GRBL Trouble tuning quality on image, lines and text

Hi Everyone,

First post - So I’ll try my best to help this make sense.

I recently bought a laser cutter/engraver (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B097RJ4SFR?ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details&th=1) for a project I’m working on. The project involves printing 2D designs from a software called Pepakura onto cardstock, then manually and painstakingly scoring and cutting the hundreds of pieces, until ultimately assembling them into a cardstock framework for a fiberglass + bondo costume.

I solved my scaling/layering workflow to go from Pepakura to Inkscape to LightBurn BUT I feel like I’m chasing a moving target when attempting to burn anything.

Here is what I’m currently attempting to test print:

My unit has a variable focus diode. I have tried this on the cardstock 3" away, and now 1" away (focusing the laser in both locations), with exactly the same results:

By the way, that test took ~38 minutes to complete.

The first problem is the occasional gaps that seem to happen after the laser moves. The next is finding the ideal power + speed. I have determined some of the factory settings were incorrect ($32, for example, as well as falsely inverting y-axis) but I’m hesitant to play with those without some direction from the wise and educated (you all).

Here’s my $$ output:
$0=10
$1=25
$2=0
$3=0
$4=0
$5=0
$6=0
$10=0
$11=0.010
$12=0.002
$13=0
$20=0
$21=0
$22=0
$23=0
$24=25.000
$25=500.000
$26=250
$27=1.000
$30=1000
$31=0
$32=1
$100=80.000
$101=80.000
$102=250.000
$110=2000.000
$111=2000.000
$112=2000.000
$120=6000.000
$121=6000.000
$122=10.000
$130=280.000
$131=280.000
$132=200.000

Thank you in advance!!!

UPDATE:
It seems to be the color of the paper (white cardstock). I switched to brown, and the images are coming out crisp.

I apologize for wasting anyone’s time - will post an update if the paper isn’t the cause, after all.

Not a waste of time of someone learns from it, like me, LOL. Do have a side question for you, are you running windows? If so what driver are you using as I can not find one that works my similar model (Nasum A5 Pro) as yours. I really want to use light burn but it’s not been easy as I cant even find the driver, LOL. Thanks, and thanks for the post

LOL that makes sense then! So sorry for the wait! I didn’t receive a notification that anyone responded. I am using Windows. My machine came with some software. The driver installer is labelled as “CH340SER.” Once you have that installed, you may need to change the COM # in Device Manager to have your laser show up correctly - BUT I didn’t need to do that.
Here’s a page that has the driver download at about 1/8 down the page:
https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/how-to-install-ch340-drivers/all

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