Hi all, Im new using this kind of lasers, recently i bought Laser Longer Ray5w, and Im facing 2 issues when trying to use my personalized designs. I deal in 30x30cms dimension designs aprox. and questions are:
I have no clue how to position laser in a certain point to start, when im trying to do it, and i frame it, laser directly goes on the very right edge and comes to an error where i have to restart the machine, i tried sampling and maching works perfect, so it must be some parameter im doing wrong.
I deal in non woven fabric engraving, and im quite confused with the parameters, im using for engraving: Speed mm/s 45, Power max % 20, Pass count 1, red layer colour, Interval mm 0.100
Shall i incresase/decrease any parameter to improve in fabric/leather ?
I believe here you are assuming when you move the laser head by hand the machine knows. It does not
So after the moment of homing, machine “thins” is at X0Y0
If you move head to center, to start engraving, it will still THINK its at X0 Y0
I would suggest you use frame function and use absolute coordinates, and use the grid of the screen to position the deisng instead of moving the laser head
Diode lasers usually use mm/min (you can change on edit → settings page)
45mm/sec is too fast
You need to run tests. However fabric is highly flamable – never – EVER – leave machine unnatended when engraving/cutting fabrics
Thank you i managed to solve it out with your explanation. Do you have any recommendation towards speed? I ve setted in 2000 mm/m, should i decrease it or increase it for big designs with lots of details ? I tried small/medium with your explanation, it takes time, but big one 30x30cms it comes in 7h! Is it normal or shall i change the speed ? THank you
7hours for 30x30 means your DPI mght be too high
Lines per inch/mm
you would honestly have to spend a bit of time doing tests on your machine/Materials
Got to sacrifice some materials for laser gods , run some tests and try
Is that type of questions that relys so much on variables we dont have that - if answered - would really not be of much help.
Lightburn has a power scale test maker in - laser tools - menu.
ALso you can engrave the same image, small one, using multipel dither settings once you find your power/speed combo
I’ve never done any work with textiles/fabrics, but 2000 sounds pretty slow. What is your power at? Interval?
Most engraving jobs I run on stone and wood, I take it pretty easy at around 6000 mm/min and power on my 5W machine is usually under 60%, so I could potentially increase both power and speed. I like the results where I’m at and I’m not a volume producer, so I don’t push limits.
As Gil said, an hour of testing will pay dividends. You’ll probably still have to make some adjustments based on real job results, but the tests get you pretty close. Are you familiar with the various tests built into Lightburn?
Thank you so much, I managed to understand the speed, I tried some tests but i realized that the moment Im incresasing the speed mm/m more than 4000 in woolen felt the definition of the design is more poor than running it in 2000, though in leather is alouding me to run higher speed without affecting the design. I need to run some more tests on felt, still is coming in 30cms dimension 6h now after changing parameters, is it normal ?
Hi, thank you for your reply, I ve been trying during the weeking how to use the software on some materials. I think i more over managed to get an idea on setting up the machine on leather and non woven fabrics. My issue with tests is that im not using the cutting option, and tests in lightburn by defect it comes this option, so my first trial… it burnt the leather and i decided not to take a chance on woolen felt. I tried to do testing but one by one which took me over 3h… Is there any other way to set up the tests by defect into lightburn to remove the ones im sure they ll cut the material? Thank you