Agate stone engraving with UV laser

[ArtyaArtanis (Artanis)]

Hello, I have Galvo UV laser 5W with JPT source f=100mm lens

I have LaserEmboss program and it can deeply engrave agate

But I want to switch to LightBurn, how do I copy all the settings to lightburn and are there better settings for engraving agate stones with deep and high quality text?

You can see the settings in the program, the reason I want to switch is because LaserEmboss slices the image and makes it with lines and unreadable text when engraved, while I saw that lightburn gives best quality

Thank you for your time

[Aaron.F (Aaron)]

Hi Artanis,

I haven’t heard of LaserEmboss.
LightBurn supports galvos with controllers from BSL, and EZCad.

Can you tell us how your controller appears in Windows Device Manager?
Then we can determine whether it might be compatible with Lightburn.

[ArtyaArtanis (Artanis)]

Hi in the devices manager it says LMCV2 and in the flash drive that came with it there is a file that says ezcad2.exe

Source SEAL-355-5SE 5W UV

[Aaron.F (Aaron)]

@ArtyaArtanis

it says LMCV2

Nice. That controller should be supported. You can use our free trial to give it a go:

Download / Trial

You’ll need to install our USB driver to connect. Check the respecting box in the last step of the installer, before clicking finish.

Then, load the manufacturer’s config file (usually in the “plug” folder of ezcad) when adding the device, as instructed on this page:

Add a Galvo Laser - LightBurn User Guide

Don’t hesitate to ask, if you have any questions.

[ArtyaArtanis (Artanis)]

Hi I downloaded lightburn and imported markcfg7 but trying it I saw that it only slightly marks or burns the surface of the agate rather than engraving it deeply I think I have something wrong in the settings

[Aaron.F (Aaron)]

I’ve only just realized what an Agate stone is. Those look beautiful!

Did you ensure that the focus height is accurate?

I can’t read your number values of the cut parameters in both screenshots.

You’ll need to manually transfer your cut parameters (Frequency, Q-Pulse, Speed, number of passes…) from LaserEmboss

to LightBurn:

[ArtyaArtanis (Artanis)]

I copied all the settings from laseremboss to lightburn but when I start it, even after 50 passes it gives shallow white marks on the stone with no engrave or details

Here’s the difference and the text quality with deep carving I need vs what’s happening currently, I’m sure I’m doing something wrong but I’m new to this so bare with me please

[PawelSekula]

What line interval did you set in LightBurn?
To me, it looks like you are using too large an interval.
I tested these pulse width, frequency, and speed settings using a 0.01 mm interval.
I achieved beautiful engraving on agate.

[Aaron.F (Aaron)]

@ArtyaArtanis

We can’t see the Line Interval or the mode you are using here (Image, Line / Fill) because the Timings are being displayed.

Can you share your .LBRN2 project file?

[ArtyaArtanis (Artanis)]

I think I’ve come to a conclusion but yet it’s not the answer

Using ezcad2 and Lightburn with SVG/DXF = deep agate engraving

Using ezcad2 and Lightburn with png/jpg/bitmap = shallow engraving almost burnt white surface

I tried lightening the png and disabling mark low grey point to 180 but still the same result, any tip or a way to make bitmap images engrave as powerful as svg/dxf files?