Hi
Still trying to find my feet when engraving wood - i am currently testing on Acacia wood planks for chopping boards and serving platters etc
But i dont know what is a good engraving, obviously i want it to be dark so that it can be seen but not too deep etc - so essentially looking for advice on the below what people would see as a good setting to use from a material test
TIA
To add more uncertainty to your decision, remember that you can adjust number of passes and Lines Per Inch and scan angle to achieve more variety in result.
yes thats true ha!!
Should i run more material tests using the parameters for speed a power found below but with more passes for another and then interval and angle for another so that i have done 4 tests?
For Acacia, I like your results in the 100% column, up to about 7200 or 8000.
I forgot to mention that you are free to soften the focus slightly to blur the edges of the burn.
There are a lot of ways to influence the outcome.
Choose a small range of results you like, and then go forward with variety testing.
with 100% doesnt that burn the laser out quicker ( sorry should have mentioned it was on a 10w Diode )
but yea i will take a subsection where the colour is okay and play around with that 
I was worried about that when I first started, reading all the stuff on the 'net.
Clean laser lense will last much longer than a dirty lense.
Replacement modules are getting stupid cheap as the technology and the market matures. I started on a 5w then upgraded to 10w.
Are two passes at 50% power and better than 1 pass at 100%. I don’t think so, as partial power is achieved in digital systems by adjusting the PWM frequency. Imagine your light switch on the wall flicking off and on 1000’s of times a second to dim the light. IMHO, full on is less stress on the system than off/on/off/on/off etc. I could be full of stuff, but for my few dollars I have spent on the hobby, I don’t get wrapped around the axle. Go with the setting that work for you.
appreciate the reply on that one and yea makes perfect sense to me - i will trial run at the higher power on a design and see what the difference is and then if needs be go from there
Sometimes just typing it out makes more sense in the long run and just stops me overthinking it so thank you for your replies
This is true, but diode lasers are actually pulsed at 1KHz to 1.5KHz in most systems. 100% power means maximum heat in the laser diode, and heat is the #1 enemy of anything electronic.
I limit my max power (10w and 40w/20w machines) to 95%, or even 90% most of the time. Need more heat, slow it down.
Imagine the difference between a scalpel and a chain saw. Depends on the application. And, no, these two settings are not equal.
Hi Aron
The over thinking is perfectly natural and it will get you around the learning curve in good time. Soon the dust will settle and you’ll have no problem imagining in advance…the probable outcome.
That’s a nice bit of wood and while I thought a nice black engraved would look really nice, could I also suggest that you take a look at ‘Cross-Hatch’. This is a good way to reduce power and get a nice pattern that need not be overly burned.
Also, you can increase the line interval with this and it’s a great time saver and interesting to look at.
Always look where you want to get to, but Remember Where you are and How you got there. (Notes and a good filing system)
