Ortur LM2 10w not cutting clean

Community Laser Talk
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Hi All,

I’m having issues getting a clean cut on 3mm plywood (Vkiza Basswood on Amazon). I’ve searched through a few other posts and considered what they’ve suggested but ultimately I’m still having the same problem.

I’m using an Ortur LM2 with a 10W module. It’s had light use over about a year. One confession is a couple attempts at trying to etch a reflective surface early in it’s life.

Ortur’s website says I should be able to cut 2.8mm ply in one pass at 300mm/min. It has taken me three to four passes to cleanly cut through it all (and at that point I try to increase the speed to reduce overall time). As suggested in another post, I recently cleaned the lens and am still needing multiple passes. Attached are pics from my trial after cleaning the lens (ignore the second square from the top - I forgot to actually make it 2 passes). This did seem to make an improvement but still not as advertised by Ortur.

I’m using air assist, about 30L/min, plus the air assist is on in LightBurn. I also keep a fan nearby blowing across the workstation.

Another post suggested varying densities of plywood is a cause for inconsistent cutting.

So, my questions are:

  1. Is varying density of plywood the main cause?
  2. Is the power of the module just not what’s advertised?
  3. Is my module defective or have I damaged it (trying to etch reflective metal)?

Thanks!

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cut trials front
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cut trials back
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As a start do a wall-test

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I reliably cut 2.8mm Baltic Birch plywood 800mm/m, 85% power, 5 passes with a 10w laser. You did not say what type of birch, but no matter. Take out the cover lens (flat) and focus lens (curved) and ensure there is NOTHING on either of them. Lasering a flat reflective surface is not good for them.

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Thanks Parsec.
I will give this a try soon. The rest of the article had some good info too.

The article seemed to reference Sculpfun lasers. Do you know if the general image I should expect will be the same for the Ortur LM2 10w? Am I just looking for anything that deviates greatly from what Ortur says the laser pattern should be at the proper focal length, a solid rectangle?

Ortur LM2 10w focal image
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Hi Mikey,
The Amazon listing just says Basswood. I’m not sure if there are more details other than that.

Do you require the full 5 passes to cut completely through Baltic Birch? If so, maybe I’m not getting too bad of results.

Also, do you know off the top of your head if Baltic Birch is more dense than Basswood?

I’ll go back in and remove the cover lens and make sure both it and the focus lens are clean.

Thanks!

P.S. I definitely won’t be etching reflective metal with it again :wink:

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Likely similar to others 10W diodes.

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The laser beam of a 10W diode usually is composed by 2 diodes inside the laser module.

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Maybe 60% of the time, 3 passes does the job. With 4 passes, 99% of the time it drops the part. Occasionally, due to wood warpage and foreign materials in the wood, all 5 passes are needed to get that last little bit.

I think Basswood is premium compared to Baltic Birch. Probably costs more too. I think it is hard to see any grain at all in Basswood.

You can, but with caution. Maybe with a slight tilt so the beam does not reflect straight back up into the laser (opinion of one).