Since a few days I have got a Skulpfun S30 pro and I am using the latest Lightburn. I have engraved a few black & white drawings without major problems. I used the configuration “sketch” or “treshold” for that. But when it comes down to photos engraved with one of the other configuration (grey-steps, dithering etc.) all results have a dark grey background; means: everything is engraved, also the areas which do not contain picture-elements, which should be (nearly) “white”. Another example is the grey-step-matrix. Even the background is being engraved. The details are:
contrast: 0
brightness: 0
gamma: 1.5
speed: 6000 mm / sec
max power: 100 %
min power: 20 %
I suppose it’s a simple problem, but I’m not able to find it. Any help is appreciated!
Greets
OK, simple logic is best! I turned the min power to 0 and the pattern is much better now. The problem with the photo still exists. I turned off the option “constant laser power” and in a few minutes I will see the results.
Yes that’s what I meant to adjust contrast & brightness of the image so there is no background. Using the material test in Lightburn should not have anything burnt in the background with Min 0 & Max 100. If it does maybe there’s a setting on your controller keeping power higher than you want.
Hmm, you were right with your assumption. There was nothing engraved in the background. The laser almost burned through the wood, but it was very thin and lightweight wood ;-).
But the photo is still the problem. I boosted the brightness and reduced the contrast. The result is that the background is partcial “white” and the persons still very dark and not recognizable. Could it be that the image is simply not pripared the way it should be? Originally it was a colored photo which I reduced to a black and white one.
Edit: I think that can’t be the case. I also had the millenium falcon which originally was a coloring picture. With the configuration “sketch” everything was ok, with “Jarvis” the result was as seen in my first pictures.
So if I understand correctly you’ve resolved the dark background with the material test but it’s burning to heavily on some of the sections of the test? If that be the case I’d either increase the speed or lower maximum power and run the test again until there’s good result without burning through. I would start by increasing speeds. Once you have a good material test you can choose the best power and speed settings to try with your images. I’m no expert on engraving images or different dither options so I really cant make many suggestions on that.
If that be the case I’d either increase the speed or lower maximum power and run the test again until there’s good result without burning through.
That was my thought, too! I wanted to lower the power. I will begin testing today (if I can make the time). Thank you so far anyway, you showed me the central theme. The problem is that you don’t see the forest for the trees when you start with a new program, whose documentation is not available in the mother tongue.
I will give you a feedback later.
Greets
Ralf-Guenther
so here is what I found out so far! The results heavily depend on various variables. I reduced the power and later the speed as well. The wood I used is plywood (glued wood) and depending on the structure of the single stripes the results vary. The engravings are from dark black to nearly not visible. So the quality of the used wood seems to be decisive.
Thank you very much so far. I wish you (and everybody else) a very merry christmas subsequently and a happy new year!
