Is there a difference in speed possibility when it comes to FILL / PICTURE Mode considering those two not having to deal with sharp accelerations and decelerations from doing sharp corners?
In the Machine Settings > Vendor Settings > Laser Settings it mentions the Laser 1 maximum power (%) as being set to 75.
· I assume this means my advertised 50W Laser is essentially capped to 37.5W?
· I also assume that Lightburn will not be basing its Max Power (%) and Min Power (%) Values used for an operation on the 50W but instead the 37.5W?
· In case the two above hold TRUE - Is there any benefit in further reducing the Max Power (%) to below 100% in order to preserve the Tubes lifespan with it already having been capped by 25%?
The Ruida has an axes setting for maximum speed. If you download a lightburn file that has settings exceeding these, the controller will limit this to maximum.
Generally speaking the faster you can run the faster a job will be done. The caveat is the head must slow down, change direction and speed back up. This is called overscan and will appear on each of whatever you are engraving. You can see it in the preview, if you select ‘show transversal moves’.
There is a point where the head spends more time slowing, changing directions and speeding back up, that it spends less time engraving and more time in the transition.
This is the pwm limits… Mine are set for 9% and 98% for min/max laser power.
Lightburn only sends the code to generate the pwm output, it has no idea about what power you machine can produce.
If you asking if the Ruida makes it 75% equate to 100% and computes some difference, I don’t think it works that way… I couldn’t see how it could work that way.
What determines your current draw is your lps. When your tube lases, it will draw whatever your lps will supply.
Tubes are consumables. Set your lps properly and the power (pwm) figures will work for your tube… I.E. 50% pwm will give you 50% power. Stay within the manufacturers specification for current draw and you should get the best performance/life from your tube.
Sorry the late follow up… Being new to the entire CO² Laser thing new questions come up I try to either answer or solve myself which has been taking time…
Apparently not OR at least they’re not particularly well setup by the Machine Vendor as doing a speed check of some sorts using a Test Project I came up with resulted in the Y-Axis losing steps and banging itself against its Endstops - That and the Y-Axis generally sounding horrible when approaching speeds near 200mm/s.
In all honesty I’m having problems understanding some of the answers you’ve provided so in order to keeping it simple for stupid ( me ):
Can the Laser 1 minimum power (%) setting be used to lower the required Value a Laser needs to fire when using the Lightburn Cut Settings EditorMin Power (%) setting?
Mine’s currently set to 1 requiring my Laser to receive at least a Min Power (%) Value of 16% to reliably fire. Would me adjusting the Laser 1 minimum power (%) to a higher than 1 Value bring down the Min Power (%) Value down from 16% to ideally 1% thus improving the granularity of the Power Scale?
Is the purpose of the Laser 1 maximum power (%) that of preventing the User from overdriving the Laser Tube on a Software level ( via the Cut Settings EditorMax Power (%) ) by preemptively limiting it on a Hardware level?
Does mine being set to 75 mean I can set my Cut Settings EditorMax Power (%) Values as high as 100%?
If need be, think of these settings a speed limits for both speed/power limits. The min/max of laser 1/2 will limit that pwm generation to that value.
Just like the maximum X axes speed will limit the machine to that value, and ignore anything higher… these are here for the machines protection.
If by granularity you mean ‘steps’ from 0 to full power, that can get complicated. However a simple answer is that a 16bit register on a processor has more ‘steps’ than an 8bit machine could have through the same range.
If you set this to 15%, and the layer to 10%, the controller will force the 15% minimum. Just absolutely limit the low end pwm. No scaling or anything magical.
There is a lot of information along with debate about running a percentage below where the tube will lase. IMHO it promotes damage the tube … Mine is set where I can consistently lase or about 9.5%, if I remember correctly.
Yes… the controller will limit the value to 75%… which will sure screw up your ability to use pwm usefully…
For me, I think it’s much better to adjust the lps for maximum supply current, set the Laser 1 max to 99 (mine). This will make lightburn ‘behave’ correctly … it’s not Lightburn, it’s the controllers ‘limits’ that’s the issue. This allows me to drive my tube at full power, which I do now and then.
If you want another level of protection as many do, they set this to the max percentage you want to run for you tube.
Mhh… I’m gonna have to think about a few things like if it’s even worth fuzzing about the Laser Tube Service Time…
Omtech with their Polar 350 ( a carbon copy of my G·Weike Cloud but with much better documentation ) rates their Tube in a similar 10’000h ballpark with a reduction to 8’000h when operating above 70%. Considering me probably neither be using the Machine every day and for more than an hour at a time I’d be looking at a theoretical Service Time of around 22 years past my retirement
I might as well just bump the Laser 1 maximum power to like 95% and be able to run faster cuts with it
I think you might be missing what I’m trying to say, at least partially.
Both machines have Ruida controllers. What kind of documentation would be different?
I sure wouldn’t buy into this … If you never used it, it would not ‘live’ for 22 years… From my experience, if people get 2k hours out of their tubes, they are doing good. 10k hours is about 5 years of 8 hours a day… good luck with that … They go bad just sitting unused…
One of the video advised they could not locate a replacement tube on the tubes manufactures website. I’m also suspicious that the output power of the Polar is not 50W … tube isn’t long enough.
Google the Internet for tube life and you will see most specify about a 3 year life span. At least dc excited tubes.
I run mine a lot and I only have a couple hundred hours on it…
It’s also a consumable… Set the machine up properly, whose ever it is and you will get maximum life as the control software will actually work the way you expect… That’s why I set mine to 99% and adjust the lps…
Depending on the dpi, most of these can outrun the lps. Speed doesn’t buy you much you much with lasers…
Just compare the two Manuals ( Polar 350 vs. Cloud ) and decide for yourself which one you appreciate more?
Lots of stuff the Polar 350 Manual does better including the Technical Documentation mentioning the Machine using a Ruida 6442S (RDC6442S-B) or which Materials to stay away from including an explanation the Cloud falls entirely silent on.
Not sure if it is the same Tube to be used as a replacement for a Polar 350 ( or the Cloud ) but they do list a 50W one on their Site in the 880mm Length range which about matches the length of mine.
Unless there’s a systematic problem of a ~900mm long Tube not being able of reaching 50W then there doesn’t seem to be any foul play at work
In any case… Even with a Tube realistically only having 1/10th the lifespan I now still find it hardly any worth fuzzing about considering the price a new one apparently will set me back - A full complement of 12 Ink Cartridges for my Canon PIXMA PRO-1 would set me back 320.- ( if I were to buy original ones ) which is about twice the price of a 50W Glass Tube with the latter usually not drying out like no one’s business
My opinion probably isn’t worth much to you with different root use. I purchased one of these to learn how they work. I have to get ‘inside’ it to be happy…
The polar seems to be a very nice unit… I always wonder about maintenance on something that has so many ‘consumables’ and is ‘plug and play’. No doubt it’s a major threat to Glowforge.
When you mentioned more documentation, I thought you meant technical, not were parts are. Neither of these machine would fit what I like to do.
As far as what not to cut … IMHO, don’t cut anything you don’t know what it’s made of and checked it’s ok to incinerate. Most led and co2 lasers in the hobby world will cut natural materials. These are generally non toxic… of course breathing burning mdf/wood or paper isn’t a good idea… but when you move from natural to man made materials, then you enter a possible issue with the resultant chemistry of high temperature incineration/vaporization.
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