Dial in Your Laser Settings With LightBurn’s Material Test
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- Опубліковано 23 лис 2024
- LightBurn includes a number of tools to help you find the best settings for your laser. In this video we will cover the Material Test tool. We will use it to show the process of quickly finding the best speed and power settings for your laser.
Understanding Different Start From Modes In LightBurn Video:
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Material Test Documentation:
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LightBurn Tutorial Playlist:
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Download LightBurn today as a trial here:
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If you need to renew your license click here:
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If you need help, please join our support forum at forum.lightburn... or email us at support@lightburnsoftware.com
This is exactly the kind of quality of life features that set LightBurn apart! Hopefully this can be further improved in the future, perhaps by allowing the user to select one of the test squares and persist it to the library.
Thank you for the feedback. We will be covering how to add to the library but directly adding from the Material Test is an interesting idea.
Well hot damn. This was damn near perfect timing. Just randomly found the Test Materials option and was going to test it out tomorrow
This video was awesome!
my new Vevor laser came with ZERO recommended settings! This vid is very helpful!!
This is awesome! I just updated Lightburn and got my new Fiber laser up and running. This is going to be insanely helpful.
There should be a function to cut the test pattern out once done so they can be kept nicely for reference. ie it would say "border size" ie 10mm, and "power/speed" 50% 100mm ( or I guess another way stating overall cutout =150mm by 150mm with test pattern centred.)
Otherwise, you end up with bits and pieces all of which are different and hard to store and check when needed.
The recommendation is to add the settings you want to use to your Material Library for later reference. Alternatively you could add a rectangle to your workspace that is scaled/placed around the test to run a cut pass.
If you have not already be sure to add this to our feature request:
lightburn.fider.io/
I agree. It would be helpful to have a checkbox whereas a the material test would be cut (with a defined cut speed and power). I understand your workaround, but makes more complicated than necessary. @@lightburnsoftware7189
It would be great to be able to set a logarithmic power or speed spread rather than purely linear. The difference between 100 and 200 is 2x but the difference between 900 and 1000 is only 1.1x so a grid of linear changes in a parameter is wasting a lot of space and material to show the difference in small variations in the parameter while a small section is showing a large variation in the parameter. This is likely to be more valuable to Fiber Lasers users though where you often test larger spreads of parameters than you might with Diode or CO2, but it is still relevant to all.
Also, a tick box to round the value would be great so we end up with say 4400mm/s rather than 4386mm/s.
Thank you for the feature request. If you have not already be sure to add it to our feature voting system: lightburn.fider.io/?view=trending
@@lightburnsoftware7189 I went to your feature request site and posted 2 requests, only to be abused for daring to post my requests by some dude called Christian, on both of my requests. Quite a hostile place that it, I won't be posting anything there anymore.
keep posting we support you🔥🔥
Great video. Just got a Falcon 2 40w and LightBurn is pretty overwhelming from go.
Wow a 40W is a serious diode. There is a lot to learn but the good news is you don't have to learn it all at once. You are in the right place for getting a solid foundation. If you haven't already check out our forums: forum.lightburnsoftware.com/
@@lightburnsoftware7189 Awesome, will do. My understanding is the 40w is actually 8 5 watts. A couple reviews rate it lower on engraving, presumably because it's tougher to create a "depth of field" with that many distinct diodes.
I"m having 9 kinds of headaches with material profiles in lightburn. But...the 40's new enough that I'm not super surprised about it.
I'll definitely check out the forum.
o7
Exactly! One step at a time, with lots of trials and errors thats how to do it.@@lightburnsoftware7189
great tutorial, in the edit material settings do you need to make the power and speed match what is set as the min/max in the test grid? I see that it is set at 3000/30 and you made no adjustment to that . can you explain what this setting is for?
As stated in the video, the two values you choose to vary in the test grid are ignored in the material setting - they’re overwritten by the values in the grid.
If I follow your suggestion for 20W, ortur recommends engraving on basswood at 20000mm at 80%. Does this mean you're suggesting an interval of 10000mm to 30000mm for speed and for power 10% to 80% for the 20W LM3? And for "Edit Material Settings" and "Edit Text Setting" dialog, do I add 20000mm for speed and 80% for power for both? I see that you do not make changes to the Speed and Power values in your "Edit Materials Dialog" even though you do for "Edit Text Dialog". Please confirm.
Works great I just wish it would do a final cut out of the test square.
Although it isn't built into the tool many will draw a square in their workspace after to cut the test out.
I'm wondering if there is any type of status/progress indicator, while sending a material test to the laser. I makes sense that there would be one, but I can't seem to find a way to do this.
When I use this with fill settings, it seems to lock in 1 speed and power.. even though the preview shows the range I wanted..ehy do material settings have speed and power?
Oh hi Daniel from ModBot!
this video is so helpfull, but is there also a tutorial for cutting settings? i'm strugling a bit with my 4mm Birch wood 😞
This is used for both cutting and engraving. The only thing you would change for Cutting is your Speed\Power since you will want slower and higher power. You also need to go under Edit Material Setting and switch the mode from Fill to Line so that it cuts the perimeter instead of filling the rectangles.
@@lightburnsoftware7189 okey thank you i will try to set up these cutting settings 😅
can we have a FULL BED power test for the entire "printable area" of the laser capable area internally of our Laguna lasers (minus the outfeed table area)
What would be the reason for wanting to run such a large grid?
Typically a 10x10 is plenty for finding the best speed\power for a specific material. Is it for a different use case?
Awesome! Thanks.
An inresting feature would be the possibility to skip some squares in the test. When I'm testing a new material the bottom right (slow & powerful) are always problematic.
So take away 600mm/min wich usually is the lowest and put in whatever you want to be the lowest. Double it to 1200mm if you want to start there.
@@Supremish Let's say I have from 500mm to 1500mm and 50% power to 100%.
I'm interested in seeing the diagonal between 500@50% and 1500@100% for engraving, and also from 500@50% to 1500@50%. However 500@100% is just crazy and will definitely burn the material. I need the lowest speed, I just don't want it at the highest power.
Having the ability to remove squares, or change the distribution to have a triangle instead (pruning the lower right quadrant) would prevent this.
Thanks but you skipped over the one question I have, in the edit material setting button there is a speed and power setting. Do these override the settings?
@@KenPope-y5c - Not if those are the settings that you’ve chosen to change in the material test itself. The edit buttons let you set everything, and then the test overrides the two values you choose.
Hello and hope you are well. Is there a setting that we can enable to cut out the material test after it has completed in order to save it for future reference?
There is not at this time, however it’s simple enough to draw a rectangle around the result and do it that way.
@@lightburnsoftware7189 That is what I have been doing to cut the test pieces out, however, it requires one to have to line up the part again after inspecting it which ads time to the process. Please consider adding the feature in the next iterations of the software. Thank you :)
Hello. Is there a way to have the completed test Cut out as the last step to keep on file for later reference?
Currently there is not a built in cut out option. The best method for now would be to add a rectangle to your workspace that is scaled/position around the test to run a cut pass.
where to find all this for laser sculfun s30 plus 33w
Great ty
Ok I'm new to this. 1- mine is backwards/inverted. How do I flip it around? 2- I line my object up under the frame but then it marks to the left of where it said it was. How do I fix that? (Using a Monport GP50 fiber laser)
Backwards/inverted is usually an issue with the origin setting. Regarding the object being under frame and not the engrave it sounds like the red dot needs to be aligned. We have a video on this here: ua-cam.com/video/2Ec4-F49aV0/v-deo.htmlsi=Vc1DYPHOiSOenbs6
If you still have issues after reach out to our support - support@lightburnsoftware.com
so when i go to do the material test i go to preview and the redline is way out of the parameter width wise how do i fix cause it keeps on making my laser lose its tightness on track plz help i have the parameter set to 400mm by 400mm and when i go to do a regular engrave it works fine its only when i go to do the material test . i have a blue laser machine yr5 /working size 400mm by 400mm 60 w
Bonjour ou peut-on avoir les réglages pour le CO2 sur votre site ?
Nice tutorial! In your video you said that this will take 15 approximately. In my lightburn say 6 hours!!! What I'm doing wrong? 😭
Have you ran one to see how long it actually takes? The length of time is pretty dependent on the settings and size of your material test. Also, the preview window will not be accurate if you have not entered your machine settings. This is found under the device settings window in additional settings: docs.lightburnsoftware.com/UI/DeviceSettings.html#additional-settings
How do you check the total size of a scrap material needed when you don't have the frame option like on the onefinity j tech models?
There seems to be no way I can project the image onto the bed to see what size it actually ends up being...
You will need to run a frame. For diode lasers you can enable the laser to fire when you frame (At a very low power) that way you can make sure you are within your material bounds. This can be enabled in the device menu (wrench icon in the top toolbar)
How do you adjust for thickness of material testing?
Thicker materials would require a range that uses slower speeds, higher power, and multiple passes. All of this can be set within the test tool.
Soooo there's no option to output it to gcode, or manually place and scale like literally every other time I cut? Really would prefer to save a gcode to an SD card vs connecting my laptop directly to the laser..
Is there a way to reverse the settings, for example, have the fastest speed on the bottom and the slowest speed on the top?
No, why would that be necessary?
@@lightburnsoftware7189 because if I'm trying to find settings for a material I want to go from less power to more power and my laser cuts/engraves from bottom to top. Once I start burning through something I just want to stop it.
@@lightburnsoftware7189 because I'd like to have my chart burn from least power to more power. Then I can stop it if I've gotten what I need.
Hallo, ich habe mir vor kurzem den Atomstack S20 Pro ( siehe die Daten unten ) gekauft...bin noch neuling. Kann mir irgendjemand die verschiedenen Einstellungen für den Laser geben? ( Stärke für Gravurs und Schnitt, Geschwindigkeit etc. ) für Lightburn.
Gesamtleistung: 130 W
Laserleistung: 90 W
Laserausgangsleistung: 20-21 W
Wellenlänge: 445 ± 5 nm
Laserpunkt: 0,08 * 0,1 mm Fräsgeschwindigkeit: 12000 mm/min
Can you actually see the test on the main lightburn screen or at least save the test?
You cannot see the test from the main workspace. The test has its own dialogue window. You can save the tests though within that window.
Can you install the licensed software on multiple computers ?
Yes you get 2 seats and we are able to add a third if you contact support@lightburnsoftware.com with your license.
When I burn the test grid, it burns backwards. What am I doing wrong?
I got to the point of framing, but nothing happened at this point. Not sure where I went wrong
Is there a way to edit what the text says and the size of the characters? Sometimes I just need a quicky grid to dial in some settings and it spends minutes making labels I don't need. I also want the text to be much much smaller.
Other times I need the labels to be custom so when I look at my test sheet I have the notes.
Any way to do this?
Currently the font is Ariel and the size is based on the size of the Swatched. There is no way to control the labels text but the text can be completely turned off by disabling output in the "Edit Text Settings" menu of the material test.
There is some discussion of adding a title/desc option. For the level of control you want it may be best to disable the text and manually add it after the material test has ran.
@@lightburnsoftware7189 Hmm.. I thought I tried disabling the "Edit Text Settings" actually but it kept making the text. Let me try that again. It would be nice to be able to have check boxes for text vs. no text. I feel like the current labels also take up unnecessary room, so they just waste material when one is trying to dial in the settings.
But custom labeling would be lovely if possible so it can be saved with the material test settings in one place.
@@TheBlairHouseProject - I suspect we made it force the text to be enabled so we didn’t have a lot of people emailing who’d accidentally turned it off, wondering why it wasn’t outputting. We could make it so you can disable it, but we don’t want to make it too complex.
I am fairly new but my menu in Lightburn looks different with materials test. There is no laser tools but only says tool and under that “interval test” and when I do that it has less options. It doesn’t create the text but only the pattern. I recently upgraded the LB version. Am I missing something or did the latest LB version change that option? The problem I am having is it doesn’t give me the option to view where it is going to print or to size and line up test material.
It sounds like you have a much older version of LightBurn. The laser tools menu was added around 1.2.
For positioning it works just like a project and the start from position. You can use the frame button to verify position and size.
As mentioned below it sounds like you are not on the latest version of LightBurn. If your license has been renewed\is in the update period downloading the latest version should resolve this.
LightBurn typically prompts you to update at startup or you can manually download the latest version here:
lightburnsoftware.com/pages/trial-version-try-before-you-buy
When I use for galvo and creat a grid with variables for speed and frequency, it doesn't give me any ability to change interval in the edit screen?
I just confirmed on my end that I was able to edit Line Interval with speed and frequency set. It will be under "Edit Material Setting" and fill or offset fill mode.
Does anyone know for a Vevor A7 laser engraver 10W, comparable laser?
Hi
I have. D1 10 watts
All firmware have been updated. I use the original rotary unit from XTOOL The rotary unit is calibrated
I am not able to engraved a perfect circle!
Any thoughts?
This is better asked on the LightBurn forum or through a support email.
Please send an email with your settings and the results you are getting to support@lightburnsoftware.com.
I did a test cut , why does my laser start out full power and weakens???
Is it defective?
Could be the laser is not aligned properly, the bed may not be level to the laser or gantry. That has always 100% been the problem for me. I have had the same CO2 tube for 6 years now and it stills works 100%. It's quite often just about taking a day out to re-calibrate everything. And every time after some TLC, it cuts like a new tube
Is it @ModBot narrating it?
ModBot works for us as a video creator, so yes. :)
@@lightburnsoftware7189
I dislike the voice inflections at the end of almost every sentence which makes each sentence sound like a question (think valley girl mode). Is there a way to turn that off or change the narrator? I know nothing about ModBot, but I can mute the video and turn on closed captions and follow along.
I just got my machine. I connected everything I did one test material on Wednesday today is Friday and as I was going to do another test nothing works. I can’t frame I can’t even start. Is there online chat for help?
If you need help please email support@lightburnsoftware.com. It's quite likely that your COM port changed - check the drop-down list next to the 'Devices' button in the lower-right window to see if there are other options, and try each in turn.
Thank you I will contact support
@@lightburnsoftware7189 Yes, I got caught by a com port change, easily done if you are not aware.
Help me. Every time I run lightburn’s material test the grid columns are shifted and never line up. Only happens in material test
That is strange. It makes me wonder if the max speeds are set to high which is causing the motor to skip steps.
If you lower the max speeds is this still happening? If so, take some photos of the results and your settings and send them to support@lightburnsoftware.com
@@lightburnsoftware7189 I will run the test again soon and send the results to the link. Thanks
Absolutely the same results here, nearly every time. but I still use it, I am looking for a more bullet-proof test...
@@1nofumes I’ve been busy and haven’t ran the test again yet but use the comment above and see if lb can help
how to I export the test to sd card?
Click the “Save GCode” button.
I ran the material test on 5mm ply and the very first box cut with 5in/min speed and 10% power, this can't be correct for a jtech 24 watt.
That is a beefy module with quad diodes but at 10% power it doesnt seem right. Is this a new laser setup?
We do have a few things worth checking under power output in our docs:
docs.lightburnsoftware.com/Troubleshooting-Output.html#output-is-mirrored-or-backwards
If you are still having issues send our team an email at support@lightburnsoftware.com
@LightBurn Software yes its a new setup. Trying to work out the kinks. I have a 32 x 32 bed but it throws error codes on a 30 in circle set at an x,
Y of 1,1 so it should be centered with an inch to spare all around. It bottoms out towards the front of the machine at the center of the circle. I had one the same size sliced into 3 pieces that made it slightly larger but it cut fine.🤦♂️
@@randallmasoner
Your X & Y should be 16,16, not 1,1. You'll definetly get an error message with the center of the circle being at 1,1 as there's no room for the rest of the quadrants of the circle to be cut nor engraved.
@Steven Marston center of circle was at 16, 16. User origin was bottom left corner not center. It only had an error on the extreme left and the very bottom. It cut 98% of the circle perfect.
how to material test for cutting? this whole video is for engraving.
Change from Fill to Engrave in the "Edit Material Settings" at the bottom left of the Generator. Then set your engrave parameters accordingly (sorta midpoint of your manufacturer's recommendations.
This tool is for both cutting and engraving. You just change the material setting from fill mode to line mode and set an appropriate range of speeds and powers for cutting. (You will need to go much slower)