Why Your Laser Cut Parts Don't Fit (and how to fix it)

[@Samcraftcom]

Perfect presentation and explanations of this! No doubt this will be of major help to many!

[@LetsMakeAThing]

Thanks Sam! Appreciate you dropping in!

[@chiefofmoney7491]

This is by far the best video explaining Kerf and how to mitigate it. Straight to the point with a great example and great link. Thank you!

[@LetsMakeAThing]

Thank you, glad you found it useful!

[@borisbadinov7757]

I was literally getting frustrated with trying to figure this out all day today! Thanks a ton.

[@LetsMakeAThing]

Glad it helped!

[@pinrockie]

Like the straight to every phase of this process. Thank you

[@LetsMakeAThing]

Thanks for watching!

[@sncb82123]

Thank you!!!! This is so much more simple than what I was trying to do!

[@LetsMakeAThing]

Glad it helped!

[@invinciblemuffi]

Easy to follow and understand for an important topic. Thank you

[@LetsMakeAThing]

Thank you glad you found it helpful!

[@philippe5394]

Yes, very helpfull for a futur beginneer like me! Thank you for this help!

[@LetsMakeAThing]

Glad it was helpful!

[@minnesotamaker1846]

Thanks for the video. I like the way you get right to the point and explain it well.

[@LetsMakeAThing]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@skysurferuk]

It's a benefit to save the machine settings to a file on your PC.

[@LetsMakeAThing]

Always a smart move to back up your settings!

[@smudgepost]

Very handy video!! Link included much appreciated

[@LetsMakeAThing]

Glad it was helpful!

[@woodfather]

Great video cheers, will give it a shot tonight 👍

[@LetsMakeAThing]

Thanks Mario! Let me know how it goes!

[@shadowfox929]

Absolutely awesome video especially for beginners like me. Thanks for sharing.

[@LetsMakeAThing]

Glad it was helpful!

[@scotty5208]

Thank you. This is great

[@LetsMakeAThing]

Glad you found it useful!

[@vincentlekei1969]

Hay thanks I found my kerf 0.80mm 😊

[@LetsMakeAThing]

Awesome!

[@guynotes777]

Fantastic..many thanks for this great information

[@LetsMakeAThing]

Glad it was helpful!

[@mrgrinch61]

sweet video thanks

[@LetsMakeAThing]

Glad you liked it!

[@saint-clivierhubert8517]

Hello, thanks for this video, does the kerf depends on material and material thickness ?

[@maalkwamaly]

Thank you for the website, it is going to make a huge difference. If you work with acrylic, I would like to share with you something I have found challenging for last month or so. I want to cut rectangles of 4 mm thick acrylic. Not big ones, maximum dimension is 24 cm. BUT, I need to make holes on every edge, yes EDGE, of the piece. Holes are 2 mm diameter and 2 mm depth. And I have to engrave so many of them with high precision, therefor laser is the way to do it. If you can do it, or want to take a shot of doing it. Please let me know to share more details with you. Thanks.

[@LetsMakeAThing]

Glad you found it useful! Find my email in the channel info and send me an email about your process. I'd like to hear more.

[@newmonengineering]

Keep in mind most calipers have a + and - resolution accuracy. The .08 could be + or - whatever the resolution your calipers can measure. So you will probably not get down to .01 anyways. Good video. Thanks.

[@LetsMakeAThing]

Excellent point! The calipers I use have a +/-.02mm tolerance so as you said I won't ever get exactly .01. Which is fine for what I use the laser for.

[@rosimeiregodoi8816]

Thank very much for your explantion, but I have a doubt. I usually for cutting, files from generator sites e add keef there. Do I you calibrate my laser anyway?

[@ThePapa1947]

Great information!

[@LetsMakeAThing]

Glad it was helpful!

[@carolwaller9605]

This was so interesting

[@markolsen1989]

Instant subscription from me, great explanation from beginning to end! Do you find that you have to calibrate the laser or just when significant changes have been made to the laser (movement, maintenance, etc.)? Thanks again for the great video!

[@LetsMakeAThing]

Glad you found it useful! I always calibrate when I get a new laser or if I upgrade or make significant changes to the laser.

[@markolsen1989]

@@LetsMakeAThing thank you for the response and I just noticed that I left out calibrate the laser routinely* key word. Thank you again for the great video and response!

[@pfiltz]

Excellent !

[@LetsMakeAThing]

Many thanks!

[@LithosAndLasers]

Great tips. Thanks.!

[@LetsMakeAThing]

Glad it was helpful!

[@KeithHigdon]

Great Share

[@MS-uz4ix]

FYI in order for Kerf Offset to work properly your shapes must be CLOSED! I found this out the hard way after hours of what I thought was Lightburn not working correctly. Thanks for the informative video.

[@LetsMakeAThing]

Great info! Thanks for sharing!

[@boruchlen]

Great video! How did you know I was wondering how to do this 😂.

[@LetsMakeAThing]

Lucky guess on my part. 🤣

[@boruchlen]

😂

[@ChrissRollex]

Hello, Thank you for the video! I have a question regarding the second part of the video, specifically about the simple square you mentioned. (4:49min) Does the square need to have specific dimensions in order for me to measure it after cutting it with the laser? Keep it up 🔥🔥🔥

[@LetsMakeAThing]

You just need to know what size the square is supposed to be so when you measure it you can calculate the difference. Usually 100-200mm is a good size and makes measuring easier.

[@whoopsieriot]

Does this work only if your dot is square? Would it be a different test if dot size is rectangle?

[@LetsMakeAThing]

The size difference between square and rectangular dot sizes on diodes is only 1-2 hundredths of a millimeter. Such a small size discrepancy won't make a difference in the testing and kerf settings.

[@ManiacRook]

Any chance you can run your kerf test again between .05 and .15? Chances are your kerf is not exactly .1 mm.

[@ulaB]

I was lazy, when I got my lazer (see what I did there?) and just cut a 20 x 20 mm square from 3 mm acrylic and measured the size with a caliper. They came out as 19.8 x 19.8 mm, so I calculated the Kerf as (20-19.8) / 2 = 0.1 mm. The "/ 2" is because the kerf is removed from the both opposing sides.

[@LetsMakeAThing]

That's a good way to estimate. Only drawback is if the machine's x and y and calibrated that can add some slop and throw off the kerf number.

[@hdrider2319]

My 100mm squares measured less than 100. Is that normal? Yes, I did use the 0.1 kerf from the 1st step.

[@LetsMakeAThing]

Yes it is common for the machine to cut under or over the size you request. That's the point of the second calibration I show in the video. You can use that to get your X and Y movements calibrated.

[@rudygomez6511]

I love your videos but what was that grudge-like noise starting at 7:15?!

[@rudygomez6511]

Seriously though, absolutely incredibly helpful video. Thanks so much.

[@LetsMakeAThing]

That's because of my laser's fan. The audio cleanup process I use does a good job but the laser fan is so loud I still get some noise bleeding into my audio.

[@LetsMakeAThing]

Glad you found it useful!

[@Sven2157]

Out of curiosity, wouldn't the kerf be the actual cut width as dictated by the DPI setting?

[@henrywilliams1791]

No, kerf is a per line parameter. DPI (some prefer LPI) determines the spacing between adjacent lines.

[@LetsMakeAThing]

As henrywilliams said, DPI is the spacing between lines. Since a cut is only a single line DPI doesn't apply.

[@Sven2157]

@@LetsMakeAThing When you adjust DPI, you are essentially making the laser beam, the cutting width, no? So once that is set, you know the cut width, just like with a saw blade. Adjusting kerf, seems to be the EXACT same thing as cutting to one side of the line, to adjust for laser (saw blade) width. Right? EDIT - My point is, that you don't need to waste material when you can just adjust for the width of the laser beam, by setting KERF to the DPI/Line Interval. Am I missing something?

[@Sven2157]

@@henrywilliams1791 Kindly, see my reply to Henry. Thanks for your reply. EDIT *** You're Henry; I meant Curtis, sorry.

[@LetsMakeAThing]

The kerf of the laser beam is specific to the laser itself and you have to test for it. Each diode laser has it's own personality due to manufacturing and quality control processes. So the only way to know the kerf of your laser is to test it by using material and running a test like the one in the video. You can't adjust the width of the laser beam via software as it's a physical constant of the laser. Just like I can't adjust the kerf of my table saw blade. DPI changes how close each laser pass is to the previous when doing a fill. If you look in Lightburn there is no DPI or lines per inch setting when a layer is set to line. If you change that layer to fill then lines per inch will show up. This setting changes how close together the laser lines will be.

[@alexcavalcanticosta1585]

Good afternoon! Here's a friend offering some important advice: use caution when dealing with MDF. Furthermore, it is worth extending this precaution to other materials, especially because regarding MDF, which is not widely discussed in Brazil, I had to seek information abroad. Although it is little talked about, what I discovered is worrying - there is evidence that MDF may be linked to cancer (due to the gases it produces when the cut is burned). But I couldn't find anything about the gases emitted when burning cardboard, could you say anything about that? Boa Tarde! Aqui está um amigo oferecendo um conselho importante: tenha cautela ao lidar com o MDF. Além disso, é válido estender essa precaução a outros materiais, especialmente porque sobre o MDF, que não é amplamente discutido no Brasil, precisei buscar informações no exterior. Embora seja pouco comentado, o que descobri é preocupante - há indícios de que o MDF pode estar relacionado ao câncer ( devido aos gases que ele produz durante a queima do corte). mais não consegui achar nada sobre os gases emitidos na queima do papelão saberia dizer alguma coisa sobre isso?

[@deepsgnips]

Never actually cared of both these tests, nor needed, but it’s interesting. Wouldn’t it be better to run and set the calibration first, or it doesn’t matter?

[@LetsMakeAThing]

If you don't set your kerf first it will throw off the calibration.