Troubleshooting guide

7-22 Sample Materials
WOOD
RASTER ENGRAVING
LASER WATTAGE POWER SPEED PPI PASS DEPTH
15 100 20 500 1 .020”
20 100 27 500 1 .020”
25 100 33 500 1 .020”
30 100 40 500 1 .020”
VECTOR ENGRAVING
LASER WATTAGE POWER SPEED PPI PASS DEPTH
15 80 2.5 500 1 .030”
20 80 3.3 500 1 .030”
25 80 4.2 500 1 .030”
30 80 5.0 500 1 .030”
VECTOR CUTTING
LASER WATTAGE POWER SPEED PPI PASS DEPTH
15 50 0.8 250 1 .125”
20 50 1.1 250 1 .125”
25 50 1.3 250 1 .125”
30 50 1.6 250 1 .125”
COMMENTS
When engraving wood with a laser, a brown, maple syrup like residue will deposit on the surface
of the wood. This is normal and impossible to eliminate by POWER, SPEED, or PPI changes.
More residue will be present when engraving deeper and/or slower. This residue washes off
with water and a sponge. We recommend using a kitchen sponge with a nylon string mesh
wrapped around it. Dampen the sponge and wipe off the residue. A damp chamois cloth works
well also. Do not use paper towels or a regular sponge because these materials will get lodged
in the engraved area when wiping and are extremely difficult to remove. A method to avoid
cleanup is to mask the wood with transfer tape and peel off the tape after engraving. If desired,
after engraving and before peeling off the tape, spray paint can be applied to color fill the
engraved areas. After the paint dries, peel off the tape. If an intricate drawing has been
engraved and there are many small pieces of tape to remove, it may be easier to flood the
masking, after engraving, with water. This will loosen the tape and it can be easily removed by
rubbing it off by hand. In the vector cutting example, the wood was elevated from the table to let
smoke and heat escape from underneath. If elevating the wood, mask and/or dampen the
bottom side of the wood very lightly and the water acts as a heat sink to prevent the underside
from flaming and charring. Elevating the wood also helps to determine whether the laser has
passed completely through since the cut pieces will fall through to the table when cutting is
finished. If raising the wood, set up the drawing so that the inner pieces of the drawing are cut
first, otherwise pieces may fall through at the wrong time.