“Communication Error” - Laptop wont talk to laser.

[Kevin Hayden]

Hey guys. So I recently purchased a 100w China Blue from eBay and I’ve got it all set up, the laser will pulse, but for some reason it’s not communicating with the laptop when I try to run files through RDWorks (8.01.18)

I just get “Communication Error”.

So far I’ve tried:
Reinstalling drivers
Reboot machine/laptop
Checking for loose usb.
Pressing in the green circuit things (?) around the board in case something was loose

The laptop says there is a device attached when I look at device manager and when I unplug the USB it goes away. So there’s something there.

But for some reason I still get “communication error” after it thinks about it for two seconds. If I unplug the USB completely, the error comes up instantly.

Help?

[Dave Vigness]

two things. First off, the latest stable version of RDWorks is .47. You can get it off my Google Mod Page if you can't find it else ware.

Second, when you installed RDWorks, did you install the USB driver? You have to select it, it's not automatic.

[Gene Uselman]

Also, if possible use Ethernet for commo instead of USB [usb has always been unstable with RDworks] and you might have better luck with Lightburn software- it is $80 for the first year [$30 for year of updates after that] and well worth it if you value your time and would rather be making things with the laser instead of trying to get it to work.

[Dave Vigness]

Gene,

I have the exact other problem. My USB connection is stable, but the network is flaky some times.

I will add a soft second to LightBurn. If you don't have a design program you already use, it's a nice all in one solution.

[Kevin Hayden]

two things. First off, the latest stable version of RDWorks is .47. You can get it off my Google Mod Page if you can't find it else ware.

Second, when you installed RDWorks, did you install the USB driver? You have to select it, it's not automatic.

Well, we stuck with the version of RDWorks we have because when someone brought in files made on a newer version they wouldn’t open. This was a while ago though. Is the current version more cross compatible with Files I’m older ones?

Definitely plan to bring light burn into the equation at some point. But just me personally I have dozens of files I use for my laser cutting business that I made in RDWorks. Is there a way to open them?

[Gene Uselman]

I used RDworks for 5 years and had LB for months before I actually switched. LB will not open RDw files directly yet but I transfer my files as vectors from my design program so I can rebuild my files pretty easily, very rarely I will open a RDw file and try to export from it but it most often does not work. I can get laser settings from it if they were unusual. I have not used RDw since I switched...

I don't do much design in LB because I have been a graphic pro for 25 years and have many programs I use, but it is so nice to be able to make minor modifications quickly without going back to my design station. There is no comparison.

[Dave Vigness]

You don't have to uninstall the old version to have the new. I have three different beta version installed along side the .47. I just changed the name label on the icon to know what I'm opening.

[Kevin Hayden]

So using a more recent version of RD fixed it And best of all it accepted files made in previous versions which was something I was worried about.

I’ll look at downloading lightburn as well but I’m glad the lasers finally working. Thanks guys! Happy cutting!