Laser Marking Software, Marking on the Fly

Laser Marking Software

Our marking software has been designed to meet the needs of all types of users of laser marking systems. The software was developed to be a retrofit package for existing systems, or as original software on new systems. The package provides significant advancements over previous laser marking control systems, while remaining extremely user-friendly. It's an object oriented, graphically interactive, PC control system providing a user the ability define and execute laser marking jobs. Multiple hardware interfaces are supported giving the software the ability to control most Nd:YAG and CO2 laser marking systems.

Unlike some marking software, the operator never has to remember what fonts and logo's need to be loaded for a particular job. The software automatically performs all required graphic loading. The software does not require users to learn any programming languages or special codes, and yet the software provides all of the flexible, graphic control users are accustomed to, including radial marking, aspect control, character spacing, angular rotations, and full justification. Text to be marked can be fixed or variable. Variable text can be retrieved at runtime from a variety of sources including, the keyboard, a bar code reader, and disk files. Automatic date coding and alphanumeric serialization are included as variable text types. Fonts include laser engraving fonts and Window’s True Type fonts. True Type fonts can be vector filled using user specified density, angle and kerf. Graphics (sometimes called "logo's" on other systems) can be imported from a large variety of common vector formats. All graphic features are either menu controlled or graphically controlled via the mouse and keyboard.

The software can create various objects such as barcode, DataMatrix, text, simple geometrical objects (such as line, rectangle, round-corner rectangle, polygon, circle, ellipse etc), complex graphic objects (such as PLT & BMP files), automatic date coding and alphanumeric serialization.

The software comes with an interface card (D/A card) LMC series or LMS series, which is to be inserted on the computer board. The D/A card is for PCI slot and the mark software operates under Windows XP/2000/98.

The main menu of the software is shown as follows:


modify	file	edit	view	draw


full display	menu	barcode	series numbers	photo

More detailed specifications of the marking software can be downloaded here.

1. LMS series interface cards and software

There are following main functions of LMS cards:

l PCI slot card

l DA output resolution: 16 BIT

l D/A output: 2 channels (to control X galvo and Y galvo)

l D/A output voltage: -5V to＋5V

l Clock timing: 8MHz

l Digital output: 8 channels, TTL/CMOS compatible

l Digital input: 8 channels, TTL/CMOS compatible

l External input: 4 channels (used for foot switch, detector, replay etc.)

l PWM output: 1 channel (to control laser)

l Relay output: 4 channels

A DB37 connector is used as I/O ports and they are defined as follows:

S/N	Name	Description	Remark
1	+12V	+12VDC of the computer
2	GND	Ground of the computer
3	COM1	commonly contact output of the 1st output relay
4	NC2	normally closed contact output of the 2nd output relay
5	NO2	normally opened contact output of the 2nd output relay
6	COM3	commonly contact output of the 3rd output relay
7	NC4	normally closed contact output of the 4th output relay
8	NO4	normally opened contact output of the 4th output relay
9	IN1+	positive pole of the 1stst optical input
10	IN2+	positive pole of the 2nd optical input
11	IN3+	positive pole of the 3rd optical input
12	1N4+	positive pole of the 4th optical input
13	OUT3	3rd additional output signal 3
14	OUT1	1st additional output signal 1
15	X-OUT	X galvo control output	analog
16	Y-OUT	Y galvo control output	analog
17	VCC	+5VDC of the computer
18	PWM	PWM output. To control pulse repetition rate of YAG laser or laser power and modulation frequency of CO2 laser	TTL
19	VCC	+5VDC of computer
20	empty	spare
21	NO1	normally opened contact output of the 1st output relay
22	NC1	normally closed contact output of the 1st output relay
23	COM2	commonly contact output of the 2nd output relay
24	NO3	normally opened contact output of the 3rd output relay
25	NC3	normally closed contact output of the 3rd output relay
26	COM4	commonly contact output of the 4^th output relay
27	IN1-	negative pole of the 1st optical input
28	IN2-	negative pole of the 2nd optical input
29	IN3-	negative pole of the 3rd optical input
30	IN4-	negative pole of the 4th optical input
31	OUT4	4th additional output signal
32	OUT2	2nd additional output signal
33	GND	COM of additional output signals
34	GND	COM of galvos
35	GND	COM of laser control signals
36	FPS	FPS signal
37	GATE	To control laser beam on/off in YAG lasers	TTL

There are following main functions of LMS marking software:

l Operation under WINXP／2000

l Acceptable for PLT and BMP

l Support drawing such as circle, rectangle, line etc.

l Support the edit of SHX and TTF fonts

l Barcode, 2D DataMatrix

l Support the layers up to 8

l Save of all system parameters

l Support copy, delete, replace, move etc

l Support mirror, hatch

l Set pulse repetition rate, pulse duty factor

l Control ON/OFF, laser power of CO2 lasers from Synrad, Coherent, Universal Laser s etc

Model and description:

Model	Main function
LMS-1	2D marking to control X galvo and Y galvo
LMS-1F	2D marking to ontrol X galvo and Y galvo plus marking on the fly
LMS-1AB	2D marking and 2D moving to control X galvo and Y galvo plus XY table (for large field marking using XY table and 2D marking head)

2. LMC series interface cards and software

A DB37 connector is used in LMC card and their pins are defined as follows:

NO.	Name	Definition	Signal Ref.	Character
1	GND	Ground of computer power supply
2	ANAPORT2	Analog (Frequency) output [0V-5V]	Ref to GND	Analog
3	FPK	FPK output	Ref to GND	TTL
4	LASER	Laser switch output	Ref to GND	TTL
5	XVOL+	Scanhead output X in-phase [±5V]	Ref to GND	Analog
6	GND	Ground of computer power
7	YVOL+	Scanhead output Y in-phase [±5V]	Ref to GND	Analog
8	VCC	+5V of computer power supply	Ref to GND
9	BPUL-	Extended axis B negative pulse signal	Ref to GND	TTL
10	BDIR-	Extended axis B negative direction signal	Ref to GND	TTL
11	APUL-	Extended axis A negative pulse signal	Ref to GND	TTL
12	ADIR-	Extended axis A negative direction signal	Ref to GND	TTL
13	OUT1	Output control signal No. 1	Ref to EXGND	TTL
14	EXGND	Ground of external 5V power supply
15	IN3	Input signal No. 3
16	IN2	Input signal No. 2
17	S01GND	Ground of IN0 and IN1
18	IN4	Input signal No. 4