Cutting with Trotec Speedy 300

[Mike Chan]

We just got our Speedy 300 installed in the shop and I'm trying to dial in the Power/Speed settings for the materials that will be cut most often. Logically my thinking was that we would achieve maximum cutting speed for a specific material, by turning the power up to 100%, then turning up the speed as high as it will go until it's just enough to cut through your material. I ran some test and timed the cutting speed, only to find that the lower power/slower speed resulted in the fastest overall cut time. These are my results: (100% Power/9 Speed = 10 seconds), (65% Power/5 Speed = 8 seconds), and (45% Power/3 Speed = 6 seconds). Can anyone explain the logic behind this and give me some pointers on how to dial in the setting for materials?

[Dave Sheldrake]

Different materials react different ways Mike, for anything carbon based (woods etc) more power = more free carbon being formed. Carbon is an excellent material for absorbing radiation in the IR range (700nm to 1mm wavelength) so the more carbonisation you have the less effective the beam will be.Add in the Carbon Dioxide that is also produced and the beam has quite a bit to fight against.
It's a balance between enough power to cause vaporisation and too much that causes carbonisation.

Good air assist will remove (blow aside) a good degree of the CO2 gas produced as well as removing particulate carbon from the cut area.

That aside the speed settings for most western made machines isn't linear, ie: 10 isn't twice as fast as 5.

best wishes

Dave

[Scott Shepherd]

You don't want to cut much over 3.0 speed on the trotec, from my experience, especially if it's something other than a straight line.

Basically you're trying to cut faster than the machine can move/calculate it's next position. If you stay below 3, you'll have a lot better luck. Also, make sure "IPC" (Intelligent Path Control) is off for that color (it's in the options area for that color).

It just takes time to figure out and dial in. The preloaded settings are a good place to start.

[Ronald Erickson]

Scott,

What is IPC? I don't see it in the 9.4.4.2 software... is that specific for Job Control X? (I just fired off an email to my sales rep to get the skinny on whether or not 9.4.4.2 users can upgrade to Job Control X; I keep screwing up my material settings in 9.4.4.2 and I'm hoping the "lock" feature in Job Control X will fix my bad habit).

[Jiten Patel]

I was told using a higher speed means the machine takes longer to slow down, hence slows the overall time down. Imagine running full pelt in a straight line then having to slow down to go around a bend, rather than jogging. Much easier to do when you go slower.

[Scott Shepherd]

Scott,

What is IPC? I don't see it in the 9.4.4.2 software... is that specific for Job Control X? (I just fired off an email to my sales rep to get the skinny on whether or not 9.4.4.2 users can upgrade to Job Control X; I keep screwing up my material settings in 9.4.4.2 and I'm hoping the "lock" feature in Job Control X will fix my bad habit).

IPC is Intelligent Path Control. It's in Job Control X. I had the discussion about it with an Engineer in Austria, and the discussion was way above my knowledge level, so I'm afraid I'll butcher the description, but let's say you put in a speed for vectoring that's very fast, like 10%. If you have a rounded rectangle shape, when it goes around the corners, they won't be nice and smooth because the machine is traveling too fast for the smooth calculations to take place. If you turn on IPC, and tell it you want Accuracy, then it'll take that 10% speed, it'll analyze the geometry and it'll automatically adjust the speed for the entire part to be the optimal speed for producing the highest quality. If you want Speed, you select that, and it'll do the same thing, but focus on speed, not accuracy. It's not something you'd use on every job. It's my understanding that it's a special tool for special situations and you wouldn't use it unless you ran into a certain situation. I've played with it a few times to see how it works, and now that I understand a little about how it works, it's something I leave off as a rule. When the time comes that I need it, it'll help, for sure, but I haven't needed it yet.

[Mike Chan]

Thanks for the advice. I was using an Epilog previously and with the Trotec I'm completing the same jobs in about half the time. Even though speed is set to "3", it's still super fast.