Hello!
Does LightBurn have a hard limit for rasterization? I have an 836 dpi black and white (no grayscale) image, and when I try to preview it, LightBurn instantly says out of memory. I have my resource monitor open, and I’m definitely not out of memory (system or vram).
So what gives? What might be the issue?
Well, I found a way to preview. I had “pass through” on in my layer. Once I turned that off, it previews fine. So what is it that “pass through” is doing different than “threshold”?
Threshold just passes the artwork to the machine as is. Generally Lightburn does the selected ‘dither’.
If you process it by some site like Imag-R, then you use pass through.
make sense?
Yeah, that’s what I gathered that pass-through was. That’s what I was using previously, so now it makes sense why my NWT engraves came out so streaky, hah. My latest one finally worked. I had adjusted the levels in Photoshop, thinking my grays would convert, but I was obviously wrong about that.
Thanks @jkwilborn
I do most of the major photo work in Gimp, like dodging and burning, then move to Lightburn. It has excellent image controls, considering it’s for a laser.
You get a good picture in Gimp, then use Lightburn for the dither, dpi…
If you have a co2 laser, I think this is way out of line for expectations. I don’t think that kind of resolution could be attainable.
What kind of speeds are you attempting?
And what lens?
Good luck
Yeah, it’s a co2 laser. Thunder nova 51 100w.
This is at 300 20 using NWT method. I’m using the HR lens. According to thunder, 1000dpi+ is attainable, since the beam has twice the density of my 2” head. Pretty happy with the results thus far. Using Photoshop for image adjustments.
These are ntm tiles…
Here’s a video link to a Russ Sadler video, coincidentally, it’s the Thunder and the 1000 dpi claim.
Might want to invest the 30 minutes…
Good luck
Hah yes. I’ve been through that. My image used wasn’t quite correct, nor my settings but nwt is still the method.
I’ve watched a lot of Russ’s videos lately. Great info. I wasn’t claiming that the 1000dpi was real, just what they keep saying.
Anyway, I’ll keep on testing until I find the right dpi for the machine. It’s all what it looks like in the end.
I’ve got a bridge you’d love to own… 
The other issue is the lps response time. I’m sure, if you have any speed at all you’re probably exceeding it.
If you can get satisfactory output, I’m in 100%
How do you apply the TiO2, paint or powder?
Good luck
Haha, sold! 
I’m sure you’re on the money. With my talks with Thunder’s reps, they always tend to say faster mm/s is best, but my testing doesn’t really fall in line with that. I’ve found that around 215 - 300 yields decent results, at least with the image i"m working with atm. Power-wise, it has to be 20 or below. Again, they suggest 30% or higher, to ensure the tube is properly excited without any streaking issues, but I’ve had ok results with 20% power thus far. My scale test showed the same.
So far I’ve used several different spray paints, but Montana cans flat white has burned the darkest. I may try Russ’s powder mix suggestion, if I really want to get nitty gritty on this. Mostly it’s all by eye. I appreciate Russ’s scientific approach, and I’m happy he’s worked it all out. Definitely makes it easier to at least see where to start.
I know I’m controlling everything at slower speeds and I think it’s more consistent job. So I agree 100%. The slower I can go the better, at least it seems that way.
Of course you’re hitting it with 100 watts and compared to my 50 watts, so you are much ‘hotter’ than I.
I got one of the health and safety documents and found the percent of TiO2 present. Some of them had no TiO2.
I used a similar method as Russ. I mix my TiO2 with water and a few drops of food coloring so I can see the thickness. I use an air brush for application. I made a real mess the first few times.
I found that mixing it my cats ‘medicine’ bottle that you can put a syringe in works well.
Tried Ethanol, but it dried up so fast it plugged the airbrush… I have plugged it with my mixture.
Not familiar with an HD lens. I use a compound.
Ah, got’cha! I do have an airbrush setup, so I could totally do that. I’ll look up what’s in the paint I used, if they do list their mix online.
The HD lens is the beam buddy, but rebranded by Thunder. It’s 2 lens in one narrow head.
Yep, that’s pretty much it. Longer tube not narrow, hah.
I use these C type tubes. They can be flipped over to put the lens at a different position.
Seems to work fairly well.
No drag chain anymore…
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