I am new to lasers. I have an orion 50W and Lightburn for the program. I am trying to cut words out. My files are SVGs. My question is what settings do i use to cut through 1/8th inch balsic sanded plywood. Any advice would much appreciated. I have attached an example of what I’m trying to cut out
If you haven’t created a test pattern for various materials, it’s a good place to direct your efforts.
For 3mm laser grade plywood on my true 60W machine, I have complete cuts at 25 mm/second at 65 percent power, the highest I should be using for long life.
You’ll want to know the maximum power setting that is safe for your machine. It’s not going to be 100% and requires some research to determine the correct number.
I’d suggest that you run some tests for cutting, starting at a slower speed but don’t go higher than 60-65 percent on the power, until you learn your tube’s top end.
Create a cut file of parallel lines, set each to the same power and use different speeds for each line.
For your lower power laser, until someone else chimes in, I’d expect that 15-20 mm/sec at 60 percent is a good starting point.
I tried - out words but - could - I was talking about. 
Hello, thank you for sharing your knowledge.
I always have a question. When you say 65% laser power (for example), does that mean you put the laser at 65% and on the cut line at LightBurn 100%, or the other way around? On the Laser 100% and on LightBurn 65%??
Thank you.
The settings entered into Lightburn will override those configured on the panel. You can see this by sending a job to the laser of sufficient duration to be able to observe the panel. The power setting and speed will display those numbers entered into the job.
If you set 100% power and 100 mm / second on the panel, those are the numbers that apply when using movement keys and pulse button, but the cut program sent by Lighburn will ignore that.
But what you should do is limit the power level in the controller. Such that when you enter 100% in lightburn by accident, you will not output 100% with the controller. This to save your tube’s lifespan.
That very much depends on whether you have calibrated your PSU properly.
I can send 100% and get 100%, because my PSU has been adjusted to give 85% of the rated mA for the tube.
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