Is it possible to get gray scale images on very thin materials?

CAD & CAM Tool Chain LaserWeb/CNCWeb Suppport
1

Is it possible to get gray scale images on very thin materials? I’m working with quite thin wood veneers and having trouble with burn through.

For a vector, I can turn down to about 17% and it does the trick however raster is still giving me fits.

If I do an all black image, I can just set a very low power and all is well but as soon as I have an image with any lighter shades I either get burn through when it gets to all black or if I turn down the power then I only get the darkest parts and it doesn’t even register the laser on the lighter sections.

I’ve tried upping the speed with no luck and lowering the power much lower than 100% just skips the mid-tones all together.

Am I just asking too much of the machine for that? Wondering if I need to go back to halftones and 2-bit color

2

Here is an example of what I’m trying to burn. Currently I’m testing with lighter text color to try to prevent the burn through at 100%. This exact version is untested, but the face has been tried already with no luck.

297363666e24eb9ff1d18548848fd752.png

3

I can confirm the 3 watt laser diode can etch thin things very nicely. even paper can be done without it catching fire. Although you need to scale the power way down :slight_smile:

4

True, I forgot about that… Removed it!

5

Makes sense. I’ll have to look into it a bit more. There is a J Tech 2.8W diode laser that will bolt right up to my CNC that might be worth looking at, but it’s definitely not cheap. But it does support PWM