hairline on explorer II engraver

[Zack Madden]

Hi everyone, I have an explorer II laser engraver and am running into issues.

I am trying to cut a logo out of acrylic, is there a way to make the beam cut lines smaller than hairline?

Thanks.

[Scott Erwin]

Maybe I am missing the question, but how much smaller than hairline are you looking for?
Beams are about .003, so being smaller than hairline would not cut/engrave anyway.
Maybe if you post what you are trying to do, can get more help.

[Zack Madden]

My problem is that the lettering that i am cutting out for the logo is kind of warped, leading me to believe it is getting burned, yet the laser isn't completely cutting through the acrylic either. Do I slow it down more (already at 1.5 speed) and lower the ppi?

Or, as I was originally thinking, the lettering is too close together to hit with hairline and not melt, which is why I asked if I could go smaller than hairline

Thanks.

[Richard Rumancik]

Zack, your question is not quite clear. The term "hairline" to Corel users usually means a line width on a drawing of .003" wide. Many laser companies have written their drivers so that lines wider than this are interpreted to be filled rastered lines rather than vector cuts. On my machine, a line .0001" wide or .002" wide will both be vector cut.

However, you can't control the cut width of a vector cut using line width on the drawing. It is controlled by the width of the laser beam itself, which happens to be about .003-.004" diameter for the typical 1.5" or 2" focal length lens.

If you are getting warped shapes, it has nothing to do with the line width in Corel. It has to do with heating effects of the beam. I can't tell you what settings to use and you will need to experiment to get it right. But you need to change speed, power, ppi, etc. not line width in the drawing. A 1.5" lens may help somewhat.

Physics dictates the smallest beam diameter you can get. For a CO2 laser it is about .0025 or .003", but less than .003" is very difficult to achieve.