Explainers

Explainers are the why behind the how. Reference tells you what a control does. Explainers tell you the concept underneath, so you can reason about edge cases.

Read them when you hit a control whose meaning is not obvious from the label, or when you want to understand why your laser is doing what it is doing.

In this section

Imaging and engraving

• Vector vs raster: two ways of representing what the laser fires on.
• Fill modes: how filled shapes are turned into machine moves.
• Dithering algorithms: what each dithering option does and when to pick it.
• Scan interval: line spacing on filled engravings.
• Overscan: why the head goes past the edge of the fill.

Layout and coordinates

• Layers and color families: how colors map to layers, and what a layer family is.
• Job origin vs workspace origin: the two reference points that decide where things land.
• Coordinate systems: workspace, job, absolute, screen, and which one each control uses.
• Kerf compensation: the beam has width; parts shrink unless you compensate.

Machine-side fundamentals

• Focus and depth of field: why focal height matters and how much error you can tolerate.
• Steps per millimeter: what the firmware needs to know to move correctly.
• GRBL essentials: just enough GRBL to be dangerous.
• Galvo vs gantry: two very different machine architectures.

Beam Bench specifics

• How the CLI and app share state: the agent-state model.