Laser Cutter Settings

This page needs to describe our inkscape plugin. We should think about listing out the values that we have as useful starting points for anyone wanting to try further experimentation.

Link back to Laser Cutter

GCode

The laser cutter operates using LinuxCNC, and uses 3 specific commands to modify the type of cut made by the laser.

M68 Command

The M68 command is used by LinuxCNC to specify an analog output. Our laser is configured to use the E0 output and the Q parameter to modulate the laser power when cutting in automatic mode. Based on previous testing a Q value less than 0.12 are insufficient to even brown paper at most speeds. Values greater than 0.6 will cause the laser to exceed its maximum current. For than reason, this parameter is internally limited to 0.6. Putting in larger values will not have any effect.

Samples:

• M68 E0 Q0.125 - This would represent a very low power beam. Speeds would have to be very low to mark anything other than paper.
• M68 E0 Q0.6 - This is the maximum laser power. At low speeds this will cut through most materials on our approved materials list.

F Parameter

The F parameter specifies the feed rate for all following moves. This would be the linear movement speed of the lens carriage. The speed effects the amount of cutting that the laser beam does to the material that it moves over. At a given laser power, a slower speed will cut deeper or burn more, and a faster speed will cut shallower or burn less. Testing has shown that above F1500, the precision of the laser carriage deteriorates to the point of visual artifacts being present in the work.

S Parameter

The S parameter specifies the number of pulses per unit of length. In any case that you want a continuous cut or etched line, this should be specified as S10000. The Inkscape Plugin uses S10000 as the default on all cases. However, it is possible to create interesting effects by setting it to a low enough value that it perforates instead of creating a continuous cut. The value S1 is makes a very interesting effect on paper.