Laser etching on black acrylic, sample calibration patterns

Snapmaker 2.0 (3-in-1)
1

Total newbie question - I did spend some time searching, but apologize in advance if the answer is right in front of me. And to make matters worse, I’m asking a compound question :slight_smile:

  1. I was able to figure out how to do a quick test etching on wood, but really want to move to acrylic. I picked up some black acrylic from snapmaker, but a lot of the reading I’m doing seems polarized on this. Are folks able to get good etchings (images, etc.) on black acrylic with the Snapmaker 2.0?
  2. I also hear a lot about running test etchings to test for what power is best, etc. but I can’t find any images that are designed specifically for this kind of testing. Do folks make their own or am I just not searching well enough? I didn’t see a thread where someone referenced a lightburn file, but I guess that only works in lightburn? (which I don’t have an haven’t used before)

Thanks for any help - I’ll take my lumps if I’m asking questions that have already been answered!

2

It’s fairly simple to make your own test file. However, there are a lot of them out there already. What you want to do is create a new laser 3-axis job. Use the text feature to show settings along the top for power and side for dwell time. then create a grid pattern out of boxes. When you are done with that, set up each box to process separately using the settings referenced on the grid. However, there are examples out there if you search for them (even if they aren’t for the snapmaker).