1064nm IR+20/40W + Lightburn Guide

[Skreelink]

You will need the gcode license.

[MohammadAlH]

There two licence:
LightBurn Pro License
LightBurn Core License

I think i need the LightBurn Core License correct?

[Skreelink]

Oh, right, I forgot they restructured. Core would be correct.

[MohammadAlH]

Thank you for your help

[MohammadAlH]

Question is there Material Libary for Snapamker i add to LightBurn ?

[Skreelink]

Unless another user has made one, there is not.

[MohammadAlH]

thank you for you replay.

[MohammadAlH]

Hello,

question how will the LightBurn know if the laser is 2w or 1.6w ?

Thank you

[Skreelink]

Lightburn has no idea. You’ll have to setup different devices for each laser and set them up individually.

[MohammadAlH]

yes, idone that but how he know if the power for each one ?

this setting will be diffrent for each ?

[Skreelink]

For the most part, all of those settings should remain the same. The GCode tab would be different for your origins.

[MohammadAlH]

ok thank you for clearing that for me, question did you try to Engraving photo on Bloack Acrylic in LightBurn or luban ?
i buy from amazon this Acrylic Circle Blanks and trying to Engrave photo but no luck don’t come clear any suggestion
Amazon.com: PATIKIL Acrylic Circle Blanks 4 Inch, 20 Pack Round Clear Disc Ornaments with Hole for DIY Keychain Project Crafting, Black : Arts, Crafts & Sewing

Thank you

[Skreelink]

I’ve never engraved on black acrylic, but I’ve engraved on black PLA and black/blue PETG. It comes out beautifully with the 2W IR.

IR On Blue PETG

150x150x2mm Snapmaker Blue PETG Settings; 6000mm/min, 100% power, 0.08 Interval, stucki. [PXL_20240923_120943207]

[MohammadAlH]

it look nice, in luban or lightburn ?

[Hauke]

Snapmaker offeres profiles for the newer lasers (Links seems to be for Ray, but also SM2 and Artisan Profiles are there):

https://wiki.snapmaker.com/en/general/manual/use_ray_with_lightburn_guide

[Hauke]

I did engraving with the 2W IR on the black acrylic that came as sample material with the Snapmaker. It yields extremely nice results (The image here is only 3.2 cm high):

Laser Frustrations and bugs

Ah, look at that! Not perfect, but getting there… This is 2W IR laser true greyscale with Lightburn: [grafik] True greyscale is so much better than dithering! Here’s the same image done with dithering (you may need to go to 100% view to really appreciate the difference): [grafik] Here’s the source image: [grafik] The “why” you can read here: Laser Inline Power processing slow? And yes, laser processing is slow. The image shown here was done with base speed 6000 mm/min, which is basical…

Laser Inline Power processing slow?

I am currently finding my way into laser-engraving black acrylic with the 2W IR laser. Using a few test patterns, I established that at a speed of 10000 mm/min, a nice and fine line spacing of 0.05 mm, and using laser power between 10% and 40% I get beautiful true greyscale (no dithering or halftone)! So I was very much looking forward to engraving my first image. Lightburn produced a fine file working with inline power for each dot - so basically a loooong sequence of 0.05 mm movements with a g…

But I had my frustrations and learnings. From that, here would be my quick’n’dirty guide how to get to the right settings:

• The 2W has a beautifully tiny focus point, so line spacing should/can be 0.05 mm
• Do a test engrave pattern with speed 1000 mm/min, Constant Power On and a power series in 5% steps - from this determine min/max power to have the acrylic still black and fully white
• Do another test pattern at 1000 mm/min, constant power on, ranging from determined min power to 16% power in 1% steps - this is to determine the lowest power your laser module makes an impact. For details on why, read the first thread I linked above. The % power that just starts to make your acrylic white we need at a later step - I’ll refer to it as ModuleMin%.
• Now you can set up your photo job (Lightburn):
  • Make sure the device uses Inline mode (Device settings)
  • Line Spacing: 0.05 mm
  • Method: Greyscale (this is different from Greyscale in Luban - what Lightburn offers as greyscale is not existing in Luban)
  • Min power: The value you determined from the test patterns - the maximum power that still leaves the acrylic black
  • Max power: The value you determined from the test patterns - the lowest power that gets your acrylic fully white
  • Constant Power OFF
  • Image inverted
• Create the GCode, and add the line M2000 L24 Pxx, where xx is 255 * ModuleMin% / 100. The line goes in front of the first G1-command.

This will result in a high-dpi true greyscale image, which looks awesome.

Unfortunately things are that complicated for two reasons:

• The controller struggles to process the many, many GCode commands involved in engraving a picture. This limits speed. I suggest 1000 mm/min, but perhaps 1500 mm/min might also be OK, I did not yet test.
• The 2W modlue has a lower limit at which power setting it can operate. Snapmaker assumes that this lower limit is 16%, but my module works down to 11%. This causes issues, and the M2000 L24 Pxx-command overrides the Snapmaker limit with what you determined for your own module. The step of determining this value needs only be done once, it does not depend on the material used.

[Skreelink]

@MohammadAlH

in luban or lightburn ?

I use Lightburn exclusively for my laser work.

[MohammadAlH]

thank you for the information i will try it when i get home, i’m trying to make somthing like this

Step by Step Guide to Creating Acrylic Photo Ornaments

but still no luck.

[Hauke]

In case you get stuck again: Perhaps explain in a bit more detail what exactly fails. That may help the people here to help you better.

[MohammadAlH]

im trying to engrave photo but the face detail come out clear,i go back to luban and try the defult profile it come much better now i adjust the setting to make it more clear,

thank you for your help to understand how the laser work.