Getting faster laser engraving using Lightburn

I tried to run my laser faster and found at 500mm/s the job ran slower than running it at 250mm/s.
How can I get my laser to run faster? There's a common misconception that increasing your laser speed will decrease job run time and give faster engraving times, but that's not entirely true.
In this video I will cover some tests to get your laser engraver more accurate for faster engraving,
1. Run an interval test
2. Check scanning offsets
3. Run timed tests for various jobs using Lightburn software.
My setup:
- OMTech 130w AF3555 laser
- OMTech water chiller
- Lightburn software
Useful links:
OMTech website (OMTech discount code "VOELTNER5" for 5% off):
alturl.com/8k7tf
Lightburn Software ("VOELTNER5"):
omtechlaser.com/products/ligh...
OMTech water chiller ("VOELTNER5"): omtechlaser.com/products/6l-w...
Xtool diode laser: shorturl.at/bpxJM (discount code: VW10)
My Amazon page: www.amazon.com/shop/voeltnerw...
Video Equipment Used:
Sony A7iii: amzn.to/37vxJOr
Sony 50mm 1.8 lens: amzn.to/433nPL9
Sony 28-70mm lens: amzn.to/459yzJJ
Konova Slider: amzn.to/3jkctxD
Camera tripod: amzn.to/3LU0a7E
Aputure 300x LED Light: amzn.to/3Kbbe25
Godox 140cm Top Octagon Grid Softbox: amzn.to/3FWkKUh
#laserengraver #laserengraving #woodengravingmachine

[@EdmondsWoodshop]

TONS of information and certainly not an easy video to cover. You did an exceptional job. I love the editing and subtle transitions in some of the frames (i.e. ghosting). Great job! My only recommendation is to SAVE your default laser settings prior to changing anything in your machine settings. The last thing you want is to change something that you don’t fully understand how it will react and then forget what you changed it from.

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

Thanks so much! Lots of time into the edit and getting the information digestible here. I hope it helps people understand how to get better run times, but I didn't want to dive too deep into the details on the advanced features at the end because I don't want anyone to ruin their machine and blame me. LOL!

[@gilbertboyer9936]

Hi Matt, thank you for an impecable tutorial. Clear and consice. I will be following your tutorials from now on.

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

Thank you so much! Welcome.

[@user-zq6pj5jo8j]

Alot of your extra travel distance is due to your stepper motor/drivers. With Servo drives and higher quality steppers and controls this is not as much of an issue.

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

Nice! I’ll look into those.

[@coreydavoll7622]

Great video!! Very informative😊

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

Thanks so much, Corey! I appreciate you watching and commenting.

[@itayirwambiwa4864]

Excellent tips and explanation mate. Just cut my time by half on my current run but changing interval from 0.1 to 0.2 (gradually). Thank you so much.

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

Excellent!! Glad it helped!

[@nickpoole583]

Honing in your laser and getting your job time down takes a lot of tests and clear understanding and a comfy shirt of course! Solid info in this video!

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

Very comfy shirt. 👊🏼

[@ceciliaescalante6181]

very technical, good work. YOU ARE THE FIRST person explaining principles in a detail fashion, thank you

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

Thank you so much! Glad you liked the video.

[@oakfieldscreativeworkshop]

Lots of great info here. I still have lots to do dialling in my settings. I’ve already set-up my over run settings. But yet to do line and dither. It’s great that lightburn have been gradually adding those features with have to use third party lightburn files. Another one I also have never got round to doing is setting up material libraries so that I don’t keep have to change all my layer settings all the time.

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

Thank you. Very thankful for the upgrades too.

[@pettigrewwoodworks]

Wow! Awesome info. Just jumped from a 5W to 20W laser and was surprised I couldn't cut my text engraving times drastically. Now I have some tools to optimize. Thanks for sharing.

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

Glad you liked the video. Thanks for watching.

[@baileythompson3680]

Great video! Appreciate the insight!

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

Thanks so much! Appreciate you watching!

[@georgechapa4061]

Thank you so much, I'm going to use this to make my adjustments and hopefully send you an update.

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

That would be great!

[@karlh6692]

Fantastic video, you just convinced me to upgrade to lightburn.

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

Thank you so much. You won’t regret the upgrade.

[@goblinsgym]

Double the size means four times the area. So engraving the larger pattern was more efficient in terms of area per second.

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

That's not what was reflected in the results.

[@Co2Aaron]

Amazing production you have here packed full of information I have the same machine and I have a few things I could run by you on other topics I’d love to see you cover.

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

Thank you. Sounds good. Feel free to leave them here or send me an email. I appreciate that.

[@Co2Aaron]

@@VoeltnerWoodworking whats your email?

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

@Co2Aaron to avoid people scrubbing comments for an email and to cut down on spam, please contact through my link at linktr.ee/VoeltnerWoodworking 👍

[@thesplinteredfinger]

Great information Matt! I think if you you explained it slower it would help the viewer follow along. Things like the charts were not able to review before disappearing off the screen. I will definitely be running these trials on my machine.

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

That’s the curse of YT unfortunately. You have to move slow enough to keep the interest, but slow enough to not lose someone. Hope it helps.

[@DavesCave]

I would be interested in you running the same test at 4 x’s the size in each direction. That would be a total of 16 x’s the area. I think on a larger project the time saving might switch. Love your research and presentation. Great job

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

Thank you so much! I will definitely have some more tests to optimize the machine and will continue to share. I'm glad you enjoyed it, and I appreciate your comment.

[@CowsGoM3ow]

Wouldn't you only need to change the X axis length? And then have a standard height and lpi between speeds?

[@JasonPeltier]

This shows the difference between someone who got a laser engraver for Christmas vs someone who bought one for their woodworking business. "Good enough" is not a term you should use in any business. #EverySecondMatters

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

For sure! It’s all about efficiency and quality.

[@SamHuffman-ho4td]

I really liked your video. I have been looking for a video on how to put a Lightburn job on a flash drive and move the flash drive to my laser, plug it in there and use it to run the job. The laser is a Bos LS 1630. It comes with a flash drive and a usb port to plug into the side of the laser, but nothing happens. Any advice?

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

I’m not familiar with that laser or its settings but if you have a Ruida controller you should be able to navigate to the file from it.

[@hasve978]

I'm still trying to figure out how to get my co2 to fill/engrave image faster than 9mm/s. Even in light burn at 100mm/s the laser goes slow. Cutting engraving 300/600 no problem

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

Which machine do you have? Your material test doesn't produce a better result at faster speeds?

[@DigifyMe]

I there a result where the runway is worth it for batch engraving? A single image I can see the differences and understand, but Is there a time benefit with batching the same item in the same row with a jig per say? I don't have a laser where this information can be actedupon.... YET!

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

Yes, the longer the engraving the better because it will eventually reach it's top speed. For batch engraving there are definitely some tricks you can use to increase efficiency. What laser are you looking at?

[@TheMrHolmes]

I’m running just vector lines on my machine and it really slows down at the ends no matter the speed I run it, is there a way to optimize the speed at which it starts and stops as it doesn’t go past the end of the lines I’m engraving, does that make sense?

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

If you’re in Lightburn you should be able to adjust the acceleration and deceleration speeds.

[@TheMrHolmes]

@@VoeltnerWoodworking I’m new to this laser but I’m definitely learning

[@japanfilling]

Hello. I would like to know your opinion on the Omtech Pro machines and whether you would consider replacing your current machine with it. I live in Europe and asked the American headquarters when they are planning to start selling the Omtech Pro machines here. However, I received the answer that they currently do not have plans for it, which is interesting to me.

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

They have a lot of great features, but I wouldn’t want to pay to upgrade my current machine because I’m very happy with what I can do with my AF3555. I know international shipping areas are tough when you see other people able to get machines you don’t have access to. Thats frustrating.

[@japanfilling]

@@VoeltnerWoodworking Yes, frustrating, but of course, I accept it, no problem. I want to buy a machine just like yours, and it's currently available at a reasonable price, 6200 euros here in Europe. And is there something specific to know about the machine that doesn't work properly, and it's worth paying attention to? Is the ventilation adequate on the machine, or does it need any adjustments to improve smoke extraction?

[@japanfilling]

Thank you for your response. I've learned a lot from your videos. Based on your videos, I've decided that I need one as well. So, hopefully, by the end of February, I'll have it. Thank you for your assistance; your videos are indeed informative.

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

Hopefully you're able to make use of the discount code "VOELTNER5OFF" as well for additional savings. I hope the code works in Europe. I haven't had to make any adjustments for smoke extraction or anything. I know several people who have incorporated an in-line air extractor like this: amzn.to/41V7Tvk

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

@japanfilling Thank you. Glad to hear it.

[@johndeaux9987]

I came across this video seeking information on changing acceleration speed. Why haven't you tried that? It seems in other videos this speeds the time exponentially, particularly at higher speeds.

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

I'll take a look at acceleration, thanks.

[@johndeaux9987]

@@VoeltnerWoodworking sorry if you misread that, that wasn't a criticism of your work, lol... I just got a CO2, that was legitimately asking why you hadn't tried it? I'm new to all this stuff, trying to weed through the fact from fiction among KZbin videos 🤣

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

Not at all. I love suggestions like that because it helps me shape future videos. Comment away. Lol. Thank you!

[@chiefofmoney7491]

I agree, changing my acceleration drastically improved the look of my engravings

[@jppalm3944]

Interesting

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

Definitely

[@michaelenglund]

I know its just a thumbnail but I think we need to do all we can to get people interested in lasering that to protect the eyes and lungs is paramount.

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

Just two images combined. 😂

[@michaelenglund]

Not just. We have got to think about the message it sends.

[@VoeltnerWoodworking]

👮