Using X-Y Mode to Measure on the Laser Engraver

The ULS M360 Laser engraver has an "X-Y Mode" which can be used to obtain precise measurements and locations on the laser's bed.

Reasons you might want to Use X-Y Mode

• To find a usable area on a piece of already cut material (scrap)
• To mark the exact location of an engrave on an existing piece
  • Raster engrave a logo in the middle of a pre-cut plaque
  • Vector engrave a design on the left edge of a cutting board
• To find the center of a circle and vector cut a small hole

How to Use X-Y Mode

WARNING: The procedures described here may cause sudden, unexpected, rapid movement of laser engraver mechanicals. To avoid injury or damage to the machine: keep body parts and loose materials out of the enclosure. Ensure that objects inside the enclosure will not impact the focus carriage or the air-assist nozzle.

• If you are using the rotary attachment, remove the air assist nozzle
• Ensure that the honeycomb bed (if installed) is placed and pressed flush and square against the upper left corner
• Place your work piece on the bed.
  • Typically, you will want your material pressed flush into the upper left corner of the bed.
  • If you plan on multiple laser passes, secure your work piece to the bed using tape

• Set the Z-height using the standard procedure
• Remove any unnecessary objects from the enclosure, including body parts

[Figure 1: M360 Laser Engraver Control Panel]

• Make sure the Laser Engraver's display reads "Ready" or the name of your file
• Press the button on the control panel labeled "X-Y". It is near the right hand side.
  • The focus carriage MAY rapidly move towards the middle of the work area
  • A red laser d•t will appear under the focus carriage
  • The display will change and will now show text that includes "X-Pos" and "Y-Pos"
    • If you have the rotary attachment installed, you will see "X-Pos" and the Rotation in degrees.

• Press the left or down arrow that is around the X-Y button
  • The focus carriage MAY rapidly move towards the middle of the work area
• The focus carriage will move slightly each time one of the movement buttons is pressed: "Up", "Down", "Left", or "Right"
  • MOTION CONTROL: Pressing and holding down one or two adjacent, arrow buttons will cause the Focus Carriage to move in the respective direction. The focus carriage will start to move slowly and will accelerate to a faster speed until you release the button(s).
  • This motion will make a loud noise as the motors turn and move the focus carriage
• Use the arrows to move the red laser dot to a feature you want to locate
  • With each movement, the "X-Pos" and/or "Y-Pos" will change

• X-Pos is the absolute X-position on the laser engraver's bed
• Y-Pos is the Y-position on the laser engraver's bed,
  • HOWEVER: CorelDraw uses the LOWER left corner as the origin, and the Laser Engraver uses the UPPER left corner as the origin
    • You must subtract Y-Pos from 12 for the correct value in CorelDraw

[Figure2: CorelDraw's Object Property Bar]

• In CorelDraw, there should be an X and a Y coordinate box near the upper left of the menus. There may be 2 sets of these boxes.
• Next to the coordinates is a small icon with 9 tiny boxes arranged in a square pattern.
  • These boxes indicate what point will be used as the Origin Point (the values shown for X and Y) of the currently selected object
    • Top Left, Top Center, Top Right, Left Middle, Middle Center, Right Middle, Bottom Left, Bottom Center, or Bottom Right
• Choose the origin point you wish to use
• Type the X-Pos value into the X box
• In the Y box, type "12 - " and then the Y-Pos, then press "Enter". (That's "twelve minus".) CorelDraw will automatically do the math!
  • If you are working in a unit other than inches you can follow the 12 with a double-quote. I.e.: 12" -
• Verify the numbers you typed are correct, sometimes CorelDraw can be finicky about how they are entered.

Examples Of Uses

Example 1: Cutting a rectangle from a piece of scrap

Let's say you have a "roughly triangular" piece of scrap material that has a large circle cut from it. There is still a usable amount of material in this piece and you want to cut a rectangle from it to use for a plaque or sign. You want the rectangle to use the existing corner, the top edge, the left edge, and for the lower corner to intersect the circular cut. [image suggested]

• Place your work piece in the upper left corner of the laser engraver honeycomb.
  • Follow the procedures outlined above to enter X-Y mode.

• Use the arrows to move the red dot to the point on the circle where you want your rectangle to intersect.
  • It is usually good to position a little bit short.

• In CorelDraw, select the Lower Right Origin Point
• Draw a rectangle that goes from the upper left corner to roughly where you think it will intersect the circle
• In the X coordinate box, type the value of the X-Pos. For example "5.236" and press enter.
  • The rectangle will shift position.
• In the Y coordinate box, type 12 minus the value of the Y-Pos. For example "12-2.879" and press enter. CorelDraw will do the math for you and should show the Y coordinate as 9.121
  • The rectangle will shift position.
• Grab the upper left corner of the rectangle and drag it to just beyond the boundaries of the document
  • Remember, we want to use the existing edge, so we don't need to cut on the top or left side

• Test the rectangles location:
  • Set the rectangle's line style to the color you want to cut with and "Hairline"
  • With ONLY the rectangle selected, press Ctrl-P to print, or choose "Print" from the "File" menu.
  • Choose the option "Selected Only" which is in roughly the middle of the print dialog box
  • Make sure the rectangle's color is set to "Vector"
    • Since we are only testing you may want to use a higher speed than normal.
  • Click on print
• After a moment, the Laser Engraver should display your file. Use the "Next File >>" button if not.

• Make sure you have exited X-Y mode by pressing the X-Y botton
• With the lid open and no body parts or objects in the machine, watch where you expect the cut to be made, and press the green "Start" button
• The red laser dot will turn on and will move across the lines to be cut.
  • You should only see the right and bottom lines. These lines should intersect exactly at the point you chose.

--- Alternate CorelDraw Procedure ---

• In CorelDraw, select the Upper Left Origin Point
• Draw a rectangle that goes from the upper left corner to roughly where you think it will intersect the circle
• In the X coordinate box, type "0" and press Enter.
  • The rectangle will shift position.
• In the Y coordinate box, type "12" and press enter.
  • The rectangle will shift position.
• In the x-size box ("|↔|") type the value of X-Pos and press enter. For example "5.236".
  • The rectangle will resize.
• In the y-size box ("↨") type the value of the Y-Pos and press enter. No need to subtract in this method. For example "2.879".
  • The rectangle will resize.
• With this method, you will have a cut on all 4 sides of the rectangle.
• Follow the procedure in the example above to test the location.
  • You may find that the left X=0 and top Y=12 cut lines are not at the edges of the honeycomb rulers.

Example 2a: Placing a logo centered in the middle of a plaque

For this example, we want to raster engrave a logo in the center of a pre-cut rectangular acrylic plaque. We are going to assume that the center point of the logo image IS in the center of the logo. This is not always the case, sometimes there is extra white space on one side which can cause a logo to appear uneven.

• Place your work piece (the plaque) in the upper left cornet of the honeycomb bed.
• SHIFT your work piece so that there is about 1/4 inch between the top of the rail and the top of the plaque, and so that there is aproximately 1/4 inch of space between the left rail and the left side of the plaque. You can use anything available as a spacer if desired, perhaps scrap cuts or pens.
• Ensure that the horizontal and vertical axles of the work piece are parallel to the X and Y rails
  • You can test this by putting the laser engraver in X-Y mode and moving the red laser dot along an edge or between two mirrored points.

• Follow the procedures outlined above to enter X-Y mode.
• Move the red laser dot to the upper left corner of the plaque.

• In CorelDraw, select the Upper Left Origin Point
• Draw a rectangle that goes from the upper left corner to roughly where you think the lower right corner is.
• In the X coordinate box, type the value of X-Pos and press enter. For example "0.225".
  • The rectangle will shift position.
• In the Y coordinate box, type 12 minus the value of the Y-Pos. For example "12-0.287" and press enter. CorelDraw will do the math for you and should show the Y coordinate as 11.713
  • The rectangle will shift position.

• Move the red laser dot to the lower right corner of the plaque.

• In the x-size box ("|↔|") type the value of X-Pos and press enter. For example "16.236".
  • The rectangle will resize.
• In the y-size box ("↨") type the value of the Y-Pos and press enter. No need to subtract in this method. For example "6.666".
  • The rectangle will resize.
• Import your raster logo. Place it off to the side.
• With the selection tool selected, grab the logo in the middle.
• Drag the logo to the center of the rectangle you drew
• When the center of the logo lines up with the center of the rectangle, you should see the word "Center" underneath the mouse cursor.
  • Release the mouse and the logo should snap to the center.

• BEFORE ENGRAVING: You may want to draw a new rectangle around the logo and test print it (no cut) to ensure you have correctly placed the logo in the center.

Example 2b: Vector engrave a design on the left edge of a cutting board

For this example, we want to Vector engrave a design on the left edge of a cutting board We are going to assume that the center point of the design is the center, and that all parts of the design are grouped or otherwise joined, so we don't have to worry when moving it.

• Place your work piece (the cutting board) on the honeycomb bed.
• Ensure that the horizontal and vertical axles of the work piece are parallel to the X and Y rails
  • You can test this by putting the laser engraver in X-Y mode and moving the red laser dot along an edge or between two mirrored points.

• Follow the procedures outlined above to enter X-Y mode.
• Move the red laser dot to the exact visual center of where you want the design to be placed.
  • Alternately, you could choose to align to one of the corners or the middle of a side

• In CorelDraw, select the Center Origin Point (Or the Origin Point that matches the corner or side you are aligning to)
• Import or copy-paste your vector design if necessary
• Select the design
• In the X coordinate box, type the value of X-Pos and press enter. For example "2.123".
  • The design will shift position.
• In the Y coordinate box, type 12 minus the value of the Y-Pos. For example "12-5.226" and press enter. CorelDraw will do the math for you and should show the Y coordinate as 6.774.
  • The design will shift position.

• You may want to test print (no engrave) the design first. Follow the test procedure as outlined above.

Example 3: Vector cut a small hole in the center of a circle

In this example we have a pre-cut circular work piece and want to cut a small circle in the middle of it. (For various reasons we are not able to measure it, or we don't want to go to the trouble of cutting a jig.)

• This method may not get the precise center, but we will be close.

• Place your work piece (the circle) on the honeycomb bed.
• Follow the procedures outlined above to enter X-Y mode.
• Move the red laser dot to the right edge of the circle. Be as precise as you can, the center of the laser dot should align with the right-most point on the circle

• In CorelDraw, select the Upper Left Origin Point
• Draw a rectangle approximately 1 inch square
• In the X coordinate box, type the value of X-Pos and press enter. For example "5.980".
  • The square will shift position.
• In the Y coordinate box, type 12 minus the value of the Y-Pos. For example "12-2.9895" and press enter. CorelDraw will do the math for you and should show the Y coordinate as 9.0105
  • The square will shift position.

• Move the red laser dot to the bottom edge of the circle. Be as precise as you can, the center of the laser dot should align with the bottom-most point on the circle

• In CorelDraw, Draw a second rectangle approximately 1 inch square
• In the X coordinate box, type the new value of X-Pos and press enter. For example "2.899".
  • The square will shift position.
• In the Y coordinate box, type 12 minus the new value of the Y-Pos. For example "12-5.983" and press enter. CorelDraw will do the math for you and should show the Y coordinate as 6.017
  • The square will shift position.

• Off to the side, draw a circle the diameter of the hole you want to cut.
  • Please Note: Although it is fine and precise, the laser beam does burn a small extra width, or kerf. You may need to experiment to get the correct actual diameter.
  • Hold down the CTRL key when drawing to ensure the circle is a circle and not larger in one dimension
• Using the selection tool, grab the middle of the circle
• "Tap" the middle of the circle against the upper left corner of each square with out releasing.
  • Once you tap, layout lines will appear and can be used as a guide to place the circle at their intersection.
  • The word "intersection" will appear when the cutting circle is correctly placed.

• You may want to test print (no cut) the circle before cutting. Follow the test procedure as outlined above.