Grayscale for small vector circles

LightBurn Software Questions
1

Hey all, I’ve asked a similar question before, but it wasn’t the right question. I make slingshot pouches with my laser, and I am trying to figure out how to engrave a certain feature into the pouches using grayscale, or possibly LPI. The reason I think grayscale would work better than LPI (unless I misunderstand LPI) is because of the size of the shape. They’re circles around 8mm in size.
I want to achieve a ‘pit’ (concave circle) in the material I’m using for the pouch to allow for better purchase on the projectile.

So far all I have done is trace images for engraving and cutting, and haven’t dived deep into what this program can really do. I’ve looked up videos, but all of the videos for grayscale are about images, not shapes. Any help would be greatly appeciated!

2

I think if you just want a ‘pit’ or indentation in your pouch material, engraving an 8 mm circle in fill mode would be sufficient!

How thick is the material you want to laser? If it’s thick enough you can try creating a grayscale image with the center being very dark and the edges much lighter. I’d be interested to see images of this test if you go this route.

Have you seen this video on grayscale yet? It’s a good one:

3

I have watched that video, and from what I saw its about images. The material I’m using is around 1.5mm thick. As far as using fill for the circle, I’ve tried that and it doesnt work. It makes a pit, but without the concave it doesnt hold the ball projectile like it should

4

Can you try Layers with increasingly smaller circles? That would give you progressively deeper burns.

5

Ive tried that. It takes every single layer color there is, and an insanely long time to do it

6

You need to explain this better. I am also afraid 1.5mm is not much thickness to work with. I created a file I think might work, but you have to figure out your own settings. At 1500mm/m, it will take less than 2 minute2 to burn
Concave Burn.lbrn2 (34.1 KB)

7

From what I understand so far, it’s an interesting question because it will be very related to physics. Mainly how the material will react to the laser. Will it react in a linear way (result/laser power) or not?
You will have to take heat concentration into account. In a material test you can have an idea of ​​the result but I believe it is just an idea. To obtain more reliable results I would suggest using the design in question with different settings.
Engraving in one direction only, decreases concentrated heat compared to bi-directional engraving. ( I realized that when I worked with acrylic material)

8

I think the resolution by @JessN is your best option. Creating a circle with light outside grayscale getting darker as the it reaches the center.

Then run it in grayscale mode. Using grayscale creates lots of data, since every power change requires data to the controller.

This is the only way I know of to create what you want.

:smile_cat: