Hello All,
I am new to this forum and lasers. I have a new atomstack A70 Max that I am trying to get dialed in with the material test grid. I have created a material test grid by hand that I duplicated from the lightburn laser tools material test. I am getting different results with the same settings. I wanted to see if I have done something different/incorrectly in the hand built file and/or if I might have an issue with the laser module. The files are engraved using the 35W setting on the laser module. I thought I would see some engraving at the 10% power setting.? The file for the hand built file is attached as well as a picture for each test result. The hand built file is the first picture, the lightburn laser tool material test is the second picture. Thank you for your time and assistance.
The Setting for the text in the second test is probably ‘Line’ instead of ‘Fill’ like the text in the first test.
It may be running a little bit fast and I feel that you’re seeing some evidence of backlash or machine flex noted by the arrows on the Left.
By engraving the text with ‘Fill’, the Gantry (the heavier part) is moved a small amount and only at the end of each line. By following the line of the text, both axes are moving and with more mass moving, the engraver will flex more. Are the speed settings for engraving the text in your test similar?
The arrows on the right showing the strong border on the test patch suggest that the motion control is adjusting power and speed within the engraved area. Ideally, enabling Overscan, will allow the speed change to happen outside the engraved area.
Selecting a travel speed or a ‘whitespace’ speed closer to the engrave speed should also reduce the effect of the speed change.
John, Thanks. The speeds were the same for the text for both files. I was reading about the Overscan function, I will try it. For the flex I do need to stiffen the table up, as you stated there is a lot of mass moving as the laser module is large on this machine. I have it adjusted so that the module mass is centered on the gantry when engraving/cutting.
Do you know why the hand built file doesn’t have any engraved blocks for the speed/power settings? Thanks again.
