Laser power and speed test file

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MAXJ
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Laser power and speed test file

Post by MAXJ »

Hi Guys,
I have added a 6 Watt laser to my CNC router, and need to commission it now. Has anyone converted this power test file to Vectric?
I am having problems closing the vectors on the round bitmap

Cheers

Max
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testing_board.zip
(81.72 KiB) Downloaded 158 times

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Adrian
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Re: Laser power and speed test file

Post by Adrian »

Depends on what the end goal is. If it's going to be lasered with a profile toolpath set to be On the vector then there's no need to close the vectors at all.

wb9tpg
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Re: Laser power and speed test file

Post by wb9tpg »

I made my own test file - you're welcome to it

There are two sets of tool paths, one outline only and the other filled in
Attachments
Laser Test Pattern.crv.zip
(578.63 KiB) Downloaded 305 times
Gary Mitchell
Kentucky, USA

MAXJ
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Re: Laser power and speed test file

Post by MAXJ »

Hi wb9tpg,

Thank you very much for your help! Now I can start the next phase of my testing. Judging by the amount of downloads, it is also helpful to others.

Cheers

Max

Mark Jones
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Re: Laser power and speed test file

Post by Mark Jones »

Thanks for sharing your test file. I just got a 20 watt Shark laser and am running tests with it.
I found several test files that had no toolpaths with them....then I stumbled upon your test file with toolpaths in it.

Very good. It gives me something to look at and adjust for my setup.

Very much appreciated.
Mark Jones

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Re: Laser power and speed test file

Post by Tailmaker »

Thank you for the file! I am going to set up my laser cutter next week and that can be helpful.

One concern is that the individual test circles are very small at 0.2" or 5mm. I kind of doubt, that the laser cutter can get up to the higher speeds running around in such small circles. Did you try it with longer linear traces as well?
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TReischl
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Re: Laser power and speed test file

Post by TReischl »

Tailmaker wrote:
Thu Jan 25, 2024 5:58 pm
.......

One concern is that the individual test circles are very small at 0.2" or 5mm. I kind of doubt, that the laser cutter can get up to the higher speeds running around in such small circles......
Depends on what type of laser cutter it is. If it is a cnc router with a laser hung on it as an after thought you are more than likely correct. If it is a dedicated laser cutter then there are a lot of other things that effect the cut. Number 1 in my opinion is power ramping, aka matching the power to the speed. So yes, a person would want to cut small circles to test that function. The laser I recently purchased has power ramping and air assist. I am having a lot of fun learning and playing with it.
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FabLab Wageningen
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Re: Laser power and speed test file

Post by FabLab Wageningen »

As a (dedicated) laser user: the circles are indeed too small to test speed. It's hard to say definitely how large they should be, but if you want to test speed efftects I would make the circles a lot larger - say 5 cm. instead of 5 mm.

Marcel.

Mark Jones
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Re: Laser power and speed test file

Post by Mark Jones »

That is easy enough to fix. Just resize them and recalculate the tool paths.

My Shark can go 200 inches a minute. I have never had it go more than a 100 inches a minute as I am still a neub to laser cutting.

I may take this file and thin it out a bit to save test time by not having so many variables to display. Perhaps every other one.

I will say the speed and smoke is greatly increased between the 2 watt and the 20 watt. I am glad I put in the vent to outside/inside gate in the dust collector before testing the new laser.
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adze_cnc
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Re: Laser power and speed test file

Post by adze_cnc »

'twere me I'd use a line (long enough and parallel to the gantry axis) rather a circle. That way you can a) see how the line looks at speed; b) be able to evaluate the effect of speed increase and decrease at the beginning and ending of the lines.

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Re: Laser power and speed test file

Post by Mark Jones »

Good point. That would be something to add to the file.
Mark Jones

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Re: Laser power and speed test file

Post by Mark Jones »

I was wondering if any of you have made a vcarve file using layers for Laser testing. Via -Automatic Toolpath by Layer option that would set the toolpath for the layer so anything put on that layer would carve at that speed or laser power setting.

If you do would you share it with us? If you don't and you like to program this kind of stuff can you do that and share it with us?

I have hundreds of vcarve and Aspire files that have no copyright stuff in them and have thought about posting them on my website for folk to download. I think we do a better job sharing our gifts in this way. I learn so much by seeing the way others do things.

What say you?
Mark Jones

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Re: Laser power and speed test file

Post by Mark Jones »

Sounds like a project to work on. Layered Laser test file that anyone can put most any vector on the layer and see how it behaves.

I don't want a large or long test file. Just something I can quickly run on a 5" by 5" test piece of material.

I need to start posting some of these Aspire and Desktop files for download.
Mark Jones

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Re: Laser power and speed test file

Post by Mark Jones »

Great news. The Author of the Easy line of Gadgets is looking into creating a easy laser test creator that will give us the ability to use Aspire or Vcarve (gadgets) to create a laser burn test. I shared with them ideas on what I thought I needed to make this thing handy.

The past few days I have been testing some settings on my Shark HD510 with a 20watt laser using Vectric laser module. Most of what I have seen on the web has been other laser software stuff. So I am excited to see what Jim and Sharkcutup puts together.

Here is a video on my solution to the output of the Lasers smoking up your shop. I posted the vcarve pro file of this box on the forum and the link is in the comments on youtube. It works great.


I am using all my 5 by 5 inch plywood scraps burning up test grids each take about 12 minutes to run. Once I get my settings dialed in I will share those until we get a gadget that I am sure will be a whole lot better than what I can do.
Mark Jones

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sharkcutup
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Re: Laser power and speed test file

Post by sharkcutup »

Mark Jones wrote:
Wed Jan 31, 2024 12:19 am
Great news. The Author of the Easy line of Gadgets is looking into creating a easy laser test creator that will give us the ability to use Aspire or Vcarve (gadgets) to create a laser burn test. I shared with them ideas on what I thought I needed to make this thing handy.

The past few days I have been testing some settings on my Shark HD510 with a 20watt laser using Vectric laser module. Most of what I have seen on the web has been other laser software stuff. So I am excited to see what Jim and Sharkcutup puts together.

Here is a video on my solution to the output of the Lasers smoking up your shop. I posted the vcarve pro file of this box on the forum and the link is in the comments on youtube. It works great.

Video was here -

I am using all my 5 by 5 inch plywood scraps burning up test grids each take about 12 minutes to run. Once I get my settings dialed in I will share those until we get a gadget that I am sure will be a whole lot better than what I can do.
Are You sure that is the Video you wanted to post???

Looking forward to seeing the Gadget too for Testing and I hope that it will be compatible to the 2 Watt Laser also. My 2 Watt Laser arrived today so I will be installing it soon.

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