Snapmaker 2.0 Laser engraving settings

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1

Preface

This report is primarily concerned with methods for optical calibration of laser engraving module. Light power is very important for the laser engraver, not clear standard has been established for the calibration procedure nor requirements of power meters suitable for optical power calibration. The purpose of the report is to provide guidance for establishing calibration procedures.

Category

  • Beechwood
  • MDF
    More to be posted

Pattern definition

  • Work speed: The speed at which the laser engraver is emitting
  • Jog speed: The speed at which the laser engraver isn’t emitting
  • Dwell time: Duration time of each point
  • Laser power: 1.6-watt

Material list (More to be released)

Beechwood

Calibration pattern

We designed a matrix of squares, and each of them stands for different work speed and fixed power. The power and work speed is fixed and you can run the file directly.

715×708 45.6 KB

Toolpath index

  • Index: Work mode-work speed-Power ratio

Example: line-2500-5

Beechwood

laser-Line test.snaplzr
Laser-Dot test4.snaplzr

Recommended Settings

Movement mode: Line(Normal quality)

Result:

image
image618×585 81.9 KB

800mm/min+100% (Insufficient constraction)

500mm/min+50% (Recommended setting)

300mm/min+50% (Low work speed)

image

  • Configurations form
Movement mode: Dot(High quality)

Result:

image
image680×646 108 KB

Recommended settings:

2500mm/min+60%(Recommended)
2500mm/min+50%(Insufficient constraction)

image

  • Configurations form

MDF

Calibration pattern

We designed a matrix of squares, and each of them stands for different work speed and fixed power. The power and work speed is fixed and you can run the file directly.

715×708 45.6 KB

Form

Recommended Settings

Laser power 1.6-watt Jog speed 2500 mm/min
Movement Mode Line Work speed 800mm/min
Fixed power rate 70% Normal quality density 5 dot/mm
Luban Version V3.15 or later Hight quality density 7 dot/mm

Movement mode: Line(Normal quality)

Result:

image
image1263×1269 316 KB

800mm/min+70% (Recommended setting)

Recommended Settings
Laser power 1.6 watt Jog speed 2500 mm/min
Movement Mode Dot Work speed 2500mm/min
Fixed power rate 20% Normal quality density 5 dot/mm
Luban Version V3.15 or later

Movement mode: Dot(High quality)

image
image968×933 160 KB

Recommended settings:

2500mm/min+20%(Recommended settings)

2500mm/min+30%(Excessively Carbonized)

Basswood

Form

Recommended Settings
image

Movement mode: Line(Normal quality)

Result:

(Image here)

500mm/min+80% (Recommended setting)

300mm/min+50% (Recommended setting)

461×506 6.54 KB
467×511 6.56 KB

image

Luban Version V3.15.0 or later

Movement mode: Dot(High quality)

Result:

Recommended settings:

2500mm/min+30%(Recommended settings)

2500mm/min+40%(Excessively Carbonized)

More to be released later

8 Likes
2

Thank you posting this, I’ve been having a hard time getting good results printing grayscales with the laser on wood.

When using dot pattern, what does work speed matter for the quality, or is that just the speed form point to point with laser not on? Wouldn’t the dwell time be more important for print quality? Did you use the same dwell time for all the squares in the matrix?

Thanks!

3

Everything combined can affect the quality. Some of it depends upon what material you’re using it on.
Dwell time by itself doesn’t affect quality. It’s just another way of setting the power. It’s how long the laser remains on for each dot that is burned.
The higher you set the density the more dots per mm that you’ll get, so the more detail and resolution you will see. In actual practice that isn’t always the actual result though.
When you make the work speed faster you’ll get cleaner lines/dots.
When you run slower you’ll get more burning and char and that will end up widening/enlarging the dot/line that is being burned. So that bleed lowers the resolution.
I personally always keep the movement mode on dot (high quality) and then the max Density, which in grayscale is 10 (vector it’s 20). Then it’s a matter of finding the combination of work speed and dwell time that gives the look (exposure) I want. I also tend to try to run at 100% power because I want it to take as little time as possible.
I do a lot of tests because every material and every photo is a little different.
I like to take a small section of my photo (say 10-15mm square) and then duplicate it with a range of speed settings (say 400,800,1200,1600,2000) I then run that and then decide if I like one of the results and then decide whether to run another round of tests based off of that, or just run the whole thing.

-S

1 Like
4

:smiling_face_with_three_hearts:I hope you guys can post some test about dwell time.If the time also is a influence factor!!

5

Defined as the time a beam of focused laser light is applied to the substrate. Different materials require different energy densities to produce a code. The longer the dwell time required to produce a code the slower the maximum coding speed

Here is an image for your reference:

image
image704×388 14.4 KB

1 Like
6

@Edwin many thanks for this guide!
Is this meant to be a newer version of the old guide on laser engraving and cutting?

Or how should this report be understood?

@sdj544 many thanks for sharing these points, very useful!
I agree on aiming for max density, though I tend to stick with 7 dots/mm.
And I also agree on 100% power, the jobs take long enough as it is.

So under this sort of conditions, what’s the ballpark of speed vs. dwell time combinations that you would recommend? :thinking:
I’m primarily working on 9 mm thick birchwood.

7

Hi @Edwin
Sorry to “resurrect” this thread after a month, but could you please comment on whether this information you’re providing is meant to replace the previous laser guide?
I’d just like to understand what are the “recommended” laser parameters from Snapmaker’s point of view.
Cheers!

8

Running Luban 3.15.2 and the configuration screen doesn’t look like the ones below. Has “dwell time” instead of “jog speed” - is there a simple way to convert?

image
image523×579 23.6 KB

9

Not sure why there isn’t a jog speed anymore.
But it isn’t the same thing as dwell time.
Jog speed is the speed that the head moves when not working and traveling between locations.
Dwell time is the length of time that the laser fires for each dot of grayscale. It’s related more to power. The higher the number the longer the burn.

-S

10

Thanks, makes sense. New at this!

Larry

11

New guy trying to get a better laser product. Looking at Edwin’s May 21 post, I don’t see a lot of what he is presenting. Is that a factor of a different version of Luban or am I missing seeing some configuration settings somewhere? Specifically, I don’t see “line direction”, “movement mode”, and “density”. I see “multi-pass” as “number of passes” and “fixed power” as “power level”. The “Recommended Settings” and software seem out of sync in some of what I would think are significant pieces of information (ie density). I’m working on wood, specifically cherry at about 1.8 mm, but the confusion is more general between what is posted in 2021 and now. Thanks for any insights.

12

Changes to Luban.

I personally prefer 3_14_0. I don’t think it’s gotten better since then. (some bug fixes, some new bugs, worse interface) If you don’t have rotary module, not a need for newer versions.

-S

1 Like