I am very new to this and am not sure how to proceed with a situation I’m experiencing and was hoping someone would be able to advise if this is setting-related or if I should return the laser engraver as it is under guarantee.
I received an Atomstack X20, diode laser about 3 weeks ago. I did a material test and everything seemed fine so I went ahead and started using it. I have noticed that it is not cutting as well as it used to and I did another material test which confirmed that it needed a slower speed to cut the same holes as it did previously (I have attached a picture of the comparison, the cut on the right is the original one and the one on the left is the latest material test. Please note that the original one was also made with thicker wood (5mm MDF as opposed to the new on which was 4mm).
I turned the wood over and and I now don’t think the power had reduced, it looks like it is not cutting horizontal cuts properly (picture attached). This is happening to all of my designs which means the pieces break when trying to remove them.
Is this some sort of setting I have touched without realizing or is it a hardware issue? I have cleaned the lense twice now but it doesn’t seem to help. I also switched the “constant power mode” in the settings but this hasn’t helped either. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
It seems to me that you do not have solid wood, you have some kind of plywood made from sawdust. This material cannot be cut so easily.
And also I hope that you properly calibrate focus with callibration tool. Properly set focus should be positioned below surface to the middle of the meterial being cut.
Thank you for your response. I am using MDF which is a wood bound with glue but not in layers as in plywood. It’s the same type of wood I used at the beginning when it was working perfectly. I do set the laser with the calibration tool. I am sure it’s not the wood as it is only horizontal cuts that are affected and doesn’t matter if I rotate the same piece of wood it is still the horizontal cuts that aren’t made as well as the vertical.
Please try the paper. The cutting callibration could be done on paper as well. You do not need such a power and paper is homogenous. Is the LASER cut also different for x and y axes?
If so, it could mean some wrond callibration x and y speeds.
I will try paper a bit later but I’m sure it will cut through it without a problem. Is there a way to calibrate different speeds for the X and Y axis? This sounds like it could be the issue as it does cut both directions but much better on the X (horizontal) axis. I’m sorry, i’m sure these are really basic questions and I am searching for solutions as well I just feel really lost. Many thanks for your help!
Yes, but it you set e.g. 5% power or very high speed, the cutting through will be also affected by direction - it you encounter this problem. Cutting paper on full power will not discower too much.
I originally think that you cut ligtburn’s squares e.g. that you post in the first post - LASER tools/material test.
This could mean that the Y axis moves faster than requested from unknown reason. May be some internal settings. Or that moving Y consumes more energy and the energy for LASER
drops because power source cannot feed both LASER and stepper motors.
There could be done attempt to print a biggest square and attempt to detect moving speed from a video. Mobile phone could grab such a movie. Or to ask support for your engraver.
