Consider Lightburn!

[Joe Jones]

I DO like DesignEdge, but holy cow! Look at LIGHTBURN! Look at what you can do with a $60.00 program!!!

Joe

[mdwalker]

I have been running Lightburn for years on all of my lasers. It's worth the money just for its tracing abilities.

[adbuch]

I've also been using LightBurn for many years. It is well worth the cost - just for the design aspects. I don't have a laser anymore, I gave mine to a friend a while back who needed it more than I did. It does pretty well with auto trace, but I have had better luck using Inkscape for my auto tracing.

David

[adbuch]

I have been using Lightburn for years on all of my lasers. It's worth the money just for its tracing abilities.

Also - I have found them to very responsive to requests for software changes/improvements. Early on when I started using LigntBurn, I had the trial version and it would only export as svg. Since I was working mainly with Design Edge this was inconvenient. I submitted a suggestion to the LightBurn staff that they might consider adding dxf to their export file type. The took my suggestion, added the dxf export, and I immediately purchased the license (I think if was around $60 at the time).

The older Inkscape did not have the ability to import dxf R14, so this was a big help converting the Inkscape svg files to dxf for import to Design Edge. It also seemed that for some instances LightBurn would automatically link the file when imported as svg and exported as dxf. Now that the newer versions of Inkscape will open dxf R14 files, I don't really need it for that purpose. But I still like it for occasional editing and it does have a great Offset tool.

So for many of us, it is often a combination of multiple cad drawing programs for file processing.

David

[mdwalker]

I have been using Lightburn for years on all of my lasers. It's worth the money just for its tracing abilities.

Also - I have found them to very responsive to requests for software changes/improvements. Early on when I started using LigntBurn, I had the trial version and it would only export as svg. Since I was working mainly with Design Edge this was inconvenient. I submitted a suggestion to the LightBurn staff that they might consider adding dxf to their export file type. The took my suggestion, added the dxf export, and I immediately purchased the license (I think if was around $60 at the time).

The older Inkscape did not have the ability to import dxf R14, so this was a big help converting the Inkscape svg files to dxf for import to Design Edge. It also seemed that for some instances LightBurn would automatically link the file when imported as svg and exported as dxf. Now that the newer versions of Inkscape will open dxf R14 files, I don't really need it for that purpose. But I still like it for occasional editing and it does have a great Offset tool.

So for many of us, it is often a combination of multiple cad drawing programs for file processing.

David

Yes, I go back and forth between Lightburn, DesignEdge, and a couple of other programs depending on what I am doing. Some are better and/or faster at some things than others.

[Joe Jones]

I am a rank amateur with Lightburn, but as I play with the software, I am beginning to see terrific advantages to it. Lightburn has many capabilities that DesignEdge does not have. I just have to learn the tools, and the order of operations which is evidently more critical in Lightburn than in DesignEdge.

Who knows. If I get good enough in Lightburn, I may push DesignEdge to a back burner.

Joe

[adbuch]

[Joe Jones]

Thanks, David. I have seen many different You Tube videos that train on Lightburn. I have taken the time to watch a few of them already.

My problem is, (as always) I have too many irons in the fire. Right now I am trying to learn Fusion 360 and Lightburn, and trying to get to a point where I can set up the 3D printer, and use the Grizzly planer and other shop tools to turn those church benches into ... something. I have to get the roofs on my two shops sealed before winter, and the elevator gable and shaft need to be completed, and then the elevator must be installed.

Meanwhile, I am heading into a project to create another eye popping parade float for the Christmas parade only two months away, and I may have to work in a visit to Commiefornia into all of that, to get my sister settled into a new place. Then I need to complete the vac table for my router table. As if that is not enough, I have a rear deck project and an additional round platform project around the flag pole to complete, and the mower shed needs a new roof as well. Toss in a new paint job for the entire interior of my home, and a bathroom remodel.

Then the new folding aluminum 4x8 trailer needs the diamond plate deck attached, so I can use it to transport my motorcycle, and I just swung by Lowes today, to see about a 6x8 expanded wire deck trailer to transport my zero turn riding mower. That is the top of a very long list of TTDs, and I am not getting any younger

There is no assistant around here to help me, either via good, a old fashioned "hang around and help" friend, or a young person I can HIRE who doesn't want $60.00 per hour to stare at his phone. I just paid off ALL of my credit card debt, along with my truck and motorcycle, and the two machines that were on a lease/purchase plan. Now I have ONE manageable loan at only 5.5% fixed, instead of 34.99% variable interest!

There is a lot going on here, and I only have so much energy. If I were 25 instead of 65, all of this would be done in no time.

Joe