Adding Your Laser to LightBurn

Start by clicking the Devices button in the Laser window to open the Devices window.

In the Devices window, click the 'Find My Laser' button, and you'll see this screen:

Make sure your laser is powered on, connected to your computer with a USB cable, and has completed any startup sequence it needs to, like homing. Click next when the laser is ready.

LightBurn will list the devices it was able to recognize after a short scan:

In this example, I have two lasers connected to my computer — a Ruida DSP controller on COM3 and a GRBL controller on COM30. Select your laser and click Add Device.

If your laser wasn't found automatically, or if you don't have a laser available to connect, you'll need to manually create a laser. Otherwise, continue on for additional information on setting up your GCode, DSP, or Galvo device.

DSP devices

If you have a DSP controller, you'll select the machine's origin and whether to home on startup on the next screen. This is the corner the machine moves to when homing after power up. Most DSP controllers use the rear left corner as the origin, so select that if you're not sure. If you get it wrong, your laser's movement may be flipped, but you'll be able to change this setting in Device Setting later.

Click 'OK' on the Devices window to exit after your laser has been added.

What if my laser isn't found?

If LightBurn can't find your laser, it could be for a number of reasons:

• Missing drivers: Install your laser-specific drivers and software. Even if you don't plan to use it, they can include the necessary drivers that are not included with LightBurn.
  • In the case of galvo devices, they have a LightBurn specific driver that needs to be used. 
• Can't connect: Only one application can talk to your laser at a time. If you run other software, like RDWorks, Easel, Carbide Create, AutoLaser, LaserCAD, etc., make sure that software is not running when you run LightBurn.
• Networked device: LightBurn can't automatically configure a network-connected laser. For this, you'll have to click Create Manually and follow the listed steps.