Laser Test Cuts On Different Wood Species (20w Diode Laser)

[Artisan Pirate]

Latest Tests On My @longer.global Ray5 20 Watt Laser Engraver.
This is just a simple way of testing the lasers cutting capabilities on different species of woods.
I quickly designed a simple test file in @lightburnsoftware and set about digging through my scrap bin.
All of these pieces are around 1/4 inch in thickness except the cedar which was thinner.
Speed was 300, and air assist was on. I only went up to 86% as I've heard it's bad on the diodes to run a laser on full power all the time.
For some reason, it did not wanna cut the red oak, but, I'm sure with more passes it would cut it.
3 passes is the most I like to do to keep from potentially charring the wood.
All in all, I am happy with the results and I hope these photos help some people.
S

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#ArtisanPirate

 

[Trey1984]

Have you tried any color acrylics or mdf on it. Actually looking at lasers myself and trying to figure out what wanting to get

 

[Echd]

Lightburn will make those test files for you automatically if you look under the laser tools menu. You can compare any two parameters.

The jury is sort of still out on running 100%, but only because some Chinese manufacturers like to hotrod their products or have inadequate cooling. It is a very major concern with CO2 lasers (run a co2 tube at 100% and it probably won't last long at all) but I really wouldn't sweat it with a diode. You're still talking thousands and thousands of hours of mean time before failure unless it's just ridiculous undercooled or running way over spec. On my jtechs the manufacturer encourages running 100% and just driving the laser faster instead.

 

[mkepke]

I run my inexpensive 10w at not more than 80% ..because I can’t count the number of ‘20 year life’ LED bulbs I’ve replaced already.

Another vote for the Material Tester in Lightburn.

I wonder if the coarse grain structure of red oak is what’s causing the problem.

-Mark

 

[HITCH-]

The lightburn test file will also test speed so you yield results that will give you the best combination of speed and power settings for each substrate.

Here's a good link about it.

Material Test - LightBurn Software Documentation

Better software for laser cutters.

docs.lightburnsoftware.com