Inconsistent burn in the same single pass of engraving

Community Laser Talk
1

Ok, I’ve grown to appreciate the videos provided by the LA Hobby Guy. I’m a 73 year old geezer with a 30w Roly laser using Lightburn. Been at this about a year and am basically just burning different fonts on 1inch wooden cubes. I’m finding inconsistency and am stumped about what to do about it. I have practiced with various speeds, power, and passes and just can’t seem to understand how some of these letters can look so well done while the ones right next to them seem weak and anemic and others nearby get burned edges (all in the same run).
I’m kinda trying to blame it on the grain of the wood on various cubes but some sure do seem to be facing up with the same side of wood grain.

I am wondering if the problem is the type of wood, but then again, many of these letters are just perfect, so…

Any advice would be appreciated. I have, by the way, reached out to the supplier to find out what kind of wood this is. But again, with many being spot on and others not so, I have difficulty saying the wood is the issue. Thanks for any advice.

attachments as examples.

burn balance1a
burn balance1a1401×1275 194 KB

burn balance2
burn balance21920×697 156 KB

2

You probably need to adjust line space, or direction of engraving. In some cases the concentration of heat will burn more in some letters then others.
I have some difficulty in explain it but maybe you could understand it better if you check this video (probably already known to you…) ( what you are trying to do is not a picture but the basics are the same.)

3

My opinion is that it’s the wood. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, it’s wood. It’s an organic substance that behaves differently depending on the grain direction, closeness of the grain, whether it’s sapwood or heartwood, long grain or end grain. You will never get 100% consistent results with wood.

3 Likes
4

This is encouraging. Thank you. Big respect.