Recently purchased a CNC 3018 with a 7w diode laser module (optical power). One of the first cutting tests was with 4mm wood - it went through with 6 passes, around 500mm/min and 100% power.
A day later, I could not reproduce this at all. The laser could make a cut of 1-2mm deep, but no more. I tried different laser heights, power settings, even different software besides lightburn (lasergrbl), but nothing came near the result of the previous day.
Any ideas? Laser defective? Wrong settings?
Using constant power setting, and the board is in laser mode…
Do you have any sort of air assist protecting the lens? My first guess would be that you’ve fouled the lens with MDF vapors. I’d suggest examining the lens for residue and cleaning with IPA or a lens cleaner if you identify any contamination.
Actually I don’t have any kind of air assist installed. The lens is sitting about 45-50mm above the surface. But anyways, I will clean the lens and try again, thanks.
Edit:
Disassembling and cleaning the lens did not make any difference, unfortunately.