So 3 days now of using it and really happy. Still working on recipes and i have found that the makeup of plywood has much more to do with its "cutability" than its thickness. IE 1/4 construction plywood is almost impossible to cut half way thru whereas 6mm birch ply cuts beautifully at 17mah (21 is my max power). I have used it to do a coaster engraving and it is noticeably finer/sharper than my little diode laser. In the picture below the bottom coaster is diode, top is Co2. I have only started one fire so far lol. Looked away for a second when testing foamboard and my default test quickly got past its ignition point.
The power percentage increase in Lightburn does not linearly match the mah output of the laser. Like 5% does nothing and at 8% all of the sudden its cutting thru. 100% power is 27mah and 60% power is 21mah, which is 80% of 27mah. So 60% in lightburn is my max setting. This is exactly why the first mod i did was an analog ammeter as linked in the first post.
As seen below i tested some 1mm craft foam (bottom of coasters), some 5-6mm leather. A monogram out of 1/8 Mahogany for the in laws, engraved coasters from the wood pile, 6mm birch and foamboard.
Foamboard and craft foam cut really nice and fast. Leather still smells like ass while burning, but the engraving is significantly better than my diode. that design to the left of my name was a big hot mess previously and now i can cut the design out, before i had to use a razer. Also this thing hauls booty while engraving. On my diode laser my max speed was about 2,500mm/minute, but on this im just setting it to 500mm/s which is 30,000mms? Is that math right? Its fast. Like 25 minute jobs down to 5 minutes.
Birch definitely is the way to go for the future when ordering materials, it cuts really nice. Still need to test fiberglass and carbon sheet goods.
On my todo list is to figure out if there is a "materials" library in lightburn i can start setting up. That way i can just select "Birch 6mm From aloft" instead of referencing my notes to input it every time. Also need to get some better/more LEDS inside and externally on the back of the cart. I have a rule in my shop that anything that heats up has bright lights that are on if the machine has power. That way i can easily glance around when leaving the shop to see if anything is on. One time i left a laminating iron on all day on my workbench and it scared me pretty bad.
Back to the workshop.
