These are settings we've been playing with.
Please update them if you find that things need tuning!
Note that speed is measured in mm.s-1, power in %MAX.
Max. speed is 400mm.s-1 in "Cut" mode and 1000mm.s-1 in "Engrave" mode.
I find that over time using a laser cutter, any settings used converge to some fairly good pseudo-universal settings which have a reasonable chance of working on most materials.
For this laser they are:
CUT: S=4.8 P(l)=66 P(c)=58
ENGRAVE: S=800 P=40 Sd=0.06
VECTOR ENGRAVE (Mode=Cut)
Material
|
Thickness
|
Speed
|
Power
|
Corner Power
|
| MDF |
Any |
400 |
20-50 |
~Power - 10 |
| Plywood |
Any |
400 |
20-50 |
~Power - 10 |
| Paper |
~80gsm? |
400 |
8-12 |
~Power - 4 |
| Leather |
Any |
30 |
15 |
15 |
RASTER ENGRAVE (Mode=Engrave)
Material
|
Thickness
|
Speed
|
Power
|
Scan
|
Notes
|
| MDF |
Any |
600 |
30-40 |
~0.05 |
|
| Plywood |
Any |
600 |
30-40 |
~0.05 |
|
| Acrylic (Shallow Engrave) |
Any |
600 |
30-50 |
~0.05 |
|
| Acrylic (0.2-1.5mm deep) |
Any |
100-250 |
66 |
~0.05 |
|
| Paper |
Any |
1000 |
20 |
~0.05 |
|
| Leather |
Any |
800 |
40 |
~0.08 |
|
| Apple |
N/A |
800 |
40 |
~0.10 |
|
# Cast Acrylic produces a frosted effect when engraved. Extruded Acrylic is clearer
CUTTING (Mode = Cut)
Laser Ply Cutting
NOTE: Other ply should be avoided. It will not cut consistently due to lower grade and larger knots and will contain formaldehyde based glue.
Thickness
|
Speed
|
Power
|
Corner Power
|
Pass
|
Notes
|
|
3mm
|
11
|
55
|
52
|
1
|
Works well for living hinge designs
|
| 6mm |
5 |
66 |
58 |
1 |
|
MDF Cutting
Thickness
|
Speed
|
Power
|
Corner Power
|
Pass
|
Notes
|
| 3mm |
5.5 |
66 |
58 |
1 |
|
| 6mm |
3-4 |
60 |
50 |
1 |
|
Hardboard Cutting
Thickness
|
Speed
|
Power
|
Corner Power
|
Pass
|
Notes
|
| ~3mm |
5 |
66 |
58 |
1 |
|
Card/Paper Cutting
Thickness
|
Speed
|
Power
|
Corner Power
|
Pass
|
Notes
|
| 80gsm Paper |
400 |
20 |
15 |
1 |
Air pump will blow cut pieces around.
Keep the pump on but leave gaps in the cuts to break them off afterwards
|
| 3mm cardboard |
40 |
66 |
58 |
1-2 |
Beware - tends to catch fire if done more slowly! |
Acrylic Cutting
Note: Extruded acrylic gives a cleaner "flame polished" edges than cast acrylic when lasercut
Thickness
|
Speed
|
Power
|
Corner Power
|
Pass
|
Notes
|
| 3mm |
15 |
66 |
58 |
1 |
|
| 5mm |
6 |
66 |
58 |
1 |
|
| 6mm |
3.5 |
66 |
58 |
1 |
|
| 10mm |
6 |
60 |
50 |
2 |
|
Leather Cutting
Thickness
|
Speed
|
Power
|
Corner Power
|
Pass
|
Notes
|
| 1.25mm |
60 |
66 |
58 |
1 |
|
| 2mm |
25 |
66 |
58 |
1 |
|
High Impact Polystyrene Sheet Cutting
This is the white plastic in small sheets by the laser cutter. Ed can supply almost unlimited amounts of it, as it's waste packaging from where he works, Just ask! :)
Thickness
|
Speed
|
Power
|
Corner Power
|
Pass
|
Notes
|
1mm - CUT
|
25
|
35
|
25
|
1 |
|
| 1mm - ENGRAVE |
400 |
35 |
25 |
1 |
|
Foam Board Cutting
Thickness
|
Speed
|
Power
|
Corner Power
|
Pass
|
Notes
|
| 5mm - Engrave (Mark) |
20 |
10 |
10 |
1 |
|
| 5mm - Score (Half-Cut) |
20 |
15 |
15 |
1 |
|
| 5mm - Cut |
20 |
20 |
20 |
1 |
|
Laser Rubber (for stamp making)
Make sure you use proper laser rubber (which is chlorine free and therefore will try and kill you less).
The laser will like you more if you do grade engraving rather than vector, unless your design is very simple.
Nottinghack have a good design guide for making stamps using laser rubber https://wiki.nottinghack.org.uk/wiki/Laser_Stamps
Make sure your design is mirrored, or you might spend a whole evening laser cutting only for your stamps to be reversed.
Cut type
|
Speed
|
Power
|
Corner Power
|
Pass
|
Notes
|
| Grade Engrave |
100 |
66 |
66 |
1 |
|
| Cut |
12 |
66 |
66 |
1 |
|
Design resources
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