To develop an intuition for speed/power/passes, I’ve done a series of experiments on the Trotec Speedy 300 Laser Cutter etching 5mm Moving Box corrugated double walled cardboard. Thought to share the results for your future fine-tuning considerations:
Test Series 1 - Multipass
All boxes with Standard Engraving Mode, 500dpi, Bottom up, Dithering, increasing passes
| Swatch | Power % | Speed % | Passes | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 40 | 100 | 1 | |
| 2 | 40 | 100 | 2 | |
| 3 | 40 | 100 | 3 | Top perfectly shaved off, below unharmed |
| 4 | 40 | 100 | 4 | |
| 5 | 40 | 100 | 5 | |
| 6 | 40 | 100 | 6 | |
| 7 | 40 | 100 | 7 | Extremely disintegrated top |
| 8 | 40 | 100 | 8 | Extremely disintegrated, burnt |
Combined 1-8 Swatch consistent
Test Series 2 - Slow Speed
All boxes with Standard Engraving Mode, 500dpi, Bottom up, Dithering, decreasing speed, varying power
| Swatch | Power % | Speed % | Passes | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 40 | 100 | 1 | Reference to Series 1 |
| 2 | 40 | 50 | 1 | Virtually same as Series 1 with 2 passes |
| 3 | 40 | 10 | 1 | Burnt almost through |
| 4 | 60 | 100 | 1 | |
| 5 | 60 | 50 | 1 | Same as Series 1 with 3 passes |
| 6 | 60 | 10 | 1 | Fire bad |
| 7 | 60 | 100 | 3 | Same as Series 1 with 3 passes |
| 8 | 60 | 50 | 2 | Burnt middle layer cleanly off |
Combined 1-8 Swatch frame after 3 then burned through
Test Series 3 - Fine Tuning
All boxes with Standard Engraving Mode, 500dpi, Bottom up, varying power/speed narrower
| Swatch | Power % | Speed % | Passes | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 50 | 50 | 1 | |
| 2 | 60 | 50 | 1 | |
| 3 | 70 | 50 | 1 | Clearest cut off top layer |
| 4 | 60 | 40 | 1 | |
| 5 | 60 | 50 | 1 | No dithering, clearer shave-off than 2 |
| 6 | 60 | 40 | 1 | No dithering |
| 7 | 50 | 40 | 2 | As burnt as Series 2 No. 3 |
| 8 | 60 | 50 | 2 | Smouldered but clean |
Combined 1-8 Swatch continuous but collapsed with 7
Conclusion
My goal was to cut off half of a double-walled cardboard cleanly. Passes are the safest option but (I assume) due to the wave structure of the pad vs laser focus the padding itself stays virtually untouched. The best seems to be a medium power, medium speed and 2 passes. To slow causes extreme heat, and more than one slow pass causes immediate fire.
Here is the file I used in case anyone wants to reproduce:
