Workpiece Positioning Guide

This guide covers all the methods available in Rayforge for accurately positioning your workpiece and aligning your designs before cutting or engraving.

Overview

Accurate workpiece positioning is essential for:

• Preventing waste: Avoid cutting in the wrong location
• Precise alignment: Position designs on pre-printed materials
• Repeatable results: Run the same job multiple times consistently
• Multi-part jobs: Align multiple pieces on a single sheet

Rayforge provides several complementary tools for positioning:

Method	Purpose	Best For
Focus Mode	See laser position	Quick visual alignment
Framing	Preview job bounds	Verifying design fits on material
WCS Zero	Set coordinate origin	Repeatable positioning
Camera Overlay	Visual design placement	Precise alignment on existing features

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Focus Mode (Laser Pointer)

Focus mode turns on the laser at a low power level, acting as a "laser pointer" to help you see exactly where the laser head is positioned.

Enabling Focus Mode

1. Connect to your machine
2. Click the Focus button in the toolbar (laser icon)
3. The laser turns on at the configured focus power level
4. Jog the laser head to see the beam position on your material
5. Click the Focus button again to turn off when done

Safety

Even at low power, the laser can damage eyes. Never look directly into the beam or point it at reflective surfaces. Wear appropriate eye protection.

Configuring Focus Power

The focus power determines how bright the laser dot appears:

1. Go to Settings → Machine → Laser
2. Find the Focus Power setting
3. Set a value that makes the dot visible without marking your material
   • Typical values: 1-5% for most materials
   • Set to 0 to disable the feature

Finding the Right Power

Start with 1% and increase gradually. The dot should be visible but not leave any mark on your material. Darker materials may need higher power to see the dot clearly.

When to Use Focus Mode

• Quick alignment checks: See if the laser is roughly where you expect
• Finding material edges: Jog to corners to verify material placement
• Setting WCS origin: Position laser at desired zero point before setting WCS
• Verifying home position: Check that homing worked correctly

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Pointer Laser Offset

Some machines have a dedicated pointer laser (a small red dot laser) mounted at a fixed distance from the cutting beam. When you align the stock using the pointer dot, the cutting beam would actually land offset from that point — unless Rayforge compensates.

The Pointer Offset laser setting lets you enter that distance and toggle the compensation on or off. With it enabled:

• Set Work Zero at Current Position (and Zero X / Zero Y) places the work origin at the pointer dot's position.
• The canvas shows a yellow pointer dot next to the red beam dot, marking where the pointer dot is on your material.
• A Pointer Alignment switch appears in the move-to popover (the compass icon next to the position readout).

Pointer Alignment

While Pointer Alignment is on, every absolute aiming operation — Move-To, the corner shortcuts, moving to the WCS origin, Click-to-Move, Move-Head-Here, and framing — lands the pointer dot on the aimed position, so you can position the stock entirely by the visible dot. The coordinate entry in the popover pre-fills with the pointer dot's position. On the canvas, exactly one dot is ever filled: the pointer dot is filled while alignment is on (the beam dot is a hollow ring then), and hollow while it is off (the beam dot is filled).

The workflow composes cleanly with zeroing by the pointer dot: the origin sits where the pointer marked, aiming shifts every target by the offset, and the burn is unshifted — so aligning with the dot and cutting with the beam end up consistent.

When you press Send while alignment is on, a warning appears on every send (there is no "don't ask again"). You can choose:

• Dry-Run with Pointer: the job runs with the pointer offset applied, so the pointer dot traces the toolpath while the beam runs displaced by the offset. The laser still fires at job power — make sure the displaced beam cannot hit anything it should not.
• Turn Off and Burn: alignment is switched off and the job burns normally with the beam at the WCS positions.
• Cancel.

Jog moves and jobs are never shifted by the toggle: jog is relative, and regular G-code output is identical whether alignment is on or off. The switch is session-only — it is not saved to the machine profile and resets when you switch machines.

The pointer offset is especially useful for stock that is larger than the laser bed (pass-through work), where you repeatedly align the design to a reference mark on the moving stock.

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Framing

Framing traces the bounding rectangle of your job at low (or zero) power, showing exactly where your design will be cut or engraved.

How to Frame

1. Load and position your design in Rayforge
2. Click Machine → Frame or press Ctrl+F
3. The laser head traces the bounding box of your job
4. Verify the outline fits within your material

Frame Settings

Configure framing behavior in Settings → Machine → Laser:

• Frame Speed: How fast the head moves during framing (slower = easier to see)
• Frame Power: Laser power during framing
  • Set to 0 for air framing (laser off, just movement)
  • Set to 1-5% for a visible trace on the material

Air Framing vs. Low Power

• Air framing (0% power): Safe for any material, but you only see the head movement
• Low power framing: Leaves a faint visible mark, useful for precise alignment on dark materials

When to Frame

• Before every job: Quick verification that design fits
• After positioning changes: Confirm new placement is correct
• Expensive materials: Double-check before committing
• Multi-part jobs: Verify all parts fit on the material

See Framing Your Job for more details.

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Setting WCS Zero (Work Coordinate System)

Work Coordinate Systems (WCS) let you define custom "zero points" for your jobs. This makes it easy to align jobs to your material position.

Quick WCS Setup

1. Jog the laser head to the corner of your material (or desired origin point)
2. Open the Control Panel (Ctrl+L)
3. Select a WCS (G54 is the default work coordinate system)
4. Click Zero X and Zero Y to set current position as origin
5. Your design's (0,0) point will now align with this position

Understanding Coordinate Systems

Rayforge uses several coordinate systems:

System	Description
G53	Machine coordinates (fixed, cannot be changed)
G54	Work coordinate system 1 (default)
G55-G59	Additional work coordinate systems

Multiple Work Areas

Use different WCS slots for different fixture positions. For example:

• G54 for the left side of your bed
• G55 for the right side
• G56 for a rotary attachment

When to Set WCS Zero

• New material placement: Align origin to material corner
• Fixture work: Set origin to fixture reference point
• Repeatable jobs: Same job, different positions
• Production runs: Consistent positioning across multiple pieces

See Work Coordinate Systems for complete documentation.

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Camera-Based Positioning

The camera overlay shows a live view of your material with your design superimposed, enabling precise visual alignment.

Setting Up the Camera

1. Connect a USB camera above your work area
2. Go to Settings → Camera and add your camera device
3. Enable the camera to see the overlay on your canvas
4. Align the camera using the alignment procedure (required for accurate positioning)

Camera Alignment

Camera alignment maps camera pixels to real-world coordinates:

1. Open Camera → Align Camera
2. Place alignment markers at known positions (at least 4 points)
3. Enter the real-world X/Y coordinates for each point
4. Click Apply to calculate the transformation

Alignment Accuracy

• Use points spread across your entire work area
• Measure world coordinates carefully with a ruler
• Use machine positions (jog to known coordinates) for best accuracy

Positioning with Camera Overlay

1. Enable the camera overlay to see your material
2. Import your design
3. Drag the design to align with features visible in the camera
4. Fine-tune using arrow keys for pixel-perfect placement
5. Frame to verify before running the job

When to Use Camera Positioning

• Pre-printed materials: Align cuts to existing prints
• Irregular materials: Position on non-rectangular pieces
• Precise placement: Sub-millimeter accuracy requirements
• Complex layouts: Multiple items with specific spacing

See Camera Integration for complete documentation.

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Recommended Workflows

Basic Positioning Workflow

For simple jobs on rectangular materials:

1. Place material on the laser bed
2. Enable focus mode and jog to verify material position
3. Set WCS zero at the material corner
4. Position your design in the canvas
5. Frame the job to verify placement
6. Run the job

Precision Alignment Workflow

For accurate placement on pre-printed or marked materials:

1. Set up and align camera (one-time setup)
2. Place material on the laser bed
3. Enable camera overlay to see the material
4. Import and position design visually on the camera image
5. Disable camera and frame to verify
6. Run the job

Pass-Through Workflow

For stock longer than the laser bed (fed through the machine in segments), a pointer laser offset removes the manual guesswork:

1. Cut segment 1 of your design normally.
2. Feed the stock forward through the pass-through so the next segment is on the bed.
3. Jog the machine until the pointer dot marks a reference point on the stock (e.g. a corner of an already-cut feature).
4. Set WCS zero (or Zero X / Zero Y) — with the pointer offset enabled, the origin lands exactly where the pointer pointed.
5. Position the next segment of the design relative to that origin in the canvas.
6. Frame to verify, then run the job.
7. Repeat from step 2 for each remaining segment.

Production Workflow

For running multiple identical jobs:

1. Set up fixture on the laser bed
2. Set WCS zero aligned to the fixture (e.g., G54)
3. Load and configure your design
4. Frame to verify alignment with fixture
5. Run the job
6. Replace material and repeat (WCS stays the same)

Multi-Position Workflow

For running the same job at different locations:

1. Set up multiple WCS positions:
   • Jog to position 1, set G54 zero
   • Jog to position 2, set G55 zero
   • Jog to position 3, set G56 zero
2. Load your design (same design for all positions)
3. Select G54, frame, and run
4. Select G55, frame, and run
5. Select G56, frame, and run

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Troubleshooting

Laser dot not visible in focus mode

• Increase focus power in laser settings
• Dark materials may require higher power (5-10%)
• Check laser connection and ensure machine is responding
• Verify focus power is not set to 0

Camera overlay misaligned

• Re-run camera alignment with more reference points
• Check camera mounting - it may have moved
• Verify world coordinates were measured accurately
• See camera troubleshooting in Camera Integration docs

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Related Topics

• Framing Your Job - Detailed framing documentation
• Work Coordinate Systems - WCS reference
• Camera Integration - Camera setup and alignment
• Control Panel - Jog controls and WCS management
• Quick Start Guide - Basic workflow