Laser Engraving & Cutting

1. First, click on the Advanced tab to load a preset for your material. It is recommended to always select the preset, even if you know the speed and power settings needed as the preset may load other settings that can impact performance and functionality.

2. In the list on the right-hand side, find the material that you are using.

3. Select it and click Load.

• If you do not find your material on the list, talk to a staff member to confirm that your material is usable in the laser cutter. 
• Some materials will have multiple entries with different thicknesses listed.
  • If you are cutting, choose the thickness closest to your material's thickness.
  • If you are only engraving you can choose any as the engraving settings are the same.

4. After loading the proper preset, click General to return to the main tab where you can adjust the settings.

Once you've loaded the material preset, you can adjust settings as you need. If it is your first time using the material, you should start with the presets and only make minor adjustments until you find a setting that works safely. Do not adjust the speed or power by more than 10% each time.

Tip: Bring in extra material so you can run multiple tests to determine the best settings.

While there are a lot of settings, most jobs only require changing a few - usually speed, power, and piece size.

Section 1: Resolution

Resolution is measured in dots-per-inch, much like a typical paper printer. DPI can range from 75-1200, and can result in significant differences in image quality. It is also important to note that the higher the DPI, the longer the runtime. E.g. a 1200 DPI setting will take twice as long as a 600 DPI setting for the same image. This only applies to raster images, as vector lines do not have a resolution in the traditional sense.

Tip 1: The machine can up-scale an image, but only to a certain degree. Most images are made at between 72 and 300 DPI. Setting one of these images to 600 DPI will result in significantly better quality than if it was engraved at its native resolution, however you will probably not notice an improvement between 600 and 1200 DPI. Therefore, unless your image was made at 1200 DPI, it will most likely be a waste of time to run it higher than 600 DPI.

Tip 2: If a vector line is too thick, the software will convert it to a raster image and engrave it. The threshold for "too thick" varies and is determined by the DPI setting. Therefore, it is recommended that any vector line that should be cut has the minimum thickness possible (0.025mm in Inkscape and .001pt in Illustrator).

Section 2: Job Type

The software used to layout the images (Inkscape or Adobe Illustrator) can support both raster and vector images, and the machines can handle both types of jobs simultaneously. However, for the best results, it is often necessary to run jobs multiple times and the number of times you will want to raster will often be different than the number of times to cut. You can layout both types of files in the software and then tell it to only do the rastering, and then simply resend the job with only the vector data without having to making any adjustments to either the layout or the power/speed settings. If left on combined, the machine will do a single pass for all rastering and then a single pass for all vector cutting.

Tip 1: If either Raster or Vector is selected, the other type of data is ignored. It will not raster the vector lines if Raster is selected, for example.

Tip 2: It is considered a best practice to complete all rastering before doing any cutting. This is because, while the cuts are extremely narrow, it is theoretically possible for a cut out piece to shift around if rastering is done after the cutting.

Section 3: Raster Setting

• Speed: The speed that the lens moves back and forth. The slower the speed, the longer the laser will stay in one spot. This results in deeper and more pronounced engravings but can also cause scorching or melting.
• Power: The strength of the laser. The higher it is, the more pronounced the engraving, but too high can cause scorching and other types of damage to the material.
• Engrave Direction: Whether the engraving starts with the top or the bottom of the image(s). When using the Air Assist, it helps reduce smoke if it is on Bottom-Up.
• Image Dithering: The pattern used for converting pixels to laser pulses. "Standard" works in almost all cases, but other settings can work better with photographs.

Section 4: Options

• Auto Focus (Library 21c Only): This setting would, in theory, automatically adjust the bed height so the focusing key would not be necessary. Unfortunately, it does not work, and therefore this setting cannot be used and should never be turned on.
• Center Engraving: A way of manually setting the XY origin of the laser, which is useful in situations where the material does not fit neatly into the upper left corner. Please see the Advanced Techniques page here for more information.
• Send to Laser/Send to Manager: This tells the software driver where to send the data - to the machine and/or to a management program. Send to Laser has to be on or it won't actually send the file to the machine. The software management program is not installed, and so the option should be unchecked.

Section 5: Piece Size (inches)

The piece size must be specified here, and it must match the size of the Workspace/Artboard. If the numbers do not match, the engravings/cuts will not line up properly. Also note that while the layout programs can work in a variety of measurement units, you must specify it in inches here.

After you have set and double-checked your settings, press OK to return to the layout software's print dialog.

• If using Adobe Illustrator, check that your preview size and material size match. Typically, you will need to go into the settings a second time to trigger AI to update the size you entered. 
• If printing from PDF, make sure Actual Size is selected before hitting Print.

Section 6: Vector Setting

• Speed & Power: The same as in the Raster Setting - speed is how fast the lens moves and power is the strength of the laser.
• Frequency: The pulse rate of the laser. What settings works best depends on the material, and therefore it is inadvisable to change in most circumstances. Altering it significantly will usually result in the material not reacting to the laser as expected.
• Vector Sorting: Rather than processing vector lines in the order they are listed in the SVG file, this lets the Epilog software determine the best order. While this may result in lines being cut in a seemingly random order, it helps prevent the material from over heating and does not significantly increase cutting time.
• Frequency Automatic: This forces the laser to always run at a frequency of 5000hz. Since presets are used, this setting is not necessary or ideal.

The most common settings to adjust are the speed, power, DPI, and the number of passes. Each one will have a different impact on how the project turns out.

• Slowing the speed or raising the power will result in deeper engravings/cuts, but also more scorching and/or melting (depending on the material). There is higher risk of fire if the settings are changed too much outside of the presets.
• Another option is to keep the settings standard, and simply repeat the job multiple times. The more passes, the deeper the engravings/cuts and the more pronounced the engravings.
• For engravings, changing the DPI is an effective way of saving time, as halving the DPI halves the time it will take. However, there will be a noticeable reduction in quality.