Laser Cutter Material Settings

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)

Here's what we've tried so far - please add your own experiences!

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