What your laser settings actually do
Pick a machine, a material and the result you want. You get the speed, power and pulse numbers that reach it, or a straight answer that your laser cannot.
Not sure which result to aim for yet? Start with the verdict chips in Pick your mark to see which marks your laser can make at all, then come back here for the numbers.
30 W MOPA fiber · 1064 nm · time axis: pulse width
What do you want to do?
What happens here
No mark
Surface never reaches a process temperature. Adding passes at this irradiance changes nothing except cycle time.
- Pulse width
- 500 ns
- Frequency
- 500 kHz
- Speed
- 7000 mm/s
- Power
- 74.51%
- Dose
- 0.0532 J/mm²
- Pulse width snapped to 500 ns. Your source only fires menu values.
- Speed held at 7000 mm/s, so pulses overlap more than planned.
Colour key
Band edges are soft. Dots are cards you ran, so believe the dot.
Drag anywhere on the map
Dimmed areas are out of reach for 30 W MOPA fiber.
No mark
Surface never reaches a process temperature. Adding passes at this irradiance changes nothing except cycle time.
LiteratureWhy it comes down to two numbers
Speed, power, frequency and pulse width are four knobs for two things: how long the beam sits on one spot, and how hard it hits while it is there. That is why different-looking settings can leave the identical mark.
Spread the same energy over more time and you get heat and discolour. Deliver it in a few billionths of a second and you get material removal.