Engraving Portrait - plywood poplar

[Stanky29 (Stanislav Reištetter)]

hi i have atomstack A5 pro 40W

its possible with this laser {it have not regular focus{

to make good portraits? i tried but not good 2000speed 70 power…
material plywood poplar …i need first make RAMP TEST grayscale to get best results or what to do ? thanks

[LaserWillie (Willy)]

Hello, welcome to the forum.

There are lots of settings to master before I’d attempt photos. Do a material cut scan test. Do this for every material you intend to use.

Material Cut/Scan Test Files - Power Scale

UPDATE LightBurn now has a very powerful material testing tool built right in! Find it in the top bar menu under ‘Laser Tools > Material Test Generator’ Please check out our documentation for a full run down on all the features: Material Test - LightBurn Software Documentation [image] If you’re here specifically looking for the manual material test files and instructions, click the arrow below.

Expand this section to see manual material test files

Here is a test file created using the ‘Arra…

Once you have tests done, try this.

5W diode Unable to get edges on a baby photo on Birch Plywood

Select the image, right-click and click either ‘Adjust Image’ or ‘Show Properties’. Add an ‘Enhance Radius’ value of about 5, and an ‘Enhance Amount’ of 200 or so. That will make the edges engrave sharper and help add definition to the result. If you go as high as 600 or so with the Enhance Amount, it can make edges stand out very strongly, like this: [image] I also usually set the gamma value to 0.7, which helps bring up the mid-tone shades, and lets you use a little more power.

Then report back

[Stanky29 (Stanislav Reištetter)]

i see u have Atomstack A5 PRO too…can u send me here any your portraits on wood if u have ? thanks

[LaserWillie (Willy)]

I don’t do portraits. I did one set for a friend who loves Trump and that’s it. Took a lot of testing but finally worked.

Start with what I’ve posted and search the forum for the rest. There’s no shortage.

[Stanky29 (Stanislav Reištetter)]

ok so u have Atomstack A5 pro right? how much thinnest can be laser on this machine?

and how can i measure size of my laser? its so SMALL

[LaserWillie (Willy)]

It can get very thin if you want to machine the diode and add in a regular lens. AtomStack is not really that great to be honest. Ortur for instance has changeable lenses which help a lot. So do other modules.

[Stanky29 (Stanislav Reištetter)]

i dont have regular lense because atomstack a5 pro 40w have autofix focus

[Stanky29 (Stanislav Reištetter)]

so i cant change laser only? i need buy complet new one? and which one is good and how much cost? thanks

[LaserWillie (Willy)]

Yes I understand that. It’s why I don’t recommend Atom Stack at all, to anyone, for any reason.

[Stanky29 (Stanislav Reištetter)]

can u recommend me any machine to have regular lens? so best to do is sell atomstack and buy new one but which one?

[LaserWillie (Willy)]

If you can return and Atomstack I personally recommend it. Ortur gives support in the forum but you have to do your own research yourself. It’s your needs vs wants. vs budget.

[Stanky29 (Stanislav Reištetter)]

but…atomstack is good another works like cuting etc…only for portraits it isnt goood??

i can sell it but which one u recommending in 300€ with regular laser thanks for portraits

[LaserWillie (Willy)]

Diode laser s are not great at cutting in general.

[Stanky29 (Stanislav Reištetter)]

i mean poplar 3mm is good…

i have atomstack maybe 1month so i dont think i can return back or ?

[LaserWillie (Willy)]

Some people are really into AtomStack, I’m not a fan at all. The Ortur brand seems to be well received, they have support in the forum even if unofficial. There’s no shortage of modifications including lenses, air assist etc.

Your AtomStack with air assist should be able to cut 3 mm poplar with no problems.

For ME personally, the build quality out of the box wasn’t good and I should have returned it on the spot but didn’t. They are supposed to have concentric screws to tighten the rollers on the rails and mine didn’t come with that. I can’t remove the nozzle so I cannot swap lenses etc.

If you are looking for an out of the box diode laser I would go with the most powerful Ortur you can get. There are others out there, but for a beginner I would say Ortur. They are not perfect but you can get a lot of accessories for them.

[Stanky29 (Stanislav Reištetter)]

thanks…iim just want to ask…how i find out whats size of my beam dot is? its megamini i cant see it with eye so how to find out what a DPI i need SET - how to find out what size of my beam laser is ?

need i use dots test?

[LaserWillie (Willy)]

@Stanky29

how to find out what size of my beam laser is ?

That’s a good question. Google is your friend here but the answers are complicated at best. You’ll have to go with the manufacturers specifications. You can test by doing a quick fire that you would normally use to align and then you’d need some very scientific tools. I would just practice with your laser and see if it works for you.