Tumbler Engraving Help

AaronG · November 20, 2025, 2:12pm

Hi

This has likely been asked plenty but i am struggling to find anything on my search. Hopefully a simple resolution, I am learning to engrave powder coated tumblers ( and I have an order coming up so need to fine tune now )

What i have is:
Creality Falcon A1 10W & Chuck Rotary System

Settings used ( after material tests )

7500 mm/m - 50% power - 0.08 interval

My issue being as you can see from the picture is the lines left behind after engraving and also what looks like part way down the design almost like the chuck has skipped ahead a slight bit. The chuck is tight as a tiger on the inside of the tumbler

Is there anything i can do to check or change to see if it makes an impact on quality - I have also given the engraving a wipe down with LA awesome and a microfibre cloth

Thanks in Advance

MikeyH · November 20, 2025, 6:17pm

Assumptions:

the material is stainless
your tests were on another tumbler

Guestimates (because I cannot determine what the lines are made of):

slow it down to the 2000-3000mm/m range
Increase your interval to 0.1mm to see the effect
continue testing

AaronG · November 21, 2025, 1:12pm

Haha!! When i sat there thinking “thats all the information needed” i forgot the simplest of things

Yes its on a satinless steel tumbler and yea it was on a different tumbler but all from the same manufacturer so i assumed it would be the same

I am currently running material test at slower intervals to see what comes of it

AaronG · November 21, 2025, 2:38pm

So a few tweaks here and there this is where i am at

I have turned off bi directional fill and its yielding a much better result - however there is still this line that runs through the squares and its different positions on each square? The bottom right ive picked off with my thumbnail after washing with LA awesome and a scourer clean up but obviously i dont want to have to pick lines out of a tumbler

Then the second photo is honed in on the speed and power but i have gone for 2 passes to try and eliminate the line - would you say that the 3500 @ 50% would be a good finish?

Colin · November 21, 2025, 2:54pm

We actually have a full documentation page and a video about tumbler engraving that should prove helpful: Full Wrap Tumbler Engraving - LightBurn Documentation

If you’re using this rotary:

I would make sure that you have set your diameter in the Rotary Setup window correctly - banding like you’ve shown is often caused by having a line or slice interval that is too small (along with a diameter setting that isn’t perfect).

AaronG · November 21, 2025, 3:12pm

Oh Thank you for this i shall give it a look over appreciate that

Yes its that rotary chuck that i have and am using

ednisley · November 21, 2025, 11:10pm

Most likely, the reason that looks better is because the machine and (possibly) the chuck have mechanical backlash, as shown by the text:

Because the A1 is a CoreXY machine, belt tension is absolutely critical for proper operation: make sure they’re properly set up.

In addition, check everything mechanical in both motor drive trains to find & eliminate loose screws and sloppy assembly. The design of the A1 will make getting in there difficult, but it should work much better than it does.

Finding & fixing mechanical problems will be much easier without the rotary, using this test pattern:

Backlash.lbrn2

Scale it uniformly to fill the platform and run it as fast as it will go in Line layer mode with Enable optimizations turned off and power set to mark a sheet of cardboard. Any differences from the design will be informative; a crisp photo will let us look over your shoulder.