Set up Laser Connections

Before starting jobs, you have to set up laser connections in EagleWorks.

Lasers could be connected to EagleWorks by USB or by network. There could be only one machine connected by USB at a time, and more than one machines connected by network at the same time.

1. Connecting by USB
   Connect the laser to the computer using the USB cable that comes with the machine. The connection should be up and running immediately because the software already has a USB device set up by default.

2. Connecting by network
   There are two ways to connect lasers to the computer by network, depends on the infrastructure and the way you work on your site.

   The laser could be connected to the computer directly using the ethernet cable that comes with the machine, just like the connection with the USB cable.

   And, the laser could be connected into the sub-network you already have. In this way, you can connect your computer wirelessly or have your workstation in another room, e.g. dedicated for job management or designing.

   
   

   In either way, a network status prompt will appear on the control panel showing Lan ON, and you have to set up the network, put both the laser and the computer in the same subnet to let them communicate with each other.

   Here are simple setups for example, please refer to your network administrator if there is a complex setup on your site.

   • Set up network for a direct connection
     The machine is set up to the IP address 192.168.1.100 by default. You can just set up a static IP address for your computer to put them in the same subnet.

     For Windows 10 users, go to Settings, click Network & Internet.

     
     

     Choose Status, click Change adapter options to open Network Connections.

     
     

     For Windows 7 users, go to Control Panel, click Network and Sharing Center.

     
     

     Click Change adapter settings to open Network Connections.

     
     

     In Network Connections, double click the adapter connecting to the laser.

     
     

     Scroll to and double click Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) in the pop-up dialog.

     
     

     Check Use the following IP address in the pop-up dialog, set IP address to, for example, 192.168.1.99, set Subnet mask to 255.255.255.0. Click OK to finish.

     
     

   • Set up network for connecting to an existing sub-network
     First, set up a static IP address for the laser according to the existing subnet.

     Press the button Z/U on the panel, highlight IP config+, and press the button Enter.

     
     

     Set up the IP address, and press the button Enter.

     
     

     Then, set up a static IP address for your computer, as described above, or get a dynamic IP address by DHCP, according to your network preference.

   After setting up the network, set up a corresponding device in EagleWorks.

   Click Setting in the section Device of Progress Control Bar, a dialog pops up, shown as below.

   
   

   Click Add to bring up the dialog for setting up a new network device.

   
   

   Set a name for the laser, choose Web, fill in the IP address of the machine. We recommend to click Test to do a connection test. Click Ok if you get a successful message, then the laser will be selected as the current one automatically and you will be good to go with it.

   You can connect more than one lasers to EagleWorks by network at the same time, just remember to assign different IP addresses for them.

If there are more than one lasers connected, make sure to select the right one in the device list before starting jobs, because the software needs to identify the model of the laser and then generate the proper data.

NOTE

It is better to select the laser even before making designs, because some settings, e.g. the size of the work area, will be updated automatically according to the current machine, and the software will be in a correct configuration for your project.