Laser Cutter/Parameters

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< Laser Cutter
Revision as of 11:49, 2 January 2015 by Orls (talk | contribs) (links to the new laser cutter and add a warning about using old settings)
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Warning

These settings were determined over time for the old Laser Cutter. This page is kept for reference/guidance. The new Silvertail A0 Laser Cutter has it's own parameters list in progress. The new cutter is more powerful - do not use these settings from here without some thought and careful adjustment!

Background

Thick Material

Do not try to cut anything thicker than the thickest width listed for that material on this page.

Corner Power

When the path goes round curves, or a straight line passes close to previous line (TBC), the laser will slow down. As a consequence, the Corner Power needs to be lower to compensate. Typically about 80% of the Power setting.

Lowest power

Setting the power below 10 or 11 means that the laser will not activate.

Tried but DIY parameters

Laser rubber has been used (mainly for stamps) it works well but you'll need to experiment for engraving/cutting. Check out Laser_Cutter/Parameters#GradeEngrave, which is useful for rubber stamps.

Parameters

Cutting

Acrylic - Perspex

Thickness (mm) Speed (mm/sec) Power (%) Corner power (%) Examples / Notes
3 6 100
4 3.5 100 21
5 3 100
10 1 (not enough?) 100

PLY

Thickness (mm) Speed (mm/sec) Power (%) Corner power (%) Examples / Notes
.5 25 80 This seemed to work really well with not much burn on the edges for the super thin ply.
1.5 8 100
3 5 100
5 2 100
6 1 100

MDF

Thickness (mm) Speed (mm/sec) Power (%) Corner power (%) Examples / Notes
3 5 100 20
4 4 100

Misc

Material Thickness (mm) Speed (mm/sec) Power (%) Corner power (%) Examples / Notes
Acrylic - Palglas 3 6 100 21 Cubauble
Corrugated Cardboard 3 12 100
Hardboard 3 3 100
Paper 60 15
Card 35 40
Mountboard 12 100
Engraving Laminate 15 80
Funky Foam 25 25
Curian 1 100 Four passes required
Laser Rubber 6 100 25
Suede 1 25 100 25
Suede/Leather (line engraving) >1 150 10 10
Leather 3 4 100 100 (needs more testing)
Full grain leather 3 9 85 85 Burn free result! Helps to put tape over leather.
LD45 Plastazote 12 25 100 20
Unknown clear thermoplastic 4 10 10 - 15 10 These box lids melt easily but can be cut with multiple passes at low power.
Polypropylene sheet 500micron (0,5mm) 14 40 17
Polypropylene sheet - scoring 500micron (0,5mm) 60 60 15 This will produce a score. useful if you want just to mark a point or fold.
Polyester "paper" - NeverTear 300micron (0.3mm) 40 60 40 Never tear is a polyester sheet that can be laser printed like normal paper.
Polyester "paper" - NeverTear - Scoring 300micron (0.3mm) 100 15 40 This will produce a score. useful if you want just to mark a point or fold.

Engraving

Material Speed (mm/sec) Power (%) Corner power (%) Examples
Acrylic - Perspex 200 21
Birch PLY 200 17
MDF 200 25
Corrugated Cardboard 200 20
Hardboard 200 20
Paper 200 15
Card 300 20
Mountboard 200 20
Engraving Laminate 200 21
Curian 3 100
Laser Rubber 200 70
Anodized aluminium (dyed black) 450 90 ? LHS logo on black phone
Anodized aluminium (Macbook Pro) (Vector - in "cut" mode) 100 100 80 Russ's Macbook Pro
Suede 250 15 80
LD45 Plastazote 200 10 10 At 10% engraves 2-3mm deep. Laser doesn't seem to come on at all at 5% or engrave at speeds >200 mm/s so may not be possible to engrave less deeply than this.

GradeEngrave

What happens when you use GradeEngrave

Grade Engrave will cause an area inside a engraved area to have raised edges. It is intended for easier rubber stamp making but can be applied to any real use. See the Nottinghack wiki for more details.

Material Speed (mm/sec) Power (%) Corner power (%) Examples
Dette's 2.3mm Laserable Rubber Sheets 200 70 Two passes might work better :)