I was able to cut with lightburn on the little aluminium sheets that came with the laser. Now, I want to cut on a coated aluminium billet. Something with the coating must not allow it to cut, because when I apply the same settings nothing happens, like absolutely no engraving at all. With higher settings, nothing happens either. So, since I am so new to this and don’t know what I’m doing, I have no idea how to actually cut into this material. Any guidance would be appreciated.
If you’ve used other lasers, it’s likely you’re not used to doing metals. What gets most people is when you increase the size of the material, that conducts more heat away from the laser impact point. Even the same setting for the same material won’t work the same way if it’s physically a different size.
Find where you machine has the most power, you can find this if you know what kind of source you have. The manufacturer might be able to help you also. My 60W MOPA has it’s highest output at 45kHz, if I recall.
I don’t know how much about these lasers are how they work with Lightburn, but I doubt it has any relation to the software.
Oh shoot, well if the software doesn’t have much to do with then that’s a huge let down/problem. My lens is a 150x150 F210. Has more on it, but that seems to be the important bits from what I’ve read.
Seems like all I can do is etch an image into some thin metal. I noticed what you said about heat, the larger objects didn’t seem as warm after I tried hitting them.
I was told this machine was up to the task, but if I’m running it on high power settings and getting nothing, than that’s a problem.
It’s more likely you just can’t drive it yet, so hang in there.
A 50W fiber should do aluminum without any trouble, even in worst case, it should leave some kind of mark. I don’t think you have a MOPA, but you can set the frequency low to achieve maximum output.
I have an F254mm that I use the most.. about 175x175mm coverage. It’s spot size is 2 times that of my F100mm (spot size of 15 microns). If I went from the F254mm from an F100mm, the spot size area would grow by 4 times, so it would appear to 1/4 the power of the F100mm.
What do you have as far as one of your layer settings… can you take a screenshot of the edit layer gui and let us have a look?
Galvo fiber/MOPA on metal have a completely different cut dynamic as compared to wood on CO2 or laser. It’s generally limited to very thin materials- like <0.5mm- and it’s not about a practical speed.
There’s multiple reasons it won’t work. You can’t just slow it down, add more power, or keep taking more passes and get depth. There are ways to work around the dynamics quirks, but it would be crazy complicated and your cuts would have considerable limits to their geometry.
I have a 300W MOPA. It actually can’t cut any deeper than a 60W. It’s the system geometry that creates the limits, not the machine power.
You know, I was talking to a friend and he mentioned focus as well as being super important. I lined up the two dots so they are side by side (they don’t really overlap on my machine). He said to give that another look, maybe they didn’t come aligned right from the factory. I’ll play with that, and some settings, then I can send the settings over with some results. Thank you for your time.
I set my focus the old fashion way, I listen to the machine working. The louder the sound the more in focus.
I have four lenses, so I found out quickly that the pair of diodes for focus wouldn’t cut it. The diode light needs to merge both beams so it looks like one spot.
Did some focus tests and cut T’s out of 1/4" acrylic.
As Jack suggested, focus by eye and ear first.
Start an engraving that takes a while. Move the focus up and down until you hear the strongest burn. - This is your focus height.
Then, adjust the red dot by loosening the screws of the brass-colored red dot laser on the galvo head and move this brass ball until the two red dots are perfectly aligned on the workpiece.
Check the alignment again after tightening the screws.
I have the same G2 Pro, but with 30W. It cuts Aluminum surprisingly well. I was able to cut a 1.5mm thick sheet with some patience.
I’ve found these are difficult to adjust and move when you tighten them down. Much like the mirror adjustments that have a lock nut, it’s almost too touchy to be of any good value.
It gets more complicated if you switch lenses a lot. Because of difficulty and how offten I change lenses, the two thing doesn’t make it.
I have marking on my column that allows me to crank it up close to the focus point, but I usually use some sticks, that is pretty accurate, cut out of 6mm acrylic.
Cutting all the way through seemed difficult to me, since the last part hardly removes any material. But if sparks come out from the bottom, you can break the shape out by bending the blank around the cut.
This then requires finishing the edges and is certainly not suitable for large production runs. Nevertheless, it’s impressive that it works at all.
I support it off the table out of it’s dof. I found a post on Reddit about someone that lost his wife. A piece of jewelry she always wore had a marijuana leaf cut out of the center of the quarter. Looked like a challenge…
Hey that 3D printed gizmo JKwilborn made is slick. So yeah, my device was not calibrated and apparently out of spec. Took a while to get that figured out with customer service. Got it all fixed, corrected, need to wait on another lens too. I appreciate all the support, and the suggestions. I look forward to zapping some major stuff once I am all set up here ^^
