Speeding up Runtime by upping speed and power?

[Tracey Bakewell]

Hey Gang!

I have a 100 watt universal laser. I just ran a test of 1/16" ipi plastic and the settings I was given came out great, however, I really need thsi job to finish A LOT faster than 2 hours and 20 minutes!!! Sooo, anyone out there get good results with better than 20% power and 75% speed??? I'd like to get the speed up to 100% and increase the power too. I'm sure I can just test this out, but didn't know if anyone had any good suggestions. I'm talking just simple text and a very simple clipart logo with no real fine lines or details.

Thanks!
Tracey

[Joe Pelonio]

I have tried that on my 45 watt, the problem will be that the material warps from the heat, despite the faster speed. Try it if you want, but I was doing 1.25"x10" name plates (rowmark Lasermax) and after they cut they looked like bananas.

[Scott Shepherd]

What was the Image Density setting as well as the PPI setting? Also, which IPI plastic is this and what size is the image?

[Mike Null]

Your signature says your machine is a 50 watt.

I believe you should be able to run at 100% speed without a problem. I would look at the dpi setting and be sure it is not above 500.

[Al Mutairi]

Length Vs Width of the engraved piece & the positioning of what ever is larger horizontaly in the machine will reduce alot of your engraving time.

Al

[Tracey Bakewell]

Hi All!

Oops, my bad, it IS only a 50 watt machine, I was getting my 100% confused in my head. So, I've attached a small jpg of the image. I filled out the 12 x 24 sheet of this image to get as many tags in 1 run as I could. So it worked out to be 7 across and 11 down, then I rotated 3 on the far right to be vertical so a total of 80 tags fit on 1 sheet. The ppi was 500 and the dpi was max. The ipi plastic was 1/16" brushed stainless look on top to expose the black underneath (can't remember what it's called). A friend of mine said she runs these settings like this to save machine wear and tear, the faster and more power you use, just makes the machine work harder. I will try a few more tests this evening using everyone's suggestions. Thanks!!!

[Tracey Bakewell]

Oh, and the dimensions of the image are 1 x 3.1...

[Bill Stein]

the dpi was max

Are you talking about Image Density? If so, lower it to at least 4 and probably 3 and try 2 to see how it looks. Image density is the same as lines per inch and you will cut your time dramatically if you lower it.

Bill

[Mike Null]

Tracey

I run name tags of the same size and engraving copy in 29 minutes including cutting all of them.

Your settings should just be enough to remove the cap. Time wise your problem appears to be dpi or image density. The previous poster gave you good advice in that regard.

[George Elston]

You might also try selecting everything (except your cut line) in coreldraw and "convert to bitmap", I've had this cut a third off the time cutting the same type of tags.
Also in the "print preview dialog" under MISC, you can choose to print only vectors or only bitmaps. I print the bitmap and then the cut so they a 2 different files, depending on the material sometimes the edge discolors with the cut. It's easy to clean off, but if you cover the material with transfer tape after engraving it can save a lot of time in clean up on a big order if you cut through the tape .

p.s. don't move anything when you put the tape on ;). I use soft divers weights (available at SCUBA supply stores) but anything heavy will do, and 6" tape. I put the weights on the bottom half and tape the top, then vice-versa.

[Scott Shepherd]

I agree with the previous couple of people. Image density at 4 (maybe 3, but it might make the quality of the logo go down too much) and PPI at 400 for a try.

My guess is that it's close to what Mike said, 30-35 minutes, 40 at the high end I would think.

[Stephen Beckham]

Tracey,

Not sure if this will help on this job, but wanted to point out a lesson I learned with images like yours. I notice two things that will slow down your run time.

Your total run time doesn't really depend on how much is lasered, but how much surface space you have to cover to put even a dot on opposite sides of your image.

When you rotate and place three more cards on the end - your laser has to make a full pass wide by total number of passes depth to cover those three - no matter what else is on the deck. By removing them and scrapping that last bit, you'll save a little time because everthing is lined up left to right.

Another thing - I've tried to stay away from full size images next to text on my plates. If no image is next to the text, the run time will be reduced during the white space between text lines if there is nothing else on the image. By placing a image next to three lines of text, you're requiring the laser to cover the whole width again even when there's nothing between images. Not sure if that's explaining it well...

The only way that might save you time will be labor intensive on print setup. When doing dash-plates or name tags similar to your layout, I've used color mapping. I like printing all the text in one pass, then doing all the images in vertical patterns one column wide. SO it prints all the images far left first, skips to the second column, then the third and so forth.

You'll have to experiment with it - I've found that some images just take time. But, I believe in this case, you could save time if you could map it out right. By doing it as explained, you remove all the dead-laser-time in the white space areas between the ES logos.

I'm not sure how the Color Mapping works with the ULS systems - with the Epilog, you set the different items as different colors - then in the print driver, you tell the system what colors in what order you want to print. Good luck...

[Bob Cole]

I noticed a huge difference in speed when adjusting the img density. I also noticed, on some files, that lowering the img density made the finished product look better.

When I did a few logos, there was a fuzz when going from img density 5 to 4, so I chose to stick with 5. Lettering didn't seem to be any different.

I'm wondering, since I am by no means an expert, if you combined some of the suggestions.

1. Separate out in columns for logos and print.
2. Print logos at higher img density with lettering at lower. this would require multiple jobs.
3. I was told to cut the tags first from the backside with film still on the engraving side. Pick out all the tags, peal the plastic off, then place the tags back in the machine and run. I think the only real advantage is cleanup on the engraving side due to the vector cut and the vector table.
4. Ask the business to change their logo to all text :D

I would think that changing the img density will get you much faster results. I ran a file at img 6 that took 9 minutes, then ran at img 5 took 4 min 45 sec, img 4 took 3 min 29 sec. Not sure if the other suggestions will lower the time enough to warrant the extra setup time.

[Brian Robison]

Just a warning about the color mapping, in this case it wouldn't matter because the image is black and white, if you need any gray scale on the image it doesn't work.

[Mike Null]

Tracey

You can run the complete image without altering the effect on speed. That is, running the logo and the text together is faster than running them separately. Also the orientation of the pieces to the far right of your work piece will also not have an effect on speed as long as you are rastering a full sheet of images. If you do just the images in the vertical orientation then you will cause the machine to take longer.

What I would be concerned about in doing that is that on the material you are using you are changing the orientation of the grain on the vertical pieces. I can't do that with my name tag customers.

[Tracey Bakewell]

Well, I'm making some progress. I've got the dpi down to 4, keeping ppi at 500, and power is now 60 and speed is 70. 1 tag just took 1 min. 34 sec. I'm just going to run the whole job on the machine with the lid up to see if it would be the same time * 77 (vs. 80, I removed the 3 vertical tags off on the right) that I'm getting for just 1, I'm hoping it will be quicker!

The more I sped it up and incrased power, you could really tell the quality was gone, as soon as I increased dpi, though the time really does jump up!

I like the idea of running the logo separate from the text, I may try that also.

I'll keep you posted, thanks everyone!
Tracey

[Mike Mackenzie]

Tracy,

You should easily be able to cut the time down on this job by 1) using Image density 4 and 2) USE THE IMAGE ENHANCEMENTS.

With your power of laser set the power and speed then go into the advanced tab put a check mark into the ENABLE box and then click CALCULATE

Now what ever number the DEFINITION comes up as cut it in half this is due to you using a 50 watt system.

Run one full line across the system and then calculate that time by the number of lines down to get your total run time.

[Bill Stein]

With your power of laser set the power and speed then go into the advanced tab put a check mark into the ENABLE box and then click CALCULATE

Now what ever number the DEFINITION comes up as cut it in half this is due to you using a 50 watt system.

Mike,
Is this true for all ULS systems? I hava a 35 watt M-360 and have always used the figures as they were calculated. Would I be getting superior results by adjusting the calculated figures?

Bill

[Mike Mackenzie]

Bill,

Yes it would help change your definition number by multiplying the number it calculates by 65%

[Bill Stein]

Thank you, Mike, for the help.

Bill

[Scott Shepherd]

If it means anything, I'm currently doing several entire sheets of 12" x 24" in small labels. It's Ultra Thin material, so not quite the same. It's doing 300 labels per sheet and run time is 22 or 23 minutes with Image Density at 5, PPI at 500. Rasters all the text and then kiss cuts all the labels so they peel off nice.