for the rightward movement of the X-axis and "-1" for the leftward slide.
Yet if simply entering the symbol "a" or "b", command substitution won't be executed accordingly.
In this context, "M116A2B-4" signifies substituting the Y-axis for the U-axis, enabling F1 to process with RA.
How to do it
1. Connect xTool F1 to LightBurn
- Download the configuration file for xTool F1:
xTool-F1-V3.lbdev - Run LightBurn and connect to F1. For how to operate F1 with LightBurn, refer to this article: Operate xTool F1 with LightBurn on a Computer
2. Setting up for F1
Enable rotation
- Click on the "Rotary Setup" icon. Select "Chuck" and enable rotary. Next, select the Y-axis as the rotation axis before clicking on “OK”.
- Click step-by-step "Edit" -- "Device Settings" to add command substitutions.
- In the "Start GCode" textbox, enter "G100" as the second-to-last line and ensure no semicolon is preceding the last line "M116A2B-4"; otherwise, the command substitution won't be executed.
- In the "End GCode", enter "G101" as the first line.
- Set parameters for "Chuck"
- Click on the "Rotary Setup" icon.
- Select "Chuck" and set it as "128mm" per rotation while filling out the diameter and circumference of the material to be processed respectively.
- Set parameters for "Roller":
- Click on the "Rotary Setup" icon.
- Select "Roller" and set it as "32mm" per rotation with "17mm" Roller Diameter while filling out the diameter and circumference of the material to be processed.
Disable rotation
- Click on the "Rotary Setup" icon and select "Chuck". Lastly, click to disable the rotary.
- Click step-by-step "Edit" -- "Device Settings".
- In the "Start GCode", delete "G100" from the second-to-last line or add a semicolon preceding the last line "M116A2B-4" to disable the execution of command substitution.
- In the "End GCode", delete "G101" from the first line.
3. Framing for RA
- Click on the "ROTARY_FRAMING" button for LightBurn to send the axis command substitution "M116A2B-4" to F1.
- Click the "Frame" button for LightBurn to issue Gcode commands to F1 to start framing.
Note: Follow the steps above in sequence for each framing; otherwise, exceptions will occur in subsequent framing. In the event of exceptions, repeat the framing process in the specified sequence or reboot F1 for troubleshooting.
4. Processing for RA
Now, you've finished setting up for F1 with RA, click on the "Start" button on the right panel of LightBurn to begin processing with RA.
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