I have not solved the DXF issue. I would be interested in whether anyone has solved this too.
Vigo Works is… painful… to use, but works well enough with JPG’s. I tried other software and that introduces other problems, and disables WiFi control which I find useful.
Work around to date: I create my designs in a Scalable Vector Graphics editor (Libre Office Draw) and then save to JPG taking note of the x and y dimensions of the original design. When Uploading in Vigo Works I make sure that the surface to be etched is the same size as the original. I’ve had good accurate results doing this. It may be worth drawing the original SVG larger than final size and decrease the final size in VigoWorks this increases the resolution of the laser etching.
With your existing DXFs you may be able to export them to JPG from your CAD program perhaps going through an SVG preliminary step. (I think that FreeCAD is able to do it) and then upload the exported JPG as I described earlier.
It’s frustrating. Currently I’m drawing in Autocad and saving as a PNG at the highest resolution I can find on the list. I then crop the PNG in PS to minimise white space and import to Vigo Works.
This is for a scale for a height chart, so I have to do a bit of iterating to get the scale back to 100% size prior to burning. DXFs would be much simpler.
What’s the other software you’ve tried instead of Vigo Works? I haven’t been using WiFi Control so it may be an option… ?
It’s frustrating. Currently I’m drawing in Autocad and saving as a PNG at the highest resolution I can find on the list. I then crop the PNG in PS to minimise white space and import to Vigo Works.
I suggest not giving up on the DXF>JPG conversion just yet. In my recent designs I find that VigoWorks automatically crops any white space around the JPG model and reports the size of the extreme points of the cropped model as the printable size. Its relatively easy to scale the laser etched model by adjusting the size of the X or the Y of the etched cropped model (before starting the laser). I found that you don’t need to do it in your CAD software or a secondary software. VigoWorks also shows cropped size in the range preview.
This may save you all of the very frustrating step in creating the JPG or PNG and conclude that you can just use AUTOCAD to create your models as you always have.
Try loading an uncropped JPG from a favorite DXF. If it doesn’t work try changing the Vigo Works settings. As I said its’ worked for me.
I serendipitously found that LibreOffice Draw is a very powerful and intuitive Scalable Vector Graphics editor that can export to JPG. I just checked and it can also import from DXF. LibreOffice is free to download and use perhaps you can try that to convert your DXFs to JPG? or I can try that for you. just draw a perfect square or something.
What’s the other software you’ve tried instead of Vigo Works? I haven’t been using WiFi Control so it may be an option… ?
I tried LaserGRBL - the creator of the software made some modifications so that it will work with the non-standard board used in the VG-L7X … Actually many people rave about LaserGRBL but I found its interface confusing, and then there is the WiFi issue, so I reverted back to VigoWorks.
Others here report using LightBurn but I’ve never tried it.
I suggest that you check that the other software will handle DXFs as seamlessly as you would like before you try them.
There does not seem to be an ideal solution that does not involve changing or modifying the control board (and this does not yield an ideal result either, in my opinion). There are some posts here that hard wire a bypass of the ???32 chip that handles the comms, effectively turning the board that came with the L7X into a standard GRBL board that any software will handle.
If you are not interested in tinkering you may be better off selling your L7X and get a better more expensive laser etcher with better software.
Happy hunting! Reach out again if you want to pursue the work arounds rather than change the software. If others here are interested I might try to post a video or a link to a video, but that will take me into unknown territory.
Hi Guys. My first diode laser was a Vigotec. There is firmware on Github that I loaded into the Vigo so that I could use Lightburn software with it. The only drawback was that it disables the WiFi capabilities, but I have no problem connecting it with a cable. Might be worth checking out.
I was using my L7X the day before yesterday and I took the trouble to install a new version of Vigoworks.
Vigoworks is up to version 3.3 now. Still ugly and quirky in my opinion but its quite different to the version that was available when I used the L7x last time. I see that they have retained DXF support but have not been able to try it yet to see if it works.
Since that time I upgraded my android phone and kept the old phone - I have downloaded the Android App that Vigotech provides for controlling their laser etchers. My main phone is too important to fool around with quirky software while logged on to Google etc. But I might try etching cutting something under phone wireless control. - That might be pretty cool! Even makes it possible to take a photo and etch the image onto whatever.
Will keep you posted on the results - particularly on whether the DXF issues have been resolved.
Vigoworks is just as quirky and “non-standard” as ever, but I’ve kind of grown used to it and with a bit of patience you can get the VG LX7 working really well and making precision cuts and etchings. Some in these forums and elsewhere have modified the board and flashed the firmware so as to run Lightburn and other software, but other software and firmware does not support the LX7’s WiFi function and for me that’s a deal breaker.
** Vigoworks 3.3 DOES support DXF file imports ** well sort of… I logged on to MakerCase - Easy Laser Cut Case Design and generated a DXF of a laser cut box. and tried to import that into Vigoworks 3.3 - It did not work - VW displayed a scrolling horizontal bar but in spite of several minutes of waiting nothing happened.
I then drew a pentagon on FreeCAD and exported the drawing to DXF. Vigoworks had no trouble importinng the DXF of the pentagon. It worked!
That to me means that Vigoworks WILL recognize some but not all files that proport to be DXF.
I also tried the Vigoworks Android App - It too is a bit quirky compared to “normal” modern Android Apps, but it seems to work fine via wireless connection. The phone MUST be connected to the laser engraver for the app to work (you can’t experiment without the laser engraver turned on). But you can print from photos taken by your phone’s camera. I am not sure whether it supports DXF files but it seems to be able to read photos and files on the phones image gallery.
One cool feature is that you can get the laser head to move by making finger gestures on the App’s main screen. When you make the gesture the engraver’s weak beam turns on the head moves in the direction specified by your finger’s movement. I was getting the laser to do figure 8’s and everything in between. I think that that is pretty cool!
Looking forward to using this thing some more in the coming months - It’s certainly a lot of fun considering what I paid for it!