Mastering Lightburn Material Test for Better Results
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- Опубліковано 1 сер 2023
- Yes, it's possible to master Lightburn material tests to find the best settings, no matter what type of laser you have or how much power it provides. In this video, I will show you not only the three simple tests you can run but also help you learn to interpret them results in order to understand the setting that will make your projects perfect.
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Thank you, nice and straight to the point .
I hope it helps you.
New to laser engraving came across your videos and needless to say been going through each one. Taking notes as I go thank you for sharing all your knowledge learning so much already.
Welcome aboard! If you need anything just shout
Thank you!
You're welcome!
Thanks so much for this
You are so welcome!
Thanks Steve
I hope it helps
Great video
Glad you enjoyed it
Something that took me a while to realize as a beginner was that you could save and reload settings for specific tests instead of having to edit the grid parameters each time. Now, a question: how did you generate the gradients for the third test?
It’s a separate project, not a lightburn tool
Steve, I am totally new to Laser Engraving, and as I was able to follow your instructions for setting up the materials test, how do I set it up on the machine bed, set the laser, etc. Are you able to go a bit more basic starting at putting the material in the machine, seeing the workpiece - changing material thickness in Lightburn, configuring settings then starting the test?
I could do this, though there are already many beginner's guides to Lightburn. It sounds like your issue isn't Lightburn though, so here are a couple of pointers:
- Lightburn doesn't have a material thickness setting - only power and speed settings.
- If you are having trouble with the machine bed, then you need to look at focus. You don't say what kind of laser you have but there is often a drop-down leg that you can use to adjust the focus of the laser module. Sometimes there is a block you slide under the laser module and then drop the module until it touches the block.
Once you have the laser in focus, you can run the material tests to help determine the ideal power/speed settings for cutting or engraving.
Does this help?
Steve, I have my machine running. I went to do the material cutting test, and on the Edit Material setting page, I set the speed to 1080 and I set the max power to 100% (I zoomed in on your screen)...had a nice little fire starting...so I went back to and changed max power to 50% and I still had some coals starting. I have a Longer B1 30 watt as you have shown...the material is 5mm luan. Any advice on settings for another try? The first one cut nice but the back was totally charred, second one wasn't so bad. Am I in the ballpark w/the settings? Thanks in advance and thanks for all of your videos!
First, make sure your units are mm/sec, not mm/min. If you are getting fires, then raise the minimum speed by quite a bit. In my standard tests, I start a cut test at 70mm/s (4200mm/min). Engraving needs to be substantially faster than that for a 33W laser.
You are kind of discovering the proper material settings the hard way, but this is generally how you do it. I typically start an engrave test at half the maximum speed of the laser. If that ends up being too light, then I cut that value in half and do it again. and so on, until you just see darkness in the lower left square and full darkness in the lower right (note that it might be burned through, which might be an indicator to raise the minimum speed.
I know you've had co2 lasers (Muse 3d) and diode lasers that use Lightburn. I'm have problems correlating RE3 settings (FSL) to lightburn settings. How do they compare and how do I take setting other people use and translate to a starting point for my Full Spectrum Laser?
Yes, I have a Muse as well. There isn’t a one-to-one feature match between lightburn and RE3. There are some features that are unique to each platform, but in general translating between platforms isn’t straightforward.
Hey Steve, I'm having an issue with engraving coated aluminum. Currently my best setting is speed 6.0 and power 8% but I need to speed up the engraving. Could you give me an idea on how to set up a test for aluminum? Any help will be appreciated.
What laser are you using? This would very much control your settings.
Maybe some time, you could do some videos on Inkscape, as it pertains to enhancing designs for the laser? Thanks, Marie
Happy to work something in. What are you looking for on the Inkscape front?
Hi, Steve..... I was just wondering if I could get your advice/opinion on a 60w Monport cabinet style laser? I'm looking to purchase one and was hoping to get your opinion on this brand? Thanks as always in advance!
Hi Tracy, I don't know the brand well, but I have definitely heard good things...or rather, I've never heard anything bad. What you should appreciate is that most of these Chinese lasers use the same parts (e.g. Ruida controllers and Cloudray Tubes), so in the end, buy the one with the best price and the features you need. Also look at Thunder and OMTech. A quick Google search can tell you which of these companies has reasonable service/support.
Thanks so much, Steve! Enjoy your day! @@SteveMakesEverything
Are we able to buy your Greyscale test without becoming a monthly member? Thanks! Or can you direct me to the greyscale ramp image you used? Thanks again.
You don't need to buy mine. Just grab a grayscale from Google images and make your own. It would take 5 minutes
I bought a sculpfun and now I have to watch your entire channel to not burn my house
Nothing wrong with watching my entire channel 😉
@@SteveMakesEverything On the contrary, I am delighted, I find all the videos I have seen so far very useful
Hi Steve, I watched your videos then I have a sculpfun s30 promax 20w diode laser but my best cutting is speed 10 mm/m and power 100 for 3 mm plywood. Where am i make mistake, can you explain it pls/ or do you think about this machine limits right?
Hey Steve, why is it when I go out and back from my saved settings in Material Test Generator to check my edit material settings from cut to engrave the values the editor show the previous settings even though the presets change to reflect the correct settings that I saved? Thanks
This bugs me too because lightburn defaults every time you open the material test. Once you get some settings you’re happy with you can save them so you can reload your material test any time
@@SteveMakesEverything thanks
I see several people asking about the gradient project. Would you mind sharing that please?
It is easy to build one. You can find a simple gradient on Google images and just engrave it
@@SteveMakesEverything Great, didn't know if you had something special. I just created my own using Micro$oft Word. Thank you - always lots of good info!
Are you using air assist on the tests you’ve demonstrated in this video?
Yes. I try to test the way you would use the laser in normal operation
@@SteveMakesEverythingthank you for your reply! Should a person shoot for least scorch on one pass or do another test card with lower power and a couple/few passes? (Does that make sense?)
@@corinnahamel8743 Diode lasers are funny beasts sometimes. It might be possible to cut in a single pass and get charred cuts and sometime multiple passes just won't work properly. You just need to experiment 😀
Steve - What air assist should I use on a MOPA Fiber Laser?
I understand that the gradient is a separate project and not a lightburn tool but how did you create it?
You can either create one your self in a drawing program use google images to find one you can use.
@@SteveMakesEverything Thanks.
Hi ..can your help me to set my Atezr laser to engrave on glass well....
I did a view on engraving clear materials with a diode laser. Watch that and see if it helps. Generally you need to treat the glass with something in order to engrave
I just got mine about a month ago. And I have been trying to run a materials test. But for some reason the option to do it in lightburn only does squares. It doesn't label what any of the holes are. It's just 10 / 10 grid of squares. Is anyone else having this issue? Or do I does not have something turned on? all the videos I've seen everyone seems to have them already labeled in lightBurn and mine doesn't seem to label them just cuts or Fills with no labels.
At the bottom of the material test screen is a button that lets you select the text setting. Click that and make sure that the text layer is enabled.
No need to say “how’s it going.”
Question, in settings, "units/grids" there is a choice beween 3 unit settings. I am not sure how these are used especially the "in/mm/min." would you explain this setting? I am using "Better for diode" laser.
The use of inches vs mm's is a personal choice for measurement. You will find when working with lasers, most people will work in millimeters because you never have to work with fractions. The speed in mm's/min or mm's/second is a bit of a throwback to when diode lasers were lower power and had to go much slower. I generally always use mm/sec for speed, regardless if I'm using a CO2 or diode laser.