Good Morning, I’ve been having difficulties engraving on 1/2 inch thick coated alder wood plaques. I operate on a Odin Series Thunder Laser, 55W CO2 laser. My burns come out super dark and where there are thin lines to fill, the laser barely touches the area. My most successful setting so far was a Fill @ 560 SPD and 30 PWR, but I know I can achieve a cleaner result. Could someone help guide me to less dark, consistent results?
Coated with what? It makes a difference.
More speed or less power is the usual solution. But burning dark may be a charteristic of that wood.
Good luck with this one. Wood varies in grain and density, sometimes a lot. You can rarely tell just by looking at it.
It’s a clear coat, I’m unsure exactly, but we order from JDS, their “Premium Red Alder” plaques.
It may be the clear coat itself charring due to the fact that it is a CO2 laser. A diode laser would “see thru” the clear coat. I have a customer where I laser thru clear resin and mark the cutting board.
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So I started experimenting with the results of my material test, and for sake of trying, i moved the laser further away than the auto-focus sets, and that improved my designs significantly!
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I think that rates an email to Thunder Laser.