Hi guys, very very very VERY new to the laser world. I have only done engraving at the minute but I have a file which requires me to cut Acrylic & Maple Plywood, I have been doing some research but have conflicting information about cut settings, once said 9 mm/s at 25% power but other things I have read indicate a hight power and speed, what would be a recommended guideline for speed & power to cut acrylic & the plywood?
Thanks in advance, I’m sorry if this seems like a really simple question but I am super new to this and the machine is very intimidated haha.
Well, it really depends on the power of your laser, of course, but also on the thickness of the materials.
If you have some extra sheets of the material, you should do material tests, they will reveal the optimal settings (good combination of speed (highest) and power (lowest)) for a clean cut.
Ahh thank you, it’s 1/8 acrylic and I have a 50 watt Omtech, it’s such a minefield isn’t it, I feel like a fish out of water and worried I’ve not made the right decision in getting one
There is a materials test under laser tools if you wish to use that…
I do this
Get a piece of scrap, should have some or you will anyway…
Draw a line in Lightburn using some kind of starting value.
Using the scrap I run the line and attempt to cut the tip off the strip of material… or acrylic in this case.
I can examine the lasers results, from the side you can see how far through the material it cuts.
Once you get used to the Ruida console, you can easily change the line parameters and find where it does the best job… This uses much less material and I’m used to doing it this way…
I’d take the 13mm/s @ 80% and run a line with 13mm/s @ 60% to see how it looks. Make changes to that you deem needed to make the cut…
I’ve lased out magnet indentations on some projects… using the same procedure …
It might be overwhelming at first, lot of new stuff to learn, etc.
The good side is there is lot of information on the Internet, starting with this forum (very helpful), on constructor’s sites (even if not your constructor. Trotec make good tutorials for example), in YouTube videos, etc.
With practice, you will be more confident and you will enjoy the process.
