Hi just want the letter G and name to fill. I dont want the laser moving unnecessarily. What do I need to do to change it?
Thanks.
You can use offset fill.
Offset Fill
will likely leave unwanted artifacts in the fine lines of that pattern as it attempts to follow the outer perimeter.
The only way to get consistent engraving across a shape like that is with “ordinary” Fill
mode, because that produces uniform exposure across the entire engraved area.
The overscan regions on either side are where the laser head accelerates to and decelerates from the engraving speed you set to produce the results you want, so they are not “unnecessary”.
If I’m doing a significantly repetitive job (like 75 woodallions or a dozen award plaques), I’ll do a couple test burns to see what the best speed/power combo is for time-efficient results. A wider design might benefit from maximizing the speed (which also means the most overscan), while a narrower design could potentially be faster overall at a slower speed that reduces overscan on each end.
(For a big grid of coasters, I’ll group each coaster, set the layer to fill by groups, and then even go in and set the priority of each group so they are engraved in one continuous sequence – right to left across the first row, then left to right across the second, and so on, minimizing travel.)
The correct way to fix this is to simply go slower. Ruida controllers, like the one in your Thunder laser, automatically add the overscan moves based on the speed and acceleration of the machine.
You have not shown the size of the design or any of your settings, so my suspicion is that the design is relatively small and you’re running it excessively fast, which doesn’t always make it take less time.
Offset Fill with a CO2 machine is usually more trouble than it’s worth, and produces numerous artifacts you have to fight to remove (burnt ends, wobbles).
Just another reason why my second machine is also a diode.
Got a beatdown on that one.
Fixed that for you.
Diodes engrave well, but even with a diode machine using Offset Fill is usually more problems than solutions. The feature was added specifically to allow engraving a large, open / empty shape, like a rectangular or oval frame.
The number of people who try to use it for everything makes me deeply sad, because it leaves gaps, causes weird burn patterns in the designs, and is extremely stressful on the mechanics of the machine (compared with normal back & forth engraving).
Fill is always going to produce cleaner and more consistent output, but people get impatient and think Flood Fill or Offset Fill will solve all their problems, but really they just give you different problems.
If I can save a lot of time and If I can tolerate the remnants, then I will use Offset Fill. Most of the time, I see about 2 minutes out of 30 savings. On occasion I have used both in the same project.
There are times that I WANT the patchwork effect caused by offset fill, for artistic effects.
I rarely run my diode over 3300-ish mm/m in fill mode, and offset needs 2400 mm/m or below due to frame rigidity problems.
Try it, and it may work out better for you. It just takes a test or two to see the effects.
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