I’ve had an Ikier K1 Pro 24W diode laser machine for a year, but have just started using it for a project. I’m having a very hard time cutting through 3 mm plywood in one pass. It did not seem to be that difficult when I first tested it a year ago. It cut up to 20 mm wood with some passes. Not charring to much. Now, I cant get trough 3 mm plywood without charring and burning though it with close to 100% power at really slow speeds.
- I’ve done the initial focus setup. Added auto focus command and z axis setting.
- Ran the focus test. It focuses well between 6-9 mm. Normal manual focus is 8mm.
- I’ve checked the lens, and it’s super clean (have just ran this machine for 45 minutes total).
- The included air assist is running at full speed. Works well. As the smoke never builds up.
- S-value in Lightburn matches the device value of 1000.
I’ve tried many test patterns. Here’s two examples. Notice that the speed was first in mm/second and the last is mm/minute.
The second test pattern are done with 1.5 mm focus closer to the plywood. To check if that did better. The focus on the text are a bit worse, but the cutting is not changed by much. As you see, it has problem cutting almost everything. Everything cut is terribly charred. Otherwise it’s not nearly through the plywood. The cards them self are cut, but I had to use like 100mm/m at 90% power and 3 passes.
I know that I can do a z step to change focus and do multiple passes. That works, but it cuts so slowly. I do not think that this was such a problem when I first tested this machine successfully a year ago. I remember cutting though 20 mm solid soft wood in a few passes without z stepping I believe. Thin plywood was not a problem. It seems that something has changed, and I do not know what.
Any tips are appreciated. Anyone else with an Ikier K1 24w or similar laser that knows how fast it’s supposed to cut clean?