Since we changed software, the laser power settings are all “off”. Bottom line: since power goes down to 1% now you’ll want to use lower settings than what you’re used to.
We have this giant spreadsheet:
So I was asked if we’d update it for new settings. I don’t know what to say. I don’t use that spreadsheet much. For most of my materials, I have “starter settings” in my head… 50% power, 15mm/s cut rate. I adjust from there. I know cardboard is 50 and 50 for both numbers (now more like 40 and 50). That 2.5mm MDF we’ve got does pretty well at double the speed (50% power, 30mm/s cut rate).
The spreadsheet got big and weird with lots of different values for similar materials, some of the power settings were entirely too high. What should we do with it? Did you use it? Is it needed, or should we just tell newbies at “top 10” sort of idea?
I tried a few of the settings reported in the spreadsheet but always found better results with testing completely custom settings. Specifically glass comes to mind as one that spreadsheet had incorrect recommendations.
If i remember right some of the settings weren’t even physically possible, 10 or 12% power doesn’t/didnt even turn on the laser. Seems that 18% was the lowest i could go.
That has changed - with the new software, you can go down to anything above 0.
I updated the “workflow” on the wall last night to have some suggested settings for popular actions - cutting through cardboard, 3mm, 6mm, engraving. That should help new users feel like they have a starting point, and from there they can change up speed or power, which seems to be what everybody does anyway.
I don’t remember the exact settings but the power has to be very low. The
problem I had wasn’t the glass shattering, it was the glass flaking out. I
wanted a smooth sand blasted look and if the power was too high it would
randomly flake out larger pieces and create an uneven texture. I ended up
using the absolute lowest power the laser would reach to achieve a smooth
even texture. I don’t remember the speed that I settled on.
Try this, I added a new column for power, relabled the old column. The new column is ESTIMATED, and based on what was reported in the old column. ONLY use as a starting point. TESTING is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED before ruining your entire piece of material. HTH