I imagine this could be due to the GF only being able to focus at .433 instead of the .5 advertised (as working height .25 is advertised cut depth). it could also be the MDF but I would imagine it would do more then it has …
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yup its a working height focus problem. to use .5 material despite the technical specs you well cant… because it cant focus
Maximum material height with tray: 0.5″ (13mm)
I removed the tray and shimmed to .12 and now I have nice circles still not enough to cut through but progress
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The top side kerf will always be better if you are able to set the focus at the surface, but I just don’t know where the best focus location would be for maximum cut depth. If you didn’t have to worry about the properties of the material it would seem that half way would be best but in the real world it’s probably higher. The expelled material and gases get in the way.
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I am at 9 passes now at 100% 150spd still can not punch through .06 is is what I cant punch through… on occident’s that is what is bellow tray depth because I had to shim down because of the .433 focus limits instead of .5
so that tells me if the focus was .5 like it should support then I could still have the try in and cut this but who knows … anyway its almost 1pm and I have a party at 2 and its very much raining so this should be interesting
I tried to have three rings of color stacked .4 .25 .1 with 2 passes each but I think it cut them
.4
.25
.1
.4
.25
.1
so not the effect I wanted
A lot of MDF is really tough to get through. Some not to bad and some down right near impossible. Something to do with the glue. I haven’t been able to reliably tell the difference visually.
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o totally fully agree… just frustration spec sheet for the laser is .5 with tray in but we can only focus at .433 so we have no hope of actually using .433
so I am left to wonder is it material (and it could be ) or is it because the machine does not work in the range specified… cant rule out the material until the machine actually does what its supposed to
I wonder if the .433 is a software limit or a hardware limit and if so a hardware limit then WT happed between spec and parts sourcing. even if you made the argument that .5 material is ‘engrave only’ you still cant focus on the surface of it to do a engrave so ya… the argument doesn’t hold water
created a problem support ticket for clarification of the spec sheet… I am 99% sure they will either say ‘out of scope’ (despite it being there own documentation) or ‘that’s not enabled yet no eta’
Thinking the answer is, yes the spec is an issue, and yes the material is also causing you problems.
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I was experimenting with focus height on 1/4" acrylic and found that setting the focus depth to the middle of the material without altering power output or speed absolutely cut deeper. I don’t know if MDF will work the same but it’s worth a shot.
BTW, MDF being an engineered product, different sources are going to yield different material. Could be the resin, could be the amount of pressure used to form the material and compact the fibers together. I picked up a bamboo flooring sample from Lowe’s and could engrave it but 12 passes at full power barely cut 1/8" into a .43" piece of material.
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Its most likely the material…mdf can be like stone…
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