Material Test Example Chip

Awesome and very helpful! Thanks for taking the initiative and sharing.

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I posted a couple of calibration templates I use. I looked at the Thingiverse ones and made my own instead. You have 4 control parameters (5 if you count # of passes) you can change for engraves (more really when you get to bitmaps with the various rendering options). The Thingiverse one is letting you vary power and that’s it. It doesn’t do anything about speed (it’s fixed for the sample test), LPI or focal point. For my calibrations I don’t touch the focal point (test it all “in focus”) and just vary the other 3. Since the speed scale is not linear, you can’t presume that twice as fast would be 1/2 as dark for any given test like the Thingiverse one.

Similarly did the same thing for the cut calibration template. Vary power & speed if you want to do multiples but my rule of thumb is full power and change the speed to match so that I’ll end up using the fastest speed that I can cut through something with some power factor - I want it finished faster at full power than throttle both back to take longer at some smaller power factor.

The multi-pass engraves and cuts are outside cases as is the defocused laser so I don’t create any calibration samples for those factors and just learn by doing when I’ll go lower power multi-pass or when I might want to do a defocused engrave or cut.

I do a cut and an engrave test for each material I normally use. It also gives me a way to test kerf on each as well as the boxes I use for the cut calibration are fixed sizes.

They’re out here in Made on a Glowforge or Free Designs but I can’t look for them easily with my phone. Should pop out on a search - sometime after the beginning of April and likely before June. I used @marmak3261’s color sequencing to make it easier to use them.

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Here is that link for that topic :smile:

Thanks for mentioning about keeping the speed the same. That does make sense, especially if you are running a business and faster == earning more per piece, or charging less. Interesting to note that the latest GFUI proofgrade change (on etching, anyway) goes from full speed more/less lines per inch to half speed, double the lpi. Makes things take a lot longer to engrave, although it does help to clear the little jaggedy forest that you get on a full etch area when running at a lower lpi. Time to cut’em all again, possibly throwing your file into the mix :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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I really like this idea, but I’m disappointed that the font isn’t papyrus.

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Hardy har har :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: Good thing you can change the file for yourself and make as many Comic Papyrus examples to keep around as you like :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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Based on jamely’s excellent idea and example, I created an expanded version. It’s actually only about 50% larger (50 cm x 65 cm), but it adds comparisons for the various raster settings.

SVG: GF Sample 1.4.svg.zip (703.3 KB)

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That is really awesome! I particularly like it because of cat;p I love it when a plan comes together! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: Thanks for sharing ;p

Nice! Thanks very much!

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Really like both sets of test squares! (My test squares are boring - those are worth leaving out lying around.) ROFL! :wink:

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Thanks! :slight_smile:

I had to use the cheetah pic, because 1) it’s a challenging image with good detail, and 2) my youngest adores cheetahs.

I learned a bunch just making these, both in terms of using Inkscape and about how the Glowforge handles various Proofgrade materials.

For example, until this project I didn’t realize that the Proofgrade engrave settings sometimes – but not always – differ for vector and bitmap graphics. (E.g., “Graphic Engrave” might have a different speed/power for vector vs. bitmap, within the same Proofgrade material.)

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Haven’t been motivated enough to make the Thingiverse version for all the reasons @jamesdhatch mentioned. I’d been pondering something for the new photo settings, so these are perfect! Thanks, @jamely & @jtbarrett !!!

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dum question, what settings did you use for the “UnScore” part of this?

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For me, in all cases I used identical settings to the default HQ (left side) and Draft (right side) score, but with a manual focus setting of 0.3 instead of the material thickness. I think that jamely mentioned using 0.4 for her “unscore” focus.

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Yes to everything except “his” :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes: So hard to tell gender online. It is J(anell) Amely :wink:

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Sorry! I should have known from the “3 Cat Max” avatar… :slight_smile:

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Great share. Gonna check it out!

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I think people tend to see “jame” and their brains fill in an “s” automatically. :frowning:

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Can you explain what settings you use for each test pattern? I’m not sure exactly what I’m supposed to do with them.

For the expanded one I posted, the order is as follows:

  • Cheetah (G) = Engrave - Graphic
  • Cheetah (DG) = Engrave - Dark Graphic
  • Cheetah (PH) = Engrave - Photo
  • Cheetah (3D) = Engrave - 3D
  • Gradient (G) = Engrave - Graphic
  • Gradient (DG) = Engrave - Dark Graphic
  • Gradient (PH) = Engrave - Photo
  • Gradient (3D) = Engrave - 3D
  • “Engr…” Rectangles = Engrave - Graphic
  • “…rave” Rectangles = Engrave - Dark Graphic
  • “Sc…” Rectangle = Score - High Quality
  • “…ore” Rectangle = Score - Draft
  • “UnS…” Rectangle = Score - High Quality - then set Manual focus
  • “…core” Rectangle = Score - Draft - then set Manual focus
  • “Cut” = Cut
  • Outside border = Cut

(Some of these also do double-duty by engraving or scoring labels and borders elsewhere on the test chip.)

For the manual focus (“UnScore”), the idea is to purposefully set the focus “wrong” to get a wider line. I used 0.3 in; jamely used 0.4 in.

Once you set all of these, you can print one, then swap in a different Proofgrade material and everything will adjust itself automatically. (Or you can manually choose various Proofgrade materials and the settings will adjust themselves.)

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AWESSSSSSSOOOOOMMMMMMEEEEEEE! Thanks!

On a related, though someone side note. Did you scale these up from the original file size? Yours look a lot bigger than the 3"x3" the file prints it at.

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