Hi I haven’t purchased a k40 laser cutting machine but I am seriously thinking about it Can anyone please tell me how you get the cutting file to the laser cutter do you have to have your computer attached to the laser cutter? Also I have a program called SCAL4 which makes cutting files to use with a brother scan n cut machine will this program work with a laser cutter or do I have to have coral draw???
The machine will come with cutting software and a USB hardware lock. No other software will send files to it. I design in Adobe Illustrator myself, others use Corel, AutoCAD or Inkscape.
In addition to what Gee Willikers said, the k40 will connect to your computer via a USB cable to send the cut/engrave data to the k40.
OK but do you tell the machine to cut from the software program meaning computer would have to be linked with a USB cable?
My DSP upgrade allows standalone use using a USB stick. I don’t think any stock k40s offer that feature though.
@Donna_Gray yes, for a stock k40 you will need a computer connected to it via USB.
@Donna_Gray Yeah, without plugging the computer in via USB, you cannot send the file to the machine. As Gee Willikers said again, with upgraded controller boards, there are other options for transferring files to machine (e.g. SD card, ethernet). But you’re looking at some extra $ for that & having to pull the machine apart & make the modifications.
I have never used a laser cutter before Are they really easy to use? I make hand made cards and wedding invitations etc I would only be using it to cut up to 280gsm cardstock So with the program inkscape can you send cutting directions with that program as I have it on my computer
@Donna_Gray Yeah, a lot of people use Inkscape to draw the files, then they import them into the software that comes with the laser (Corel Draw 12 & a plugin called CorelLaser). You can’t directly cut/engrave from Inkscape with the default software/hardware setup, but importing the file is a couple of second process.
The laser itself is reasonably easy to use. Basically choose your files, import into CorelLaser & then select the objects you want to cut/engrave, choose cut/engrave, set settings (speed, starting position, etc) & basically hit GO. From there, pretty reasonable.
Unfortunately, with the K40, the support & original setup instructions are basically non-existant, however this group was amazing for helping me learn what to do when I got started (in September 2015).
edit: additionally, for your 280gsm cardstock, it will cut it really easily. Very low power (like 4-6mA & very fast cutting speeds around 30-50mm/s). Only issue, is you will have slightly blackened edges. There is not a great deal you can do about that, so it may not be what you would like for the appearance of your cards.
I have a brother scan n cut machine but I find it struggles with very intricate designs that is why I thought a laser cutter would be better Even at $580 from ebay this laser cutter looks like it would do the job but it is a lot of money for me to outlay if it is not what I need It is just hard to get a lot of onfo about it that is why I thought I would ask the questions here before I jump in and purchase one
@Donna_Gray It would definitely cut what you want & do it with fairly reasonable precision, however intricacy is something that may be sacrificed due to the laser burning the material. If you wish to share an example of something intricate, I could perform a test on some 200 or 300 gsm cardstock I have (can’t remember which) when I have some time & show you the results to assist in determining if you want to go ahead with the purchase.
How do I get a picture to come up in comments I just tried copy and paste and it didn’t work
You can’t put a picture in specifically, however you can put a link to the picture into comments. Only other way is to create a whole new post on your main page & tag people into it by using @Yuusuf_Sallahuddin_Y for eg.
@Donna_Gray Depending on where you live, there may be a Makerspace near you that has a laser cutter. They’ll likely be a bigger 60-100w machine but they could show you what’s possible. Those machines are simply bigger versions of the K40 for your purposes (just a matter of how thick materials they can cut vs the K40 and paper/cardstock is nothing to worry about with the K40).
I just uploaded a photo under the discussion section
@Donna_Gray In future, maybe avoid that on this K40 group, as we try to keep posts to things of interest to everyone. As this is a more personal interest (i.e. testing this file), it is better to post privately to whoever or publicly on your profile page. Just for future reference.
ok sorry new to this I didn’t know I did anything wrong
@Donna_Gray That’s fine, just sometimes we get too many posts & makes it difficult for people to find stuff they are looking for. I have posted a few photos on my profile of the test cut, so you can see how well it cuts & the effect on the edges I was mentioning.
how do I get to your profile???
Click on my name in the comment. Or click the Orange moon & star logo of mine.