Full Spectrum Laser Power/Settings

[Michael Marquis]

I apologize if this has already been covered in another topic. I did a little searching but didn't see anything that was geared towards FSL/glass tubes.

Does anyone have a list of some power settings for the 5th Gen Hobby for different materials? I mostly work with Stainless (Thermark), Leather, 1/16th" Rowmark for name tags/labels, and some acrylic. I've done some work with it and am not overly happy with my results. I have an old GCC that recently went out to pasture and am hoping to maintain my small business with the FSL hobby. As of right now there is quite a difference in output, especially on fine detail stuff. I have a 2" and a 1.5" lens and neither are giving me what I need. I have recently aligned it according to their video. Tonight I am going to make sure the focal height is correct using their billet. Next will be making sure the power settings I am using are right.

Thanks in advance,
Mike

[Bert Kemp]

It would help if you list your wattage but outside that if you just google laser power settings you will get a ton of info

[Michael Marquis]

Sorry about that, it is a 40 Watt Glass Tube.

[Dave Sheldrake]

The FSL hobby laser is a bad choice for business, wear and lack of quality will be a bigger problem than getting the power settings right.

How long is the actual tube? if it's less than 850mm it's not a 40 watt it's a 32-35 watt

The limiting factor for engraving work will be the quality of the bearings on that machine rather than the maximum speed or power. Reasonably you would expect a speed of 350 - 600mm per second for engraving on a Chinese machine but given the bearing issue much above 200 will wear stuff out very quickly.

[Doug Hoffman]

I don't know if you know it, or not, but FSL has a forum for users. There you will probably find the info you need.
I thought about buying a FSL hobby laser, but 2 friends who purchased them sent them back. They seemed to work
great at first, but after a couple of weeks they were having lots of problems. FSL support did little to help. Many users
think the laser is great, I will pass on it.

[Michael Marquis]

Thank you for the input, I will check there to see if anyone has settings. I still have my GCC Mercury but it is an old boy. I can get the laser tube recharged, but not sure if that will solve the issue or not. I don't have $1000 to throw away if it doesn't work.

[Dave Sheldrake]

Nobody will have them Mike, you need to start low and work up as all tubes are different when it comes to DC units.

[Dwyane Ward]

Michael,

The Official FSL forum on their website is dead and no one from FSL is monitoring it or approving post. There is a user base forum at http://www.fullspectrumforum.com/ that is active.

[Matt McCoy]

I would definitely make sure the focus is correct. There should be two aluminum billets (one for each lens). The famous Aztec calendar file that many manufacturers use as an raster detail example, used to be pre-loaded into RetinaEngrave. That might be a place to start when tuning your laser. It's widely available, if you don't currently have it.

While I believe the Gen 5s are fine for a bootstrap startup, their strength is not production work of low-priced products where speed is key. However, if you're not bottlenecked by raster time, it might be a good machine to start with.

I would expect to replace the tube around 800-1000 hours and you'll wear down the anodized coating on the rails, but if kept clean and lubricated with light lithium grease, should be pretty sturdy for a few years.

For settings, start at the highest speed and a low power to determine the proper combination for both raster and vector (they have independent settings). Raise the power until you find the sweet spot. When you hit 90-95% power and cannot achieve the desired result, you will now lower the speed and adjust how many passes it might take to vector cut through material.

[Bert Kemp]

Thats typical of Full Spectrum Laser, They just don't care at all about their customers. They had so many people complaining they gave up on trying to support the forum.

Michael,

The Official FSL forum on their website is dead and no one from FSL is monitoring it or approving post. There is a user base forum at http://www.fullspectrumforum.com/ that is active.