this was sooo helpful. I have been pretty overwhelmed with this laser and this made it so easy to understand and i am excited to get going thanks to our video. Very well described on everything you spoke about
Thanks for the tutorial. I was searching for a premade grid pattern I could download and use, but I ended up following your tutorial. It's always better to learn how to do these things! Thanks again.
For 'convenience' burn the tests of each material on a sheet of the same size as each other (3x5, 6x8, 8x11, etc) and cut three holes on the left to fit them all into a 3 ring binder. can glue paper on the back for your notes. (OR burn them in with the laser, lol)
This is exactly the video I have been searching for. I made my 20 x 20 to have a more complete grid and to just don't once. Thank you so much for making this video!
Thank you for the video. I had found a premade file for testing tiles using the NWT method, but the power numbers were not what I expected in Lightburn. Your video showed me about the Shape Properties and how this was setting the power levels to a % of 100.
Very good thank you very much for the video i can't wait to get my lazer next month and I thank you very much for taking it slower than other videos I have seen so I will be following your videos. Thank you again.
alternatively (but not different in the end), you can create the 10 by 10 grid, select each row and make each row a layer, then afterward, you can select an entire column, go into the shape properties and change the power setting for the entire column at once. It's the same thing he did here in this great tutorial, but in my opinion quicker. again, his way is not incorrect. Nice video!!
really great explanation dude thank you !! I have a Onefinity CNC machine, so this will help me tremendously. Not as fast as actual Lazer cutters but still a great vid
Hi Phil.. I'm confused about setting the speed.. what is the minimum and maximum speed for the laser diode on lightburn... I use a neje laser module...thanks🙏🙏
Hey, you may have covered this already.. Laser speed in white areas (laser not burning). The setting is in Edit, Device settings..Laser in white area..( something like that) Minimum speed is 1500. It changed my last project from 4 hours to 1 hour!
Yes, big difference! I know of this feature but I haven't tried it yet. Most of my engravings don't have much white space. I'll have to experiment with it.
Thanks for the tutorial. Of great help. When you say all the power % has to be 100%. Do I go to cut/layers nad change max power to 100%. Will this not change the power setting we have set for each array. Thanks
Yes, set the cut layers to 100%. The shape properties is a percent of that. So if you set the layer to 50% and the shape prop. to 50% you'll really be getting 25%.
I am fairly new to the laser seen, can you explain after you do a speed/power test grid, how does that help you choose your speed and power when you are setting up an image to burn?
If you look at the grid you can pick the square that you like. For wood that would usually be dark but not dark that it has scorch marks around. For ceramic tile and some other things there's a sweet spot where too slow and high powered won't show anything, while too fast and low power also will show nothing. When you find the one you want look to the side to find the speed and down to find the power, then enter them in the software for your project.
Great video Phil. I followed your instruction to the T. However I do have a question. At 11.46 in the video you had mentioned to set each power to 100%. Then at 12:03 right before you burn the Power looks like it went back to the original Power Settings. Should we keep it all at 100% Power or have set back to the original? Thank you.
That part was edited in later, that's why "Editor Phil" said it. The power in Cuts / Layers should be 100% for every layer, the number in Shape Properties is a percentage of the one in the layer. So if the layer said 50% and the Shape Properties was 50% of that, you'd be using 25% power, so just set all the layers to 100%.
I am making a grid as the one in this video but once I have drawn the frame a made my 1st line of squares in the grid I cannot select the 1st square, The select function wont work. It works fine for all the squares selected together but not the single square. Any suggestions. Thanks
Thank you for this, question, what numbers do you use to cut a clean line in the 3 mm plywood, I was using 200/80 with 6 passes, but it’s much too slow.
@@3DJapan Hello Phil, yes I as able to to the grid using the fill, but I was talking about cutting through the 3mm plywood, I'm using a sculpfun s6 pro laser.
Awesome video!!!! But can you save this to your files and use it on other materials??? Just so you don't have to make one for every material you engrave?
You could but different materials might require a different range of numbers. Like balsa wood needs very low numbers or high speed because it's soft. The grid you made for slate or metal would have higher numbers. But if they're similar materials yeah, you could use the same one.
Thank you for your video. It was very helpful. I did notice some differences between what you show, and what I see in LightBurn with my 100w Thunder Laser. In your example, the minimum power is greyed out. However, on my laser I have to specify a minimum power for each layer. If not, LightBurn will fire the laser at 100% all the time. If I try to follow this guide, I get an error during preview that states "The following layers have power scale applied but Min Power is set equal to Max Power: 10: [layer name]". Is there an 'auto-minimum' you are using, or is this specific to your machine profile? FYI, Thunder Laser, and other 60-130W lasers, do not want the laser fired at 100% power. Instead the grid should go from 10-90% for cutting and ~5-60% for engraving (depending on laser power and material). I also suggest a 5-tier grid for cutting and another for engraving on the same sheet with circles instead of squares. This saves time and space. See this video for an example: czcams.com/video/GqvTjhzVJI0/video.html Thanks again for taking the time to make and share this information.
So I just Googled the Thunder laser, it's a CO2 one, right? I'm using a diode laser so it's a little different. I've never used a CO2 so I don't really know anything about them. Actually there's a new feature in Lightburn that might help, it essentially does the same thing as this but maybe it would work better for your laser. Look under Laser Tools at the top and click Material Test. The pop-up window gives you options to burn a grid like this. It doesn't actually generate it on screen but you can burn right from that window and preview what it will look like.
I use Lightburn with my OMTech CO2 laser. We are also cautioned against using 100% power (burns the tube out faster, I heard). What do you set minimum power at when you are at 60 speed for an engrave and again what minimum power do you use for 90% to cut? Do you change the minimum speed proportionately to the increase/decrease in power?
Great video! Doesn’t light burn have this test grid feature built in stock? I will say It’s taking time for me to learn light burn compared to Corel draw. With Corel draw we would set the grid by actual color values and it makes it more intuitive sense as we can actually have a visual of the values in our designs. In the end I think once We make your provided chart I think it will get easier. Lastly, if you have created a video on how to take a word and over lap it on a photo as negative space (some sort of cut out terminology), would you provide a link? For example if we drag the word hope of a family photo, we want the photo engraved but no engraving where “hope” is if that makes sense. Sorry for the novel and thanks for your help! 🤝
To answer you're first question. Yes, LightBurn has the function built in. I think it was added after I made the video. Look under Laser Tools > Material Test. However that doesn't let you customize it with text or anything. As far as the Corel Draw method. I haven't used that since 1997. lol I think you could do the same here but the technique in the video would be faster. I have not made a video on cutting out the text but I can tell you how. Write your text, then make a big rectangle around it, bigger than the image. Select the text and rectangle and right-click. Choose Group. Make the new group a tool layer, T1 or T2. Now with the text in position select it. Shift-click the image so they're both selected. Right-click and choose Apply Mask.
Flip the wood over and run again with higher speeds, say 1500 to 2400, for another example. If you have a CO2, delete the last two columns [90 & 100 % power. Maybe even with a diode to same laser life.]
Hi Phil, I followed the video (very well done), but my laser burned everything everything at 100%. I would guess it has something to do with cut layers tab where I set everything at 100%. Have you seen this before? Any ideas on what to do?
This will take to the website, www.bosslaser.com/boss-ls-1416.html I'm not sure it will help or not. I'm going to call them tomorrow and ask about the adjustable power.
I noticed your settings are mm/m mine are in/m, does that make a difference on the numbers used? instead of using 1000, 1100, 1200 do I make it a different number? Thank you
I'm not sure what you're numbers would be but you can change it to mm/min in Edit > settings, then if you like, change it back after you're done. I got used to using mm because that's what 3D printers use. Plus most laser tutorials use mm.
I watched this video 2.5 times before I loaded it on my laptop. Once it began it was cutting all the numbers out then it went over and started cutting all the small boxes out and on each I had the "FILL" selected but everything was being cut out instead of shaded in. I use a Mecpow X3 PRO. Any suggestions??
Hi. I watched your video on making a test file. I'm having a little trouble not knowing how to set power min. for each line. When I hit start it gives me an error message about power min. I'm fairly new to lasering and very much learning. I hope you can help. Hopefully you can get around to helping me out Thanks, Teresa
Hello, I have a problem. My shape properties don't have your options. I only have Loced, Width, Height and Corner Radius. How to run all the options like you?
Hello, I have a few questions. @ 6:38 why does your C07 show as line but the rest are fill? Also the power settings for C02 C03 and C04 seem off; 2%, 4%, 6%? Also I followed this and all my boxes are filled in, not outlined like yours. Last but not least all my Spd/Pwr settings show as Multi. Any and all help is appreciated. Thought I followed this 100% but not sure if the software has changed or I've lost a screw..Thank you!!!
Phil, do you use light burn often? Is so what kind of laser do you have. I try to etch on t shirts and I’m not sure of the power settings? I have a 60 watt Omtech laser. We also have a 2200 watt laser as well. So any help on the t shirts would be wonderful?
I built a similar power scale to yours, but then when I went to get it cut with my Omtech 100W, all the boxes turned out basically charred. It looks like each box, regardless of the fact that I've got the power scale set to different ratios is burning at 100%. Any ideas why that would happen?
Good video. I did everything as said, now at the end you said change all to 100% power. It's cut though the wood. Very confusing when you get to that part.
Did it cut through all of them the same? Then there's some confusion. If it only cut through the slower ones then you did it correctly. Just repeat it with faster speeds. Instead of 1000-1900 maybe try 2000-2900. It will all depend on your wood. Harder wood like oak will be harder to cut than balsa for example and of course the thickness of the wood. Please be sure to have something under the wood that won't get damaged. I don't want you burning your workbench or something. Also make sure your laser is focused.
I get the frid working but I can only select the first one to set the power. The others will not let me highlight to set the power. Tried from left and right. Also the array has a different color then the first
I'm not sure but I see posts online talking about it going back to 2020. Are you using a diode laser? I understand that tube lasts don't have power control.
Alright...just started to do the test piece and the color barely shows. I used my measuring rod to make sure the laser was set at the correct distance from the wood. You didn't show that in your video so was I not supposed to do that? I thought I was told you should keep it that distance away from the project piece. Anyway...I double check all my settings were the same as yours and can barely see it. Any thought on what I may be doing wrong?
Phil Nolan I’m definitely using a thicker wood because that is primarily what I’m going to be burning on so I wanted to get the results such for this specific wood. It’s just a 1” pine. Any suggestions on what I should lower the speed to?
@@shannonjakoby5109 Well I'm not really an expert but it might depend on which laser you're using and what wattage it is. My Ortur Laser Master 2 20watt came with a page of suggested settings for different materials. Your laser might have a similar document on their site or a facebook group.
I'm having trouble making the grid. When I make the first square inside the frame and do the array it won't allow me to grab them all to resize. I can resize by grabbing the first square but then I can't do the array again to go down. What am I doing wrong?
What happens when you try to select multiple items? Keep in mind if you drag the selection from the right it will select everything you touch. If you drag from the left it will only select what's inside the box.
@@3DJapan When I try to highlight the row starting from the left side it only highlights the first block. I can move the entire row when I move that block but I can't go through each block and change the speed or power.
I am using the ones in the package. My eye doctor didn't have anything negative to say when I told him I was using them. I'll probably get a nicer pair though.
I do have a question.. if the laser is set at 30% power does that mean that an individual object set at 50% burn will be burning at 50% of the lasers 30% setting? Or is the object burning at 50% of the lasers total capability?
Yes each object will use that percent of the laser power. The laser power should be at 100% for everything. I mentioned that towards the end of the video.
@@3DJapan okay, thank you! I surely missed that in my rush to get my grid completed. I made my first design cut last night and am STOKED at how it came out (I need to fine tune my line settings for cutting though).
I set the grid exactly with the settings and nothing engraved at all. What possible did I do wrong? I also tested a different cut at 20sp 10 pw and it engraved
This is thorough but last month I did a power test and now I can’t find the button to do the one that they automate. Is it under the tool section? Sorry this is probably the most idiot question but if anyone happens to see this let me know.
The one built into Lightburn is under Laser Tools > Material Test. I do think doing it manually is better, it's more customizable and only takes a few minutes.
@@3DJapan Thank you. I did find it under “interval test” 2nd from the bottom in tools. I do t think this version has been updated for at least 6 months so that may change. Thanks for the help. PS, I have a Chinese laser and it’s the big 1390 FL. I am noticing if I stop a rastering or a vector cut in the middle of a job, when I go back to doing the job again it is offset by at least a 16th of an inch. This is not a good thing! Curious if you have any tips on how to make this align perfectly if I stop it in the mist of the job? Thank you and if you have an answer I’d like to buy a coffee if you provide one in your CZcams videos. Thanks boss.
I'm not sure why. I tried googling it myself and can't find anything. What laser do you have, maybe that's would affect it? Make sure you have the latest version of Lightburn. Maybe it was added recently.
@@3DJapan thank you so much. Never had anyone actually put an effort to help someone like you did. I uninstalled and installed and voila, it showed up.
Hi, I am really struggling and nobody is getting back to me honestly on the verge of giving up after tirelessly trying to find a solution 😪 I have ortur laser master 2 and I have it set on lowest possible speed and power yet my beam is so thick and every burn is thick and irregular do you have any advice on this please bud? Much appreciated 🙏
@@3DJapan hi thanks for reply, my metal cylinder piece is WAY OFF. When I put it next to my laser it probably leaves about a 7/8cm gap which I know isn't normal but I cannot adjust the laser any lower so frustrating
Given a specific raw (fixed speed), I did not get how you could set different powers (so different powers for different squares, on the same line). If you did, please write here the timestamp in the video, I double-checked twice already without solving this issue :/
OK so heres my next problem....... First I’m really new to the laser world!! I have a XTool D1, all firmware and software are updated. When I created a grayscale grid in Lightburn and previewed it, Lightburn told me that it would take 89hours 43 mins 35sec to burn. I reached out to someone about this problem and they sent me a downloadable file for greyscale and Lightburn told me that it would take 5hours 19 mins to burn. I looked at the max speed for the D1 on there website and it said max was 350mm/s. so when set my speed settings I started with 35 and went to 350. I noticed the every video i saw on youtube that used light burn, used setting Starting around 1100 and up. should trans late mm/s to mm/m because thats what lightburn runs at? so instaed of 35 mm/s i should put it at 2100 mm/m? Is there settings that I am not using properly? Need massive help!!!
I'll have to look into this further but according to Amazon's page for the D1 the max speed is 10,000 mm/min. I haven't used it myself yet but I'm actually getting one in to review soon.
So I did this last night and had to shut it off after about 5 mins or so. It burned through the wood into my self healing mat. I’m not sure what I did wrong I followed right with the video. Well here’s to see what happens to a self healing mat 😳
Never good to have something you care about under your material. Every material will have different settings so your wood just needed less power. You might want to try increasing the speeds in your grid. If tweet doesn't help just don't use the high power percentages, maybe stop at 70% and don't use the 80, 90, and 100 rows.
@@3DJapan ok thank you. This was like literally the 2nd thing I’m ever done. First time I used it the motherboard blew. So after a month I finally have it working. Just little scared of it now 😂
setting all the powers to 100% at the end is confusing - what makes you think your original input value magically gets turned into a percentage of the power? (genuinely asking) - i think all you did was show us a power grid of 100% power at different speeds and not different power percentages and speeds
@@3DJapan but where you entered the 100% is the same as when you entered the 6.6 its just in a easier location - if you go back into the layer it will show as 100% not 6.6 or whatever value you entered originally meaning it was changed to 100% - why would there some sort of background math going on? you entered 100% its using 100% - if im wrong please explain. also im testing it as i type this at a machine using lightburn.
There has GOT to be a more efficient way to do this than manually ... right? All this tech and software, but a test grid has to be created one square at a time? Seems like LB would just include a premade/native template for something like this. [edit] Spoke too soon ... yes, it indeed looks like there's a "materials test" feature in LB that generates just such a grid.
No, not one square at a time. Whole groups of squares at a time. Yes, after I posted this video they added a basic version of this to the software but doing it manually gives you more control and shows you how to adjust it if you need to fix it after it's made. Not to mention once you make it one time you can just easily adjust it for different materials. You don't have to make a new one every time.
Hey Phil how you doing!!? I followed your video that it was very helpful but I am very new to the laser world as this is going to be the very first project that I burn. It loaded into my XTool D1 and when I hit start it said it was going to take 84 hours 48mins and 35sec……what am I doing wrong?
HI there. That is a very longtime indeed! Hmm. I wonder if it might be your speed settings in the Lightburn Settings. Mine is set to mm/min. I don't really know if that would change things. If you want to try one of my test grids to compare here's a file. It says it would take 29m 50s for me to burn that. www.dropbox.com/s/mp1mxjhgost8o9n/ceramic_test_LM2Pro.lbrn2?dl=0
OK let me first say that I am working with the XTool D1 . So I’m wondering if that is the reason because I looked up the max speed on their website and it said it will do 350 mm/s. So when I noticed that your speed started at a 1000, I wasn’t for sure if that was the reason why was going to take so long because my first speed setting on the first block would’ve been set at 35 and then the next number would’ve been 70 and then 105 and then 140 and it would continue to go up in increments of 35 to get to 350 because I was using a 10 block by 10 block system. I greatly appreciate you taking the time to respond to me I would love to hear your thoughts on what I just wrote
Hey Phil just want to say thank you very much for the download I download it opened it up in Leburn then I check the preview and it’s saying that it will burn it in five hours 19 minutes and six seconds so there has to be some type of setting in my light burn to where it’s just straight up messing things up your thoughts
Remember, if you're using a co2 laser you probably don't want to go above 70% power, that will wear down your laser tube a lot faster.
yes, using a c02 60w. so is it safe to keep it at around 20?
@@user-hv6vs2vr7t 20 would be fine but you could go higher, you just want to avoid going over 70.
I made mine as a line Card so I went up to 100%
I know other people have posted their finished test tiles, but seeing you create one really helps me understand them. Thanks for your time.
this was sooo helpful. I have been pretty overwhelmed with this laser and this made it so easy to understand and i am excited to get going thanks to our video. Very well described on everything you spoke about
Happy I could help.
Thanks for the tutorial. I was searching for a premade grid pattern I could download and use, but I ended up following your tutorial. It's always better to learn how to do these things! Thanks again.
Yeah! This way you can customize it and make it however you want.
For 'convenience' burn the tests of each material on a sheet of the same size as each other (3x5, 6x8, 8x11, etc) and cut three holes on the left to fit them all into a 3 ring binder. can glue paper on the back for your notes. (OR burn them in with the laser, lol)
@@armastat good idea!
Truly one of the best videos ever. So easy to follow...even for a complete newbie like me! Thanks so much!
Thank you. Glad it helped.
Excellent information Phil, thank you for this video!
This is exactly the video I have been searching for. I made my 20 x 20 to have a more complete grid and to just don't once. Thank you so much for making this video!
Great Video Phil, well explained and very useful to have as a tool ... Thanks
This was more than helpful! Thank you so much for putting this together!
This is an excellent tutorial, really appreciate u doing it. I’ve done a very similar card with settings to test a 50w Omtech Polar. Great video!
Thank you so much! We just got a laser engraver and wondered how to create these test sheets. I feel prepared to play more now!
Have fun playing!
Thank you for the video. I had found a premade file for testing tiles using the NWT method, but the power numbers were not what I expected in Lightburn. Your video showed me about the Shape Properties and how this was setting the power levels to a % of 100.
Yeah it's good to know how to do it yourself in case pre-made stuff isn't what you need.
You are a very generous man.. Thanks for sharing this tutorial. I just got my 20w Ordur Laser and was struggling with settings.
Glad to be of service!
This was a super helpful video! Thanks so much!!
Thanks for sharing, this is the best video I've seen for this. Off to give it a try now. Thank you.
Hope it works out!
Very good thank you very much for the video i can't wait to get my lazer next month and I thank you very much for taking it slower than other videos I have seen so I will be following your videos.
Thank you again.
Hi...
Sir I m from India...
Thank you for such a an amazing efforts ......may God bless you with more success...
Great vidio! Easy to understand and follow for a first timer like me...
Just followed this video and set one up on my Aufero Laser 2. I caught the power settings and I’m glad you put the edit in.
Yeah I realized what I had done while editing. Oops!
Great video! Learned a lot.
Phil, can't thank you enough. That was great info.
Glad I can help!
Best tutorial on CZcams. Thank u!!!!!
You're welcome. 🙂
Thank you, excellent video. Very well explained, and was just what I was looking for..
You're welcome.
The best explanation I've seen yet....thanks.
You're welcome. Thanks for watching.
thank you so much great video
Very clear and to the point. Thank you so much!
You're welcome!
Great tutorial, I learned a lot. Just printed my first test. Thank you. You also have a new subscriber.
Awesome, glad you liked it, and thanks!
Gracia this is so helpful.
Very helpful video! I am learning all things diode and CO2 lasers. New follower. THANK YOU
You're welcome!
Thanks very much just what i have been looking for ,great
Glad to be of service!
I've not even got my laser yet and this was helpful ready for when it arrives.
alternatively (but not different in the end), you can create the 10 by 10 grid, select each row and make each row a layer, then afterward, you can select an entire column, go into the shape properties and change the power setting for the entire column at once. It's the same thing he did here in this great tutorial, but in my opinion quicker. again, his way is not incorrect. Nice video!!
Thanks
This has been such a lifesaver for a newbie like me. Thank you so much
Glad I could help!
really great explanation dude thank you !! I have a Onefinity CNC machine, so this will help me tremendously. Not as fast as actual Lazer cutters but still a great vid
Glad I could help!
Hi Phil..
I'm confused about setting the speed.. what is the minimum and maximum speed for the laser diode on lightburn... I use a neje laser module...thanks🙏🙏
If ya wins using a 10w output diode what wood ya set the test grids low high speed power to
Hey, you may have covered this already.. Laser speed in white areas (laser not burning). The setting is in Edit, Device settings..Laser in white area..( something like that) Minimum speed is 1500. It changed my last project from 4 hours to 1 hour!
Yes, big difference! I know of this feature but I haven't tried it yet. Most of my engravings don't have much white space. I'll have to experiment with it.
@@3DJapan Helps with black and white projects, like circuit boards. Use "Threshold", I think that's the word. I'm tired.
You're referring to "Whitespace".
Great video. I can't get my laser speed to go over 100%
This was a good video Phil, but I'm confused. Why not just use the Material Test Generator function that is part of the software?
I don't think that existed when I made the video. I think you had free more options when doing it yourself too.
cool
Thanks for the tutorial. Of great help. When you say all the power % has to be 100%. Do I go to cut/layers nad change max power to 100%. Will this not change the power setting we have set for each array. Thanks
Yes, set the cut layers to 100%. The shape properties is a percent of that. So if you set the layer to 50% and the shape prop. to 50% you'll really be getting 25%.
I am fairly new to the laser seen, can you explain after you do a speed/power test grid, how does that help you choose your speed and power when you are setting up an image to burn?
If you look at the grid you can pick the square that you like. For wood that would usually be dark but not dark that it has scorch marks around. For ceramic tile and some other things there's a sweet spot where too slow and high powered won't show anything, while too fast and low power also will show nothing. When you find the one you want look to the side to find the speed and down to find the power, then enter them in the software for your project.
Great video Phil. I followed your instruction to the T. However I do have a question. At 11.46 in the video you had mentioned to set each power to 100%. Then at 12:03 right before you burn the Power looks like it went back to the original Power Settings. Should we keep it all at 100% Power or have set back to the original? Thank you.
That part was edited in later, that's why "Editor Phil" said it. The power in Cuts / Layers should be 100% for every layer, the number in Shape Properties is a percentage of the one in the layer. So if the layer said 50% and the Shape Properties was 50% of that, you'd be using 25% power, so just set all the layers to 100%.
I am making a grid as the one in this video but once I have drawn the frame a made my 1st line of squares in the grid I cannot select the 1st square, The select function wont work. It works fine for all the squares selected together but not the single square. Any suggestions. Thanks
Great video, can I do this on a ceramic tile?
Absolutely. I always do them on tile when I'm trying a new paint or new laser.
How do you get the display on the right? It's not showing me that
Thanks, Cann I reuse this and change speeds etc?
Absolutely. In fact for different materials you may have to change the speeds.
Great video. If I would never exceed 80% power due to the deleterious effect on the device, is there any reason to range to 100% on the material test?
No, for my K40 style machine I just did a grid up to 70% power so you could do 80% if you like.
Can you make power scale with line instead of fill ?
I guess you could but it would be kind of hard to see.
Thank you for this, question, what numbers do you use to cut a clean line in the 3 mm plywood, I was using 200/80 with 6 passes, but it’s much too slow.
The settings will depend on your laser. How about using this grid but in Line mode instead of Fill? It really should need more than one pass.
@@3DJapan Hello Phil, yes I as able to to the grid using the fill, but I was talking about cutting through the 3mm plywood, I'm using a sculpfun s6 pro laser.
I am using a D 1 pro 10 watt laser.
Awesome video!!!! But can you save this to your files and use it on other materials??? Just so you don't have to make one for every material you engrave?
You could but different materials might require a different range of numbers. Like balsa wood needs very low numbers or high speed because it's soft. The grid you made for slate or metal would have higher numbers. But if they're similar materials yeah, you could use the same one.
@@3DJapan ok thank you!!!!!!
Thank you for your video. It was very helpful.
I did notice some differences between what you show, and what I see in LightBurn with my 100w Thunder Laser. In your example, the minimum power is greyed out. However, on my laser I have to specify a minimum power for each layer. If not, LightBurn will fire the laser at 100% all the time. If I try to follow this guide, I get an error during preview that states "The following layers have power scale applied but Min Power is set equal to Max Power: 10: [layer name]". Is there an 'auto-minimum' you are using, or is this specific to your machine profile?
FYI, Thunder Laser, and other 60-130W lasers, do not want the laser fired at 100% power. Instead the grid should go from 10-90% for cutting and ~5-60% for engraving (depending on laser power and material). I also suggest a 5-tier grid for cutting and another for engraving on the same sheet with circles instead of squares. This saves time and space. See this video for an example: czcams.com/video/GqvTjhzVJI0/video.html
Thanks again for taking the time to make and share this information.
So I just Googled the Thunder laser, it's a CO2 one, right? I'm using a diode laser so it's a little different. I've never used a CO2 so I don't really know anything about them. Actually there's a new feature in Lightburn that might help, it essentially does the same thing as this but maybe it would work better for your laser.
Look under Laser Tools at the top and click Material Test. The pop-up window gives you options to burn a grid like this. It doesn't actually generate it on screen but you can burn right from that window and preview what it will look like.
@@3DJapan Thanks! That is useful and another thing I didn't know about. I'll give it a whirl.
I use Lightburn with my OMTech CO2 laser. We are also cautioned against using 100% power (burns the tube out faster, I heard). What do you set minimum power at when you are at 60 speed for an engrave and again what minimum power do you use for 90% to cut? Do you change the minimum speed proportionately to the increase/decrease in power?
Do the shape property power % overrule the layer power %?
I said in the video, the shape property is a percentage of the layer power, so make sure the layers are all at 100%.
Great video! Doesn’t light burn have this test grid feature built in stock? I will say It’s taking time for me to learn light burn compared to Corel draw. With Corel draw we would set the grid by actual color values and it makes it more intuitive sense as we can actually have a visual of the values in our designs. In the end I think once We make your provided chart I think it will get easier.
Lastly, if you have created a video on how to take a word and over lap it on a photo as negative space (some sort of cut out terminology), would you provide a link? For example if we drag the word hope of a family photo, we want the photo engraved but no engraving where “hope” is if that makes sense. Sorry for the novel and thanks for your help! 🤝
To answer you're first question. Yes, LightBurn has the function built in. I think it was added after I made the video. Look under Laser Tools > Material Test. However that doesn't let you customize it with text or anything. As far as the Corel Draw method. I haven't used that since 1997. lol I think you could do the same here but the technique in the video would be faster.
I have not made a video on cutting out the text but I can tell you how. Write your text, then make a big rectangle around it, bigger than the image. Select the text and rectangle and right-click. Choose Group. Make the new group a tool layer, T1 or T2. Now with the text in position select it. Shift-click the image so they're both selected. Right-click and choose Apply Mask.
@@3DJapan wow thank you sir! I will be trying this tonight.
Flip the wood over and run again with higher speeds, say 1500 to 2400, for another example. If you have a CO2, delete the last two columns [90 & 100 % power. Maybe even with a diode to same laser life.]
I only go up to 70% with co2.
Hi Phil, I followed the video (very well done), but my laser burned everything everything at 100%. I would guess it has something to do with cut layers tab where I set everything at 100%. Have you seen this before? Any ideas on what to do?
What laser do you have? Some of them don't have adjustable power.
@@3DJapan Boss 1620, 70watt CO2 laser.
This will take to the website, www.bosslaser.com/boss-ls-1416.html
I'm not sure it will help or not. I'm going to call them tomorrow and ask about the adjustable power.
Sinar laser tidak sama, apa ada setingan di lightburn.?
I noticed your settings are mm/m mine are in/m, does that make a difference on the numbers used? instead of using 1000, 1100, 1200 do I make it a different number? Thank you
I'm not sure what you're numbers would be but you can change it to mm/min in Edit > settings, then if you like, change it back after you're done. I got used to using mm because that's what 3D printers use. Plus most laser tutorials use mm.
I watched this video 2.5 times before I loaded it on my laptop. Once it began it was cutting all the numbers out then it went over and started cutting all the small boxes out and on each I had the "FILL" selected but everything was being cut out instead of shaded in. I use a Mecpow X3 PRO. Any suggestions??
I'm not sure. Maybe the speed is too slow or the power is too high for that laser.
Hi. I watched your video on making a test file. I'm having a little trouble not knowing how to set power min. for each line. When I hit start it gives me an error message about power min.
I'm fairly new to lasering and very much learning. I hope you can help.
Hopefully you can get around to helping me out
Thanks, Teresa
Most diode lasers don't have a minimum control so it stays at 0. In fact later versions of Lightburn don't even show the Min setting.
Hello, I have a problem. My shape properties don't have your options. I only have Loced, Width, Height and Corner Radius. How to run all the options like you?
Do you have your shape set to one of the Tool layers? (T1, T2, orange and blue) if so, set them to any of the normal layers, 00-29.
I have a xtool d1 whats the highest power percentage I can put without harming my machine trying to cut wood
Diode lasers can do 100% as much as you like. It doesn't harm them like it does with CO2 lasers.
Based on this, if I wanted to cut through the 3mm ply and actually cut out, what speed/power would you recommend? I can't get it to cut through.
It depends on what laser you have, that's why we all have to do these tests.
Hello, I have a few questions. @ 6:38 why does your C07 show as line but the rest are fill? Also the power settings for C02 C03 and C04 seem off; 2%, 4%, 6%? Also I followed this and all my boxes are filled in, not outlined like yours. Last but not least all my Spd/Pwr settings show as Multi. Any and all help is appreciated. Thought I followed this 100% but not sure if the software has changed or I've lost a screw..Thank you!!!
Be sure to watch the whole video, I addressed many of these starting at around 11:13.
How do I tempery shut off rows?
In the Cuts / Layers panel each row has a switch for Output and Show. Output tells the laser to burn it and Show hides or shows it on screen.
Hey Phil, do you or have you made any other light burn videos?
I made one on inserting images into text with Lightburn. Otherwise I think I've used it in at least one of my laser reviews.
Phil, do you use light burn often? Is so what kind of laser do you have. I try to etch on t shirts and I’m not sure of the power settings? I have a 60 watt Omtech laser. We also have a 2200 watt laser as well. So any help on the t shirts would be wonderful?
I built a similar power scale to yours, but then when I went to get it cut with my Omtech 100W, all the boxes turned out basically charred. It looks like each box, regardless of the fact that I've got the power scale set to different ratios is burning at 100%. Any ideas why that would happen?
Probably your speeds were too slow for that material, so if you did 100-1000 try like 200-1600 or something.
Good video. I did everything as said, now at the end you said change all to 100% power. It's cut though the wood. Very confusing when you get to that part.
Did it cut through all of them the same? Then there's some confusion. If it only cut through the slower ones then you did it correctly. Just repeat it with faster speeds. Instead of 1000-1900 maybe try 2000-2900. It will all depend on your wood. Harder wood like oak will be harder to cut than balsa for example and of course the thickness of the wood. Please be sure to have something under the wood that won't get damaged. I don't want you burning your workbench or something. Also make sure your laser is focused.
@@3DJapan I'll go back to drawing board. Thanks.
@@3DJapan, small world
How to convert power settings between a 30 watts ans a 70 watts machine
Can't say, I haven't used a 70w machine. I would think just make a grid and test it. If it's too light, increase the power, too dark, decrease it.
I get the frid working but I can only select the first one to set the power. The others will not let me highlight to set the power. Tried from left and right. Also the array has a different color then the first
One other thing it is liked they are grouped together but they are not grouped
@@timboyle9614 When you open the Create Grid Array dialogue box, make sure the Create Virtual Array setting is toggled off.
under my shape properties its not giving me the cut order and power scale? is that due to being the trial version?
I'm not sure but I see posts online talking about it going back to 2020. Are you using a diode laser? I understand that tube lasts don't have power control.
@@3DJapan I am using a diode laser
It’s a atomstack a5 pro
Alright...just started to do the test piece and the color barely shows. I used my measuring rod to make sure the laser was set at the correct distance from the wood. You didn't show that in your video so was I not supposed to do that? I thought I was told you should keep it that distance away from the project piece. Anyway...I double check all my settings were the same as yours and can barely see it. Any thought on what I may be doing wrong?
Oh yeah, you always want to focus. It could be your wood was different from mine and needs more. Try again with slower speeds.
Phil Nolan I’m definitely using a thicker wood because that is primarily what I’m going to be burning on so I wanted to get the results such for this specific wood. It’s just a 1” pine. Any suggestions on what I should lower the speed to?
@@shannonjakoby5109 Well I'm not really an expert but it might depend on which laser you're using and what wattage it is. My Ortur Laser Master 2 20watt came with a page of suggested settings for different materials. Your laser might have a similar document on their site or a facebook group.
I'm having trouble making the grid. When I make the first square inside the frame and do the array it won't allow me to grab them all to resize. I can resize by grabbing the first square but then I can't do the array again to go down. What am I doing wrong?
What happens when you try to select multiple items? Keep in mind if you drag the selection from the right it will select everything you touch. If you drag from the left it will only select what's inside the box.
@@3DJapan When I try to highlight the row starting from the left side it only highlights the first block. I can move the entire row when I move that block but I can't go through each block and change the speed or power.
Figured it out, had to flatten the array.
@@josephcree9992 oh OK. I don't know anything about that, but whatever works!
What kind of eye protection are you using? Just the one included in the package?
Those safety glasses included are junk! Invest in a decent pair...your eyes will thank you.
@@markveilleux4938 any recommendations?
I am using the ones in the package. My eye doctor didn't have anything negative to say when I told him I was using them. I'll probably get a nicer pair though.
I do have a question..
if the laser is set at 30% power does that mean that an individual object set at 50% burn will be burning at 50% of the lasers 30% setting?
Or is the object burning at 50% of the lasers total capability?
Yes each object will use that percent of the laser power. The laser power should be at 100% for everything. I mentioned that towards the end of the video.
@@3DJapan okay, thank you! I surely missed that in my rush to get my grid completed.
I made my first design cut last night and am STOKED at how it came out (I need to fine tune my line settings for cutting though).
Did you set the power level of the laser at 0,25%?
I don't understand. The power is set according to the results of the grid.
I set the grid exactly with the settings and nothing engraved at all. What possible did I do wrong? I also tested a different cut at 20sp 10 pw and it engraved
Maybe for your laser you need slower speeds.
@@3DJapan It is the sculpfun s9
This is thorough but last month I did a power test and now I can’t find the button to do the one that they automate. Is it under the tool section? Sorry this is probably the most idiot question but if anyone happens to see this let me know.
The one built into Lightburn is under Laser Tools > Material Test. I do think doing it manually is better, it's more customizable and only takes a few minutes.
@@3DJapan Thank you. I did find it under “interval test” 2nd from the bottom in tools. I do t think this version has been updated for at least 6 months so that may change. Thanks for the help. PS, I have a Chinese laser and it’s the big 1390 FL. I am noticing if I stop a rastering or a vector cut in the middle of a job, when I go back to doing the job again it is offset by at least a 16th of an inch. This is not a good thing! Curious if you have any tips on how to make this align perfectly if I stop it in the mist of the job? Thank you and if you have an answer I’d like to buy a coffee if you provide one in your CZcams videos. Thanks boss.
Any way you could share the file?
It takes like 5 minutes to do it yourself. You might get different results, using my filter with a different machine.
Why i dont have fill option?only scan,cat and scan plus cut?thanks
I've never heard of the scan option. Do you have the DSP version or the GCode one? The DSP might be different from mine.
@@3DJapan really I don't know.. I found that scan do same job. Anyway excellent relaxing video. Thanks
The laser cutter I use uses "scan" as the word for engraving. So you could try that.
Hey I didn't get the part when you said to change them to all 100%.
So when you make new layers in Lightburn it gives it a random power percentage. Just make sure all of the layers in the Cuts / Layers panel are 100%.
I tried googling it but the power scale option is not showing under shape properties
I'm not sure why. I tried googling it myself and can't find anything. What laser do you have, maybe that's would affect it? Make sure you have the latest version of Lightburn. Maybe it was added recently.
@@3DJapan thank you so much. Never had anyone actually put an effort to help someone like you did. I uninstalled and installed and voila, it showed up.
@@jillianmayfield3169 Great! Glad you got it fixed.
Hi,
I am really struggling and nobody is getting back to me honestly on the verge of giving up after tirelessly trying to find a solution 😪 I have ortur laser master 2 and I have it set on lowest possible speed and power yet my beam is so thick and every burn is thick and irregular do you have any advice on this please bud? Much appreciated 🙏
Have you focused it with the metal cylinder thing?
@@3DJapan hi thanks for reply, my metal cylinder piece is WAY OFF. When I put it next to my laser it probably leaves about a 7/8cm gap which I know isn't normal but I cannot adjust the laser any lower so frustrating
Hi Phil, Great video. Do you happen to have that file saved. Is there anyway you could share? (I know... I'm being lazy)
Given a specific raw (fixed speed), I did not get how you could set different powers (so different powers for different squares, on the same line). If you did, please write here the timestamp in the video, I double-checked twice already without solving this issue :/
OK so heres my next problem....... First I’m really new to the laser world!! I have a XTool D1, all firmware and software are updated. When I created a grayscale grid in Lightburn and previewed it, Lightburn told me that it would take 89hours 43 mins 35sec to burn. I reached out to someone about this problem and they sent me a downloadable file for greyscale and Lightburn told me that it would take 5hours 19 mins to burn. I looked at the max speed for the D1 on there website and it said max was 350mm/s. so when set my speed settings I started with 35 and went to 350. I noticed the every video i saw on youtube that used light burn, used setting Starting around 1100 and up. should trans late mm/s to mm/m because thats what lightburn runs at? so instaed of 35 mm/s i should put it at 2100 mm/m? Is there settings that I am not using properly? Need massive help!!!
I'll have to look into this further but according to Amazon's page for the D1 the max speed is 10,000 mm/min. I haven't used it myself yet but I'm actually getting one in to review soon.
OK great I look forward to hearing what you find out!! I greatly appreciate your response!!
So I did this last night and had to shut it off after about 5 mins or so. It burned through the wood into my self healing mat. I’m not sure what I did wrong I followed right with the video. Well here’s to see what happens to a self healing mat 😳
Never good to have something you care about under your material. Every material will have different settings so your wood just needed less power. You might want to try increasing the speeds in your grid. If tweet doesn't help just don't use the high power percentages, maybe stop at 70% and don't use the 80, 90, and 100 rows.
@@3DJapan ok thank you. This was like literally the 2nd thing I’m ever done. First time I used it the motherboard blew. So after a month I finally have it working. Just little scared of it now 😂
FYI, this is now a function built into Lightburn
czcams.com/video/RPNzjK4kvEQ/video.html
Yes, but doing it yourself is more customizable.
painfull
Painful?
setting all the powers to 100% at the end is confusing - what makes you think your original input value magically gets turned into a percentage of the power? (genuinely asking) - i think all you did was show us a power grid of 100% power at different speeds and not different power percentages and speeds
It's not "magic" that's how it works. It's a percentage of whatever is on the layer.
@@3DJapan but where you entered the 100% is the same as when you entered the 6.6 its just in a easier location - if you go back into the layer it will show as 100% not 6.6 or whatever value you entered originally meaning it was changed to 100% - why would there some sort of background math going on? you entered 100% its using 100% - if im wrong please explain.
also im testing it as i type this at a machine using lightburn.
There has GOT to be a more efficient way to do this than manually ... right? All this tech and software, but a test grid has to be created one square at a time? Seems like LB would just include a premade/native template for something like this. [edit] Spoke too soon ... yes, it indeed looks like there's a "materials test" feature in LB that generates just such a grid.
No, not one square at a time. Whole groups of squares at a time. Yes, after I posted this video they added a basic version of this to the software but doing it manually gives you more control and shows you how to adjust it if you need to fix it after it's made. Not to mention once you make it one time you can just easily adjust it for different materials. You don't have to make a new one every time.
Hey Phil how you doing!!? I followed your video that it was very helpful but I am very new to the laser world as this is going to be the very first project that I burn. It loaded into my XTool D1 and when I hit start it said it was going to take 84 hours 48mins and 35sec……what am I doing wrong?
HI there. That is a very longtime indeed! Hmm. I wonder if it might be your speed settings in the Lightburn Settings. Mine is set to mm/min. I don't really know if that would change things. If you want to try one of my test grids to compare here's a file. It says it would take 29m 50s for me to burn that.
www.dropbox.com/s/mp1mxjhgost8o9n/ceramic_test_LM2Pro.lbrn2?dl=0
OK let me first say that I am working with the XTool D1 . So I’m wondering if that is the reason because I looked up the max speed on their website and it said it will do 350 mm/s. So when I noticed that your speed started at a 1000, I wasn’t for sure if that was the reason why was going to take so long because my first speed setting on the first block would’ve been set at 35 and then the next number would’ve been 70 and then 105 and then 140 and it would continue to go up in increments of 35 to get to 350 because I was using a 10 block by 10 block system. I greatly appreciate you taking the time to respond to me I would love to hear your thoughts on what I just wrote
Hey Phil just want to say thank you very much for the download I download it opened it up in Leburn then I check the preview and it’s saying that it will burn it in five hours 19 minutes and six seconds so there has to be some type of setting in my light burn to where it’s just straight up messing things up your thoughts