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Important Overview
CAUTION: Please refer to the Safety section before operating the laser system.
All ULS laser systems are designed to operate like a computer printer. The laser systems are provided with two
software components designed for Microsoft Windows-based operating systems. The first component is a
printer driver that allows you to print from any Windows-based graphic software capable of printing through the
Windows print system. This component shows up as a printer in the printer section of the Windows control
panel. The second component is a taskbar application called the Universal Control Panel (UCP) which controls
and operates the laser system through the USB port. Laser systems cannot function unless this component is
running on the PC connected to the laser system. This component shows up as a red diamond-shaped icon in the
taskbar.
Printing through the printer driver creates a job for the laser system which is then transferred to and stored in
the job queue in the UCP from which the job can be selected and run on the laser system as needed. The printer
driver has a printing preferences interface which can be accessed at the time of printing to set the laser system
job settings for the particular job being printed. Most of these settings can also be changed after the job is
printed through the UCP.
ULS laser systems operate in one of two modes. A raster mode in which images are marked or engraved into a
material by etching a pattern of dots into the material at high resolutions up to 2000 LPI (lines per vertical inch)
and a vector mode in which the laser follows a two-dimensional path to cut or mark a shape into a material. The
printer driver determines whether an element in the graphic data being printed is a vector or raster object by its
width. Only lines and curves with a thickness of .001” (.0254 mm) or less will be interpreted as vector objects. All
other elements of the graphic being printed will be interpreted as raster objects. To print vector elements, the
software you are printing from must support the creation of lines with a thickness of .001” (.0254 mm) or less.
Vector cutting depth and raster engraving depth (or marking intensity if you are surface marking only) are
controlled by specifying the speed of processing and the laser power level for raster engraving and by specifying
the speed of processing, laser power level and number of pulses per inch (PPI) for vector cutting and marking.
These parameters are specified in the printer driver printing preferences interface by one of two methods. The
two methods are laid out in tabs in the printer driver interface. The first method is a materials database method
which simplifies setup for beginners and casual users, the second method is a manual method with allows much
more control for advanced users. Each method treats assignment of laser job settings to colors in the graphic
being printed and interpretation of raster and vector elements in the graphic being printed in slightly different
ways which will be described in the Printer Driver Interface section that follows.
The Printer Driver Interface
The printer driver is a piece of software that allows you to create jobs for the laser system using the Windows
print system. The printer driver has a preferences dialog with two tabs which allow you to set various
parameters for a print job. One tab offers a materials-based approach to setting job parameters and the other
offers a more detailed manual approach to setting job parameters.
Materials Database Printer Driver Tab (beginner and casual user)
This tab of the printer driver is for beginners and the casual user and automatically calculates the
appropriate laser job settings for a nominal effect based on the material selected and the maximum output
power of the laser installed. Please note that when this tab is used to set up a job, all raster data is printed
using one set of job settings, all vector cut data using another set and all vector marking data using a third
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