Parametric Power/Speed Evaluator for Engrave and/or Score and/or Cut

[ladd0405]

The following template lets you experiment with the results of Speed vs Power for unknown materials (or existing known materials where you want to further experiment with the results). You can:

• toggle the types of tests to perform
• choose a color for each test
• set min/max Power and Speed settings
• indicate how many gradations should be used for each setting

Speed vs Power Test

[evansd2]

This is cool, but has some caveats.

User beware though: if you do a 6x6 grid as shown in the example you’re looking at manually configuring 72 different steps for the cuts and engraves (not to mention scores and outer cuts). This won’t be easy to set up in the Glowforge interface.

While I’m sure there is a case where this might be useful for the vast majority of projects all you really need to know is one dimension. That is, you set the power or speed at a fixed amount and you vary the other value. This will reduce the number of config steps you do while still getting the results you need.

For cutting, in general the best plan is to go hot and fast, e.g. full power at the fastest speed that will cut through. This is why my preferred test method only has one row.

When cutting in some cases of really thin materials you won’t get a good result at full power, so then you set the power to some lower value like say 50% and then vary the speed, same idea.

It’s rare that a grid like this will yield better results when cutting. For more information and a template that doesn’t require a Cuttle membership check out #6 in the FAQ.

Common problems/questions

Hello! You’ve been referred to this post because you have a common problem or question. Check out the list below to see what this post can do for you. Just click on a topic that interests you. • 1: I’m new to Glowforge and really have no idea where to start • 1a: What other tools/materials should I buy to go with my Glowforge? • 1b: What are the overall best practices for my laser designs? • 2: All about masking/protecting your materials • 3: I want to design/make a box • 4: What materi…

As for if a grid helps with engraving, that’s subjective. If you think it’s useful and don’t mind joining Cuttle then this is a neat grid maker.

[ladd0405]

@evansd2 I’d like to offer some observations/corrections:

1. With a 6x6 grid and the compliment of Engrave, Score and Cut shapes, there would be over 108 settings to establish (6x6x3 + 1 annotation + 1 swatch cut). I agree this is time-consuming in the GF UI which is why the design offers a flexible choice of Power vs Speed settings that fully allows the user to go as simple or as complex as they want.
2. In my case, I was building a cribbage board for a client whose logo that was being engraved that had two shades of gray and two shades of red and it was a challenge for me to figure out the desired Power vs. Speed settings (not to mention the Score and Cut settings) that would get the result I was after. I got tired of experimenting and decided to put this tool together.
3. I decided that should a future need arise that calls for the material I used for this project, having a swatch with the settings I tried would be very helpful (at least to me).
4. With the swatch that I now have, I firmly believe my future engrave projects will be much faster as I now know that (for the material I was using) I can get the same general effect at 100% power @ 1200 to that of 10% power @ 200.
5. I tend to agree that for cutting, full power at the fastest speed is best. Arriving at this speed is a bit of a challenge for unknown materials.
6. I don’t believe persons have to join Cuttle to use this.

[eflyguy]

I used to create things like this when I was new to the machine. Very useful for newcomers to get a handle on how to change settings to produce different results. ‘A’ for effort..

I gave up on “swatches” when I realized even Proofgrade would give different results (engraving). If it matters, I run a small test before committing to a big project.

[deirdrebeth]

@ladd0405

I don’t believe persons have to join Cuttle to use this.

You do have to create a free account to download the svg. I’ve kept a free account since Cuttle was first introduced, it’s totally worth it for all the free designs you can download, and the ability to modify them parametrically and then download the svg of your adjusted design is ab fab.

[ladd0405]

@deirdrebeth I stand corrected. Thank you for the clarification.

[evansd2]

@ladd0405

Arriving at this speed is a bit of a challenge for unknown materials.

It takes a small strip of material and one quick row of small cuts. For a performance machine I get the right settings in under 2 minutes all in. Set focus is the slowest part.