Positioning aids in the JobControl® laser software

Have you ever wondered what is the easiest way to position your graphic on your workpiece for laser processing? Correct positioning is important because it allows you to save material waste and handling time. JobControl® laser software provides a few options to help you quickly and reliably determine the best position for your graphic on your workpiece.

1. Job preview: "WYSIWYG: What you see is what you get"

The "Eye" icon activates the job preview.
If WYSIWYG is activated, all jobs positioned on the work surface are displayed with their graphical content. Move the laser head in the machine and the cross hairs in the software will move accordingly. The bidirectional communication between laser and JobControl® software makes it easier to position the graphic on the workpiece and allows you to check the position prior to processing.

In the job preview, you can also see at a glance whether all desired cutting, engraving and positioning lines, as well as pass marks, have been sent to the laser. If you deactivate a parameter in the material database (indicated by colour) for example, it is not displayed in the "What you see is what you get" view either and is subsequently not processed by the laser. This is used to check whether all desired elements have been sent to the laser and indicates if there are any undesired cutting lines. In the full view of the WYSIWYG display, however, all colours used in the graphic are displayed regardless of what you have defined with parameters for the laser processing.

2. Guides

Guides make it easier to position the job on the work surface (if it is not in the 0/0 position). This allows you to save material waste and use the remaining material more efficiently. In recurring jobs, you can align these with leftover pieces on the upper edge to increase efficiency. You can also use guides to align your job to the right or center on your workpiece.

Creating your own guide is another simple and efficient way to precisely position your job where the material is on the table. To create a guide, press and hold the left mouse button on the respective work surface ruler while moving the mouse toward the work surface. You can also enter the exact position of the guide using coordinates.

3. Marker

Markers are displayed on the work surface as blue crosses and serve as a positioning aid for jobs. Markers act "magnetically" on all corners and the center of a job. If you have to process recurring jobs in large quantities, individually, or in a template, a marker helps determine and fix the positioning of the individual elements. Corner points or the center of a job on the work surface can also be fixed using markers, similar to the procedure with the guides. A marker is also particularly helpful for fixing the position on the work surface if the job is recurring and elements in the graphic have been forgotten and subsequently added. The prerequisite for this is that the job size remains unchanged.

Markers can be set using the JobControl® laser software, or by using the Home key directly on the keyboard of the machine. Press the button for approximately 3 seconds to define the position of the laser head as a marker and a new (temporary) starting position. This saves time, especially when the computer is not directly next to the laser machine.

Once the new starting position is fixed, the JobPosition function can define whether the job should be positioned in the center or in the corners. Using the Home button, each job will then be automatically aligned in the desired position.

4. Job Position

The job position bar provides information about the X and Y position of a selected job on the work surface. A precise job position is possible through the manual input of the desired coordinates.

Depending on the choice of import, the coordinates are displayed in the top left corner or the center of a job.

5. Save work surface for recurring jobs

Save the entire work surface including the job, parameters, markers and guides as a pjx file. With just one click, you can open the job and all the settings will be automatically loaded. This not only saves time, but application errors can be kept to a minimum, even for untrained operators.

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