Frame & Origin on Open-Frame Diodes

Diode lasers don't have galvo's Live Framing or CO2's Ruida Origin button. Framing is simpler but easier to mis-align, without an enclosed cabinet, your design can wander off the work area without you noticing.

The default workflow: Current Position

Most diode users default to Current Position mode:

1. Position the head physically over the corner of your material (using arrow keys or jog).
2. The head's current X/Y becomes the design's origin.
3. Use the 9-dot Job Origin selector to map (corner / edge / center of design = head position).
4. Frame to verify the design fits on the material.
5. Run.

The 9-dot Job Origin

If your head is parked at the bottom-left corner of your material and you want the design to extend up and to the right:

• Select the BOTTOM-LEFT dot in the Job Origin selector.
• The design will fill upward and to the right from the head's current position.

Mismatched dot = design runs in the wrong direction. Take an extra 5 seconds to verify before pressing Start.

Absolute Coords on diodes

If your diode has a HOMED position (most do, pressing Home moves head to a known corner), you can use Absolute Coords:

1. Home the laser.
2. Position your design in Lightburn's workspace at known coordinates matching where the material sits on the bed.
3. Run; the design lands at those coordinates.

Useful for production runs where the material is loaded into a fixed jig at a known position.

User Origin (production)

Best for repeat fixtured production:

1. Home the laser.
2. Jog the head to your jig's reference corner.
3. Move panel → Set Origin (or press the Origin key on machines that have one).
4. Set Lightburn Start From to "User Origin".
5. Every job now uses that stored point.

Framing methods

• F4 (Frame): head moves to the four corners of the design's bounding box. Most-used.
• Frame at low power: some Lightburn versions let you frame WITH the laser firing at very low power, drawing visible faint lines on the material. Useful for verifying placement on dark material where the head movement is hard to track.
• Cut Selected Graphics + Frame, frame only the selection if you want to test placement of one piece of a larger design.

Lining up to existing marks (no-camera workflow)

If you need the engrave to land on a specific spot (e.g., a leather wallet's pre-cut window):

1. Place a low-tack tape strip or a marker dot on the material at the corner you want to be your origin.
2. Jog head until the laser red dot lines up with that mark.
3. Set Current Position. The mark IS your origin.
4. Frame to verify.
5. Run.

Camera workflows (premium diodes)

xTool S1 and a few others have built-in cameras that show the bed in Lightburn:

• Camera image overlays the bed in Lightburn's design view.
• Drag the design over the camera image to position visually.
• Frame to verify.
• Massively faster for one-off custom orders.

Common alignment errors

• Design ran off the bed. Wrong Job Origin dot, OR Start From mode mismatch with material position. Re-frame before running.
• Design rotated 90°. Bed orientation in Device Settings doesn't match the physical machine. Check Device Settings → Working Size → flip X or Y axis as needed.
• Engrave is mirrored. Origin direction inverted. Check the Job Origin dot AND the homing direction.
• Frame went off the material. Workspace is bigger than the material; you positioned the design outside the material's footprint. Use Current Position with the head physically over the material.