Laserscript user forum

Big thanks to Daven, helped a lot to get me up and running.

I was wondering if there is a test/benchmark to check what power you are getting from your laser.

ie cut test piece of 20mm diameter circle in say 3mm cast acrylic, 40w or 60w tube, chiller or pump, speed of 50, power of 75% should just cut through. (this is a fictional example)

The reason I ask is because on my 3060 with 60w tube and chiller I can just cut through 3mm ply with speed of 15, 90% power (prefer to stay under 100%). I am sure I ran it faster with less power a week ago but I did not save the program or the settings.

A benchmark (perhaps from a new machine) or realistic figures from HPC would be very useful to identify if further investigation is required.

Not 100% accurately as it can depend on various factors including the material you are comparing and how well set up the machine is.

I have two 3060's both with 60w tubes around the same age by and large I would be able to cut 3mm clear acrylic at speed 20 to 22 at 64% power on both of them.

Over the years I have learned that more power and speed can actually be less productive depending on what you are cutting and how good the extraction and air assist system is. The more smoke means more particles to block the beam....

There are devices to measure the power coming from the tube but they are very expensive and not really worth it from a owners point of view.

Best
Dave

Ok. Just wondered if I need to clean lenses or make little targets to align beam if power seems off.

Yes clean mirrors and lens is important too - beam alignment can mean drop in power but mostly you would see it cutting well in one area and not as well in another. Use a bit of masking tape over the nozzle and do a quick burst to test to see if the beam is in the middle of the circle with the head say dead middle and then in each corner. If it is ok the chances are the alignment is ok, if not work back. There was a post recently about aligning.

Best
Dave