HI
I have an Atomstack A10 Pro with 10w laser.
I’ve seen videos on youtube that cuts 10mm plywood at a speed of 200 and a power of 80% with 3 passes but I can’t even cut 6mm
Could it be some Lightburn setting?
Perhaps you have LightBurn set for mm/sec
rather than mm/min
, in which case the laser will be moving 60 times too fast and won’t make much of a mark on anything.
Or it can be set for in/min
when you’re thinking mm/min
, which will run only 25.4 times too fast.
All those are in Edit → Settings
.
With that set properly, the next thing to check is focus, because a defocused beam has very little power.
And then there’s the issue of assist air, without which the beam probably won’t penetrate through the smoke to the bottom of a 10 mm trench.
So many things to check!
Hi ednisley
I work in mm/min and with air assist and It has a fixed focus that I adjust with a 2mm plate
I am attaching my settings
Good: you have checked all the obvious points!
Does the value of GRBL $30
match LightBurn’s S-value Max
? Both should be 1000.
Beyond that, I must defer to other folks around here who know more about the less obvious problems.
Value of GRBL $30
match LightBurn’s S-value Max
? Both should be 1000 ?
I don’t understand which setting you are referring to
In the Console window, enter $$. You can scroll and find the $30 value there. In the Edit, Device Settings window, look in the lower right for S-value max. Those two numbers should match.
Ok, that was a pretty standard question. Here is another: Do other materials you have used previously burn/cut the same as they did?
There is a LOT of variety in the composition of wood products. Unless you have a piece of the same wood used in the sales ad, you likely will not get the same results. Even thinner wood, due to the bonding agent, may not cut through in one pass. I believe Air Assist is needed for best performance.
I tried various types of plywood and at most I managed to cut the 4mm.
I use the Atomstack F30 air assistant
The intent was to determine if you might have a loss of power.
I came across 2 additional issues when similar happened to me. Somehow I got smoke on the laser lens, even with air assist and the contamination on the lens damaged it. I replaced the lens. The second was how dry the material you are cutting is, even across the same piece. Any variation in moisture levels will greatly affect cutting power. Might not be either of these, but more things to check.
I don’t think that’s the problem, the engraver is new
I found this video that he cut 18mm in a single pass with a (Sculpfun S10) 10w laser. Slide over to about 6:00 in the video. Maybe this will put some of the “can cut thru” claims in perspective.
That doesn’t mean anything. If you laser the wrong material without air assist, your lens can be dirty after minutes. It is very crucial to check the lens regularly, in the beginning while you don’t have much experience with your dirt levels, check after each project.
Next, it also depends on the laser beam. The video mentioned with the Sculpfun is kind of a show-off because Sculpfun has the best diode laser modules with the smallest beam shape and the longest focus area (the S10 module in particular). Additionally, the air assist nozzle of the Sculpfuns is perfectly adjusted to the module. So Consider the S10 module as the limit of what you can do, the Atomstack will not reach this level.
Additional tips:
In general, try to use faster speeds and more passes. The picture you show shows a very dark edge with a lot of charring. That is even harder to cut. Going faster will lead to less charring end easier cutting. See this as an example:
You also should lower your focus as much as you can for such thick materials.
Finally: 10W diode lasers are not the right tools to cut 10 mm of whatever material. Of course, manufacturers advertise them being able to cut 20 mm or even to the middle of the earth. But in reality, I use my 10W modules only to cut up to 6 mm. Above that thickness, I change to 20W at least. You CAN do it with lower power modules, but it isn’t economic. You can also mow your lawn with scissors, but there are better tools
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