Ebony cut

.18 in Ebony Cut thru:
3 passes as full power, speed 132, focus .18
3 passes as full power, speed 132, focus .15

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Whoa! Sounds tough!

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When using full power, gotta specify pro or basic. They’re different between the two units. 1-100 are supposed to be pretty equivalent but full needs specification :slight_smile:

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Hey, maybe I’ll test it on my old clarinet! I don’t play it anymore anyway.

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That would make it a clarinaught.

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I like the idea for changing focal distances for multiple passes. Does that help with kerf size and burn? Or just needed in order to get through tough material like that?

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I have been trying to cut .49 HD plywood and have mainly gotten charcoal for results using similar settings. I have some one inch thick Gabon Ebony but I don’t think I will be using that in the Glowforge.

Hi, Please don’t cut your clarinet! go to Cookwoods.com and buy a small piece of Ebony. You’ll need to slice off thin strips with table saw or band saw.

Unfortunately my second try didn’t work as well. Am currently revising method. Use multiple passes at lower and lower focus.Don’t know why second try didn’t work. Maybe lens is dirty, ebony generates some nasty smoke. I will post results .

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Using Pro at full power. Second try didn’t cut all the way thru.see previous post.

Heh. I was only kidding. We don’t damage musical instruments in this household. It would be like marking up music with a pen instead of pencil; a no-no in this house.

Thanks for the link! I have a sample of another material that is equally difficult to get through, although I haven’t tried it since I got my Pro. It is a paper/resin product called Richlite. Maybe your ebony results, when you have optimized them, will work for this stuff too. I’ll be watching this topic!

I cut two pieces of plywood to make a ventilation setup for my GF. Started cutting at .25" and then switched to .125". With that it cut nicely, though took a few passes. Before I tried cutting at .25" only and always ended up with a small amount that didnt’ go through.

Changing the focus seems to be the main reason I was able to make a thru cut. In a previous post I said a second try didn’t work. Well it didn’t work because, duh, I had not set to full power. I did 2 passes at each focus level and it worked! I believe thicker material can be cut by moving the focus several times. Excessive burns were not apparent, probably because I was cutting ebony. More experimenting is needed, but no time for it now, must finish current project.

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The kerf does get widened on the top side of the cut. Small parts (2mm or less) get badly burned on the top side. Tried applying tape between each refocus but didn’t help much. Will have to use different material for this project.