Laser Cutter Material Settings: Difference between revisions

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(3D engrave settings for poplar plywood that work for QR codes)
(→‎Epilog Zing (30 W): poplar plywood engravings were simple black & white designs)
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| 250
| 250
| surface
| surface
| works for [[QR Codes]]!
| simple black & white design - works for [[QR Codes]]!
|-
|-
! scope="row"| [[Poplar Plywood]]
! scope="row"| [[Poplar Plywood]]
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| 250
| 250
| surface
| surface
| nice brown color
| simple black & white design - nice brown color as result
|-
|-
! scope="row"| [[Corrugated Fiberboard]]
! scope="row"| [[Corrugated Fiberboard]]

Revision as of 00:56, 2 December 2018

Unfortunately you can't just calculate the perfect settings based on the power ("Watts") of a laser cutter because the actually delivered energy is always based on a combination of power and speed, which is different for each brand or model of laser cutter. To make things more complicated, 100 % power in a cutting profile is not the same as 100 % power in an engraving profile...

As there is always some trial and error involved, please share your experience with the others! You can often use experience from other machines as a rough starting point.

In general, cutting is usually done at 100 % power and the highest speed that will still result in a reliable cut. If 100 % speed still gets you through (e.g. paper or cardboard), you should reduce the power until you find the sweet spot.

Once we have a permanent machine, we should also work on a github repository with VisiCut settings again.

Epilog Zing (30 W)

Material Thickness Operation Power Speed Resolution (dpi) Focus Comments
Poplar Plywood 4 mm cut 80 100 500 center (-2 mm)
Poplar Plywood 4 mm - any 3D engrave 100 75 250 surface simple black & white design - works for QR Codes!
Poplar Plywood 4 mm engrave 100 100 250 surface simple black & white design - nice brown color as result
Corrugated Fiberboard 2 mm cut 25 100 surface