JobControl User Manual

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The Laser Tool Page provides a higher level overview and context for this page.

JobControl was the original Laser Control Software - It is being phased out and replaced with Ruby. Support for JobControl could be dropped at short notice - please make sure you are inducted on Ruby.

Operation Process

Check that the laser is in JobControl mode , not Ruby mode:

  1. Right click on the Ruby Control in the Widows notification tray
  2. Go to Laser mode
  3. Select JobControl

These steps to be run through at each induction

  1. Remember which materials can and cannot be cut (see materials list above).

Drawing Preparation

  1. Prepare your drawing files on another computer. Laser PC is for running the laser
  2. The “paper size” of the laser cutter is 740x438mm
  3. Set your line colour appropriately: RGB only : In general, Black (0,0,0) = raster engrave, Red (255,0,0) = score, Blue (0,0,255) = cut.
  4. Set your line width to 0.025mm or 0.001 inches
  5. More advanced settings are possible. Each colour can have individual cut or engrave settings.
  6. If your job has multiple nested parts, consider assigning the inner parts to a lower numbered colour from the screenshot below, so that these parts can be cut first before the outer lines.

Print to Jobcontrol

  1. Printer name is “Trotec Speedy 300”
  2. Printing Preferences (optional)

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  • You can set your material here, but you should finalise your settings in Jobcontrol.
  • Leave all other settings as per the above image
    • Note that turning on “advanced geometries” can create better quality images, but it will result in jobs getting stuck in the print queue for more complex images. See “software quirks” below.

Prepare job in Jobcontrol

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  1. To see an actual preview of your job on the bed, click the WYSIWYG button (Ctrl + I)
  2. Set the speed/power settings for the material & line colours in the Material Templates window
  • Note that in this example template, a blue line will result in a very quick cutting operation which will engrave the surface of the acrylic.
  • Colours are lased from high to low
  • You can also set certain colours to “Skip” which is useful if eg. you want to re-run an engraving job again to make a deeper mark, without also re-cutting the red lines in the job.
  • When cutting paper or other lightweight materials, turn off Air Assist, otherwise the compressed air jet will throw your cut-outs all over the place.
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  1. Material presets are liable to change due to this being a multi-user machine. Creating your own folder of settings can be useful, but always check before cutting, and refer to the ttable of advised settings above. Be sure to enter the thickness of the material, as this will affect the focus.

Power on cutter

  1. Turn on the cutter with large red isolator switch above the cutter.
  2. Wait for bed to stop moving
  3. Make sure bed is reseated correctly
  4. Make sure all vents are clear
  5. Make sure CO2 fire extinguisher is to hand
  6. Move the head to the centre of the machine and check the parts for cleanliness
  7. If the mirror or lens are dirty, clean as instructed
  8. Examine
  9. Lay material on bed
  10. Move cutting head over material with the XY axes buttons
  11. Rest focus stick on edge of lens, raise bed by pressing Up on the Z axis buttons until focus stick just falls off
  12. Close lid

Pre-lasing

  1. Click the connect button to initialise the cutter (Ctrl+L)
  2. Check that your job will fit on your material. Use the machine’s buttons to move the head such that the crosshairs in Jobcontrol are at the corners of the job. The red laser dot is a non-cutting guide to where the head is located.

Lasing

  1. Click the Run button (Ctrl+R)
  2. Always stay by the machine while lasing is in process
  3. Seriously, always watch the process. A fire can go from harmless to machine-destroying in a matter of seconds.
  4. Cutting some materials does result in flames immediately next to the active cut (rubber)
  5. If a persistent fire starts:
  • Lift the lid (this stops the laser, extractor and motion)
  • The fire should go out
  • If the fire is still burning, use the CO2 fire extinguisher to put it out (don’t hold the nozzle with your bare hands!)
  • Turn the laser cutter off and report the incident

After lasing

  1. Wait for all smoke/fumes to be extracted before opening lid
  2. Open lid
  3. Be sure to collect all pieces of your job
  4. Small pieces that fall through the honeycomb bed can be collected by removing the bed
  5. Replace the bed by aligning it in the slot
  6. Check the mirror and lens for dirt and clean if needed
  7. Lift and remove honeycomb bed by the frame
  8. Open front door and sweep out any debris
  9. Close the lid
  10. Power down

Software Quirks

  • When printing with Illustrator, in the Options > Placement section, X and Y offsets might put your laserable area out of the picture - Trotec JobControl will say the “Job is empty”. Changing both offsets to 0 will fix.
  • Especially for complex files, make sure to turn off the “advanced geometries” option in the trotec print settings. Leaving this option on might cause jobs to get stuck in the print queue. If that happens, stuck jobs can only be removed by stopping the windows print spooler service, waiting a while and starting it again. If in any doubt, simply leave this option off.

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