Ninja Guide
Nina Guide to the Laser Engravers
Set your coordinate system origin to be the top left of the 24" by 18" page. Do this by making sure that View-->Rulers is selected. Then, click and dragging the resize button at the top left of your document just underneath the document tabs.
When changing the dimensions of your object, it is important to identify whether you want to change both the width AND the length or change one or the other. In order to preserve the ratio of the object, you must click the padlock button just to the right of the width and length boxes.
There are two ways to make a circle in CorelDraw. One way is to press the 'ellipse' tool on the left-hand side of the page and click and drag where you want the circle to be. Then, change the width and length of the ellipse to be the same value and press the padlock button to lock the dimensions. The other way is to hold the 'control' key when placing and dragging the ellipse, which snaps the shape into a circle.
To draw a horizontal or vertical line, select one of the line drawing options and hold shift after clicking your first point.
To adjust the page size of the document (24" x 18" is our default). Follow Layout--> Page Setup, ensure the units are in inches, and change the width and length boxes to whatever value you desire.
In order to align shapes and text, follow Object-->Align and Distribute, and choose your preferred option
Doubling the DPI will increase the print time by a factor of 4. Thus, it may be worthwhile to start at 300 DPI if you are not working on a final product. The difference between 600 and 1200 DPI is inconsequential and is not recommended because of the speed sacrifice. Manual recommends 400 DPI, might be a hot call
Almost always choose bottom-up rastering so that the direction matches the laser's airflow. This way, smoke will not be pulled across a part of your piece that you've already engraved.
When setting up a print, it is important to consider how to minimize the cutting time of the job. -Make a video showing how to orient something well
When you select the focus setting, the laser will move to its "park" position which is about 1" down and 1" to the right of its home position. Sometimes, the laser will be focused at a lower height than the workpiece and would hit the workpiece if it moved to "Park". To prevent this, hit "Stop" before hitting "Focus" and you will be able to change the bed height without the laser moving.
Color Mapping:
- the RGB values for the colors need to be exact. I.e. for red, the values must be 255Red/0Green/0 Blue
- You can also add new colors by adjusting the sliders on the left side of the display menu
- Always leave air-assist checked. It is a vector only function that will blow air at the piece and clear the flammable smoke from the laser.