Hello,
I’m having trouble with my Latitool F50 cutting all the way through wood material, including 1/8" plywood, 1/4" walnut and 1/8" hardboard.
I have the laser focused as the manual has described at it will almost cut through but I never get a clean cut.
I’ve tried different settings from 100% power and 13 in/m speed to 80% power and 50 in/m speed. I’m doing mulitple passes up to 20 passes but still not getting the results I’m looking for.
I’ve tried cleaning the lens too. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks for your help.
- You did not specify what kind of plywood.
- Walnut is a hard dense material and very hard to cut.
- 1/4" in any wood is a serious challenge for a 5w laser.
- Hardboard is just that, very dense.
- Did you use the Lightburn focus test. Focus is critical.
- Did you do a Material Test on any of these items? Line for a cutting test and Fill for burning (engraving).
Except for the 1/8" plywood, cutting these is difficult with any laser. Plywood varies all over the place due to the glue used in some of it.
You do know the second is less cutting power than the first, right? The first is closer to being in the range for cutting the plywood. I normally cut 2.8mm Baltic Birch plywood, using a 10w laser, at 70%power, 700mm/m, and in 4 passes. sometimes the part will drop in 3 passes, and sometimes not. You have half the cutting power, so a little math will help.
I saw a video where some dude cut 18mm MDF in a single pass with my laser model. but he was going maybe 30mm/m at 100% power to do it. Those max performance videos need to be viewed with a healthy dose of skepticism.
You need Air Assist for maximum cutting ability. Otherwise, the smoke blocks the laser beam to give reduced power.
There are tons of 5w lasers out there making stuff, like burning images into ceramic tiles. But they cannot do everything. tha is why more expensive machines sell.
Enough of the soapbox. Slow the machine down and use air assist for cutting. You will get results!
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