I have two SM A350s with the 1600mW laser and have been having a hell of a time trying to get some consistency out of them. I am literally wasting a lot of material and money with trying to figure this out. I even sent an email to support with photos of the issues.
Besides what I stated above, I am running a new project, which is a vector engraving onto two separate cutting boards, which are exactly the same size, shape and material (Mango Wood). And the project has not been changed between boards.
The first burn/board came out great, with just enough burn to obscure the grain from showing through too much, but the second board I ran seems to be burning a bit lighter as I can see a lot more grain coming through it. It is definitely noticeably lighter. I am planning on running it through a second burn to get it dark enough so that I don’t have to trash the board and to keep it still sellable.
By the way, this project I burned on my second machine only, as it had given me a better burn than my first machine, so I stuck with it to burn the second piece.
Does this sound normal? Should I be getting such inconsistent burns even though it is the same project, same settings, same material?
I figure that maybe I am simply just riding on the outskirts of the correct setting to give me a consistent burn on the same material. Maybe set the dwell to 15ms instead of 10ms, even though the first board was 10ms and came out perfect? It might be darker but I just want to get a satisfactory one-pass burn/engraving. It is a waste of time to have to run it through a second time although I will if I have to in order to save the piece.
And yes, I ran the calibration right before I started the first piece, but not before the second piece as I didn’t think I would need to before EVERY piece, especially being the same exact material.
Anyone have any ideas?
Is this difficulty typical of the 1600mw laser being that it isn’t the most powerful?
Any tips or tricks to give me consistent burns when using the same project, settings and material?