So, I’m cutting some proof grade materials in my Spark, and I’ve noticed it doesn’t consistently cut or score through the masking. I have cleaned, tried various tips, and will take this issue to support, because that isn’t what my actual question is!
My issue got me thinking about passes vs speed. Which is better to ensure clean, consistent work? Do the settings “align”, for example, if I’m cutting does 2 passes at 50 power give the same result as 1 pass at 100? What results will multiple passes give vs higher power?
If you are engraving, even with a higher power laser, the lightest work will only engrave the paper and make a mess cleaning up what is left of the paper, so I have cut out and removed the paper from where I will engrave first before any engraving.
With a diode laser the power delivered is much less and variable by the color of what you are working on, so working on usual material usual for CO2 lasers will have much less effect, just as they will have less effect cutting material like half-inchwalnut, or Aluminum than the much more expensive machines designed for doing that.
In any case higher power will have a variable depth on variations in the material, where going twice over with half the power increase the variation of that effect. This shows up most on wood grain which can be good or not depending on what you want.
With the Spark laser it will get the best results with designs aimed at its capabilities in very thin materials that my pro cannot do as good a job with.