Engraving Settings Conversion

[Linda Butterfield]

I have a 50 watt laser and in most of my reading on projects, settings are noted for a 35 watt laser. Is there some kind of formula I can use to figure what suggested settings would be using a 50 watt laser?

[Joe Pelonio]

Not really. It can vary by manufacturer, and by machine. My Epilog Manual shows the settings for several tube powers but it's not likely to be the same for a Universal or Trotec. The best you can do is experiment and make notes, remembering that you can start at lower power/faster speed then a 35 watt.

[Zvi Grinberg]

If you have a ULS machine...

Universal machines are automatically adapting to the installed laser power.

When you select a material from database, it will set the parameters automatically according to the laser tube's power, and then you have the option to fine tune it for your needs.

[Gary Hair]

I have a 50 watt laser and in most of my reading on projects, settings are noted for a 35 watt laser. Is there some kind of formula I can use to figure what suggested settings would be using a 50 watt laser?

Linda,
This is one of my pet peeves about engraving settings. It is VERY easy to state the power and speed required for a particular item IF people would do the following.
1. For power, all you have to do is take your rated power times the % power you need to use. ie. My laser is a 30 watt, if I use 50% power then I would say I used 15 watts. This isn't exact but it's very close and makes much more sense than telling someone who doesn't know my laser that I use 50% power.
2. For speed, you need to know the max speed of your machine and if it's different for raster and vector. Mine is 80ips raster and 40ips vector. I know it varies around corners vs straight lines and it has to ramp up and down at the start and end of a line, but it will still work to get someone close. Take the max speed and multiply it by the % speed you use for the project. ie. I used 80% speed on a raster image which translates to 64ips.

If someone needed to approximate the settings I used for this hypothetical project they just need to calculate how to get 15 watts and 64 inches per second. If their machine is a 45 watt, 80ips laser then they would use 33% power and 80% speed.

It doesn't matter that their laser, and mine, may not be exactly what they are rated, these numbers are just to get them a starting point, not the EXACT numbers they need to use.

For you to modify a 35 watt setting to give you a starting point on your 50 watt, you need to do the following:
1. 35 * (whatever % they said they used)
2. Divide the result by 50
This works for whatever power their machine is, just substitute 35 for their actual power.

ie. if they used 80% power, that is really 28 watts (35*.8=28). Your setting would be 28/50 - 56%. You still need to determine the speed setting, but you ARE halfway there!

Gary