I tried to reuse the package material that the SM2 was shipped in. It is 6.88mm Double wall corrugated cardboard and I was trying to cut through it using the laser module. I tried several setting but was not able to get past the middle layer.
Any ideas?
I tried full power, up to 20 passes with a pass depth of 0.3mm, work speed was 140 mm/min.
Or is it just impossible to get the laser to cut though this material since the waves of cardboard between the layers will make it impossible for the laser to cut?
Any ideas @Edwin on this? I had a chat with a company owning an industrial laser cutter and he said that if you can get through the first layer of cardboard you should be able to cut through all of them, given you do enough iterations. I’m wondering if im doing something wrong…
The problem may be that given how thick the cardboard is, after each layer, the laser will be more out of focus. Try refocusing at a lower level on the cardboard.
On the forum there were some pictures of the laser focus cone. I think the laser will move lower with each pass, so the focus shouldn’t be a problem. But you only cut with the tip of your cone. That means the gap will only get a little wider than your tip. If you move deeper now, some of your cone will be cut off by the remaining walls. This will result in less power at the tip and might cause the inability to cut any deeper.
There are a few posts regarding laser cutting of plywood and searching through the forum posts should be helpful. In my recall; the 1.6mW laser is able to cut through 2mm thick plywood. Here is one post that mentions settings: Laser cutting plywood
In theory, if the laser is strong enough to cut through a single layer of card, then a second and subsequent layers should not present any difficulties to the laser beam. Feed speed can prevent edge burn and smoke damage as can power. It is helpful to use full power and to move the laser module head fast enough to cut and not so slow as to cause burn damage to the item being cut.
This is likely to need a lot of experimentation with dwell time, power and feed rate. Luban does create a test pattern of boxes at different powers. Do ensure that your settings are correct in Luban. You specifically need to check the multiple passes box and should have entered a value in the depth of passes earlier in the setting dialogue. I mention this because it is easy to miss the setting for multiple passes. I believe it is not checked automatically.
There is a fine tune option for the 1.6mW laser but I cannot remember how to access it. I usually use a USB stick when processing files. When the computer is connected, I think that option becomes available. Some person with more knowledge than me will point you to the right process. It is another well hidden option in Luban.