Bobinga wood?

[John W. Love]

Hey Guys and Gals,
I have been reading and learning from y'all for almost a year and today I ran into my first real problem that I just can't seem to find an answer for.
First off, I have a Pinnacle 40 watt laser. I am trying to cut through 1/8" Bubinga wood. I need to do pretty fine detail and for some reason I simply cannot hardly cut through this wood without charring the edges beyond salvage. The wood is fairly light so I didn't think it was going to be this hard and dense. Has anyone ever worked with this type of wood? If so, how did you do it? I have tried making low speed (4.0) multiple passes, very low speed (3.0)multiple passes, and extremely low speed (2.8- 0.6) passes. At the 3.0 speed it requires 10 or more passes to cut through. even at .06 it takes 2 to 3 passes to cut through. I am baffled.

HELP ME PLEASE!!!!!!!!!! =)

Seriously though I feel like a novice with this wood and I have a project that needs to be out soon. Had I known this type of wood was difficult to work with I wouldnt have accepted the order, but now that I have I hate to back out without trying everything possible to get it done on time and on spec.

Thanks in advance for any advice that is out there.

John

[George M. Perzel]

Hi John;
I cut and engrave a lot of wood but never had an occasion to use Bubinga. I do have a piece and will resaw a hunk to 1/8" sometime today, laser cut/engrave it, and advise results.
Best regards;
George
LaserArts

[Frank Corker]

When it comes to wood, if you are getting charring there is usually one of two problems. 1) you are cutting to slow with too high power. 2) Your frequency or ppi is too high. Now I'm not sure how my settings adjust to yours but if I were cutting acrylic the frequency would be up to 5000, but on wood it is only 500. This is probably where you are having the problem.

[George M. Perzel]

Hi John;
I suspect you have a power problem-maybe related to dirty lens or loss in laser power. Attached image is of piece of 3/16 " bubinga cut and engraved on a 60 watt LaserPro . Single pass Cut was at 3.0 speed and 95% power and engrave was at 60% speed and 95% power- 150 dpi on both. Stuff cuts very easily.
Call me if you have questions or need help.
Best regards;
George
LaserArts
585-924-4519

[Mike Null]

There should be no problem in cutting Bubinga. It is somewhat like cherry in engraving and cutting characteristics. I would raise the frequency to between 1000 and 1500.

[John W. Love]

Thanks for the wonderful advice and I was able to cut the piece successfully today. I had the ppi set at 300 before and lowered it to 150 and it cut beautifully.

Thanks again Mike, George and Frank! You guys are awesome!