Tips And Tricks For Laser Engraving - Trotec Speedy 100 Operation Manual

4.7 Tips and Tricks for Laser Engraving

The engraving depth can easily be varied through the laser power or the speed. To increase
the engraving depth, reduce the speed or increase the power setting. This way you increase
the amount of energy per area unit. Engraving too deep, however, reduces the quality of the
details. With coated materials the required power depends of the kind and thickness of the
coating. With power set too high the individual lines become too thick and a sharp picture
cannot be achieved. The resolution of the graphics should usually be at 500 dpi. The dpi
setting (number of laser dots per inch) depends on the material. The lower this setting is,
the lower the resolution of the engraved picture will be. This, however, reduces flaming and
increases the energy of a pulse, which can improve the overall result (e.g. when engraving
some sorts of plastic materials).
Protection foil:
Remove the protection foil from the engraving area. However, leave the protection foil on
the area that is not engraved, to avoid scratching of the material.
Plastics:
Plastics for engraving are available in many different colors and thicknesses and with many
different coatings and surfaces. The majority of available plastics can be well engraved and
cut with the laser. Plastics with a micro-porous surface seem to give the best result, because
less surface material needs to be removed. As most plastic materials have a low melting
point, a low ppi setting should be selected to reduce the danger of melting.
BA 8010_3.0_EN (10/2016) 49 / 68