Hi, I’m new to this, and know I have a lot to learn.
I have a 500mW laser add on for my 3d printers. I’ve been learning and playing around with it, and Lightburn software is the only reason I haven’t given up.
I’m getting really good results cutting outlines (SVG images, or letters), but when I try and use the Line + Fill (or just Fill) options, the borders of the images are blurred.
When I do the line, it traces the path, and it looks great, but Fill or Line+Fill goes back and forth one line at a time. (I’m sure that’s as designed), However, it’s like it’s starting or stopping the laser too late, so the borders between burn and non-burn aren’t sharp.
My speeds are very slow (10mm/s, etc.) because I know I have a little baby laser. I love the results I get on Line, but so far, Fill is coming up short. Any tips to make it look better?
It looks as though it could be backlash. I don’t know what your movement equipment entails. I’m assuming belts and pulleys. Are they tight?.
Do you have Overscanning turned on? Are you doing bi-directional fills. Try turning it off if it is on and see if that helps. All these little things can give us hints as to where the problem lies.
Yeah, belts and pulleys, and they’re fairly tight (great for 3d prints), but the Laser is held on by magnets, so perhaps it’s got some vibration or inertia causing that.
I’m not sure where the overscanning settings or bi-directional fills setting is. I have looked, but don’t see it yet.
Perhaps that’s because I have a Marlin controller?
If your laser is held on by magnets, do you have anything that locks it in place, or are you just relying on the friction. You may need to lower your acceleration settings or increase your friction coefficient. Or you have a 3d printer. Print a mount for your laser.
The overscanning lets the laser run past the edge of the image by the percentage set. This gives the laser time to decelerate and accelerate in the opposite direction before starting to burn again. This can hide mechanical slop issues.
Turning off Bidirectional scanning will make the laser only burn in one direction(Left to Right) this will hide Backlash by pushing it all to the same side.
Fill still seems to distort the left side of the image, if you look at the two circled in this picture, they’re the exact same file, one gcode with fill, and the other with line, the shape is still innacurate.
But, it is a lot closer, so thanks for getting me that far!
