Fill vrs Fill Line vrs Line - New to Lightburn - Laser

[woodzy (Jeff kranz)]

I need some help - if you look at the attached pictures, I do not understand why on just the Line option - it hardly shows up but if I use the fill_Line the line really burns deep. I only changed the operation.

Thanks,

[Kris1 (Chris)]

Hi Jeff, could you upload a screenshot of your cut/layer settings.
It helps to be able to see what’s going on.
Looks like you have the ‘line’ power to high on 3.

Go to the tab 'Line(after fill) and set it to, probably 1 higher than you used for the fill and see how that turns out.
Without seeing your settings it’s hard to say exactly what it is with the others.
Could be on ‘2’ your min power is to low

[woodzy (Jeff kranz)]

I looked and I had the Min Power set at 0 so I guess that was the issue. Can you tell me why they have Min and Max Power? Should they always be the same.

I’m new to this and learning quickly.

Thanks

[Kris1 (Chris)]

Several reasons, on line engraving it’s to do with speeding up and slowing down of the laser as it reaches ends of lines so as not to scorch as it slows and accelerates.
Images, so you get better contrasts between the lighter and darker shades.
I believe min power is only on co2 lasers and not on diodes.
there are a few videos around that explains it better but hope this helps.
P.s when cutting it’s usually best to have min power set to the same as max…
Pps. co2 lasers only start to burn at 9-10%power but nothing below that.

[Rick (Technical Evangelist)]

In general, if you want to cut something, set both to the same. These are worth review for a more in-depth understanding of why:

RDWorks Learning Lab 134 Max Min Power Revisited

Cut setting - minimum power?

Min Power is used for cuts where the head will be changing directions, slowing down the speeding up again, where you want to not over burn the corners. DSP controllers like the Ruida will ramp, within the range of the Min to Max Power based on the speed the head is traveling. Min Power set too high, over burned corners. Set too low, the laser will not “fire” and will not mark/cut in the corners. The firing point is the ionization point of the glass tube. The bigger the tube, the higher this poin…

Troubleshooting: Corners are not cutting - Output issues - LightBurn Software Documentation

Confused about best approach to min power setting

Thunder Nova series uses Ruida controllers. Jeff is spot on here. On the Ruida controller, there’s a controller setting called “Start Speed” that defaults to 10mm/sec. At that speed, power starts ramping up from Min Power to Max Power. Cutting at or below that speed means you’re using Min Power only, so if you’re cutting slow, set both Min and Max power the same and you’ll have no issues.

[Kris1 (Chris)]

Thanks Rick, was trying to find a vid to paste.

[woodzy (Jeff kranz)]

Thanks that helped. I guess I must of set the Min to zero and I guess it stays that way until changed. Maybe I need to find a library of materials for the same machine I have and that should help on all the settings.