Jewelers Benchpin Forums

I am going to be posted various items about the xTool F1 Ultra laser engraving machine, most of which will be part of my trial and error as I learn how to use the system. My intent is to post general tests in this thread, then if I find good settings I may create a separate thread with just those settings for reference.

I have generic metal business card holder. It holds maybe 10-12 business cards. I think this is from Vista Print. The following are my settings and results (these are all done with a flat surface setting):

Attempt #1
Material: Metal Business Card Holder
Engrave
Laser Type: Fiber IR
Dot duration: 900
Power (%): 75
DPI: 300
Pass: 10
Bitmap mode: Jarvis
Engraving mode: Bi-directional
Frequency (kHz): 30

I made this engraving image around 1.25" x .75" just so I could see general speed and quality. I turned out decent, but it feels as though it is a surface only engraving. I would like to see a deeper engraving. To get a better depth I am going to raise the dot duration from 900 to 1200.

Attempt #2
Material: Metal Business Card Holder
Engrave
Laser Type: Fiber IR
Dot duration: 1200
Power (%): 75
DPI: 300
Pass: 10
Bitmap mode: Jarvis
Engraving mode: Bi-directional
Frequency (kHz): 30

Setting the dot duration to 1200 did make it so I could fee the engraving easily, especially with my finger nail. I am going to up it from 1200 to 2000. Hold on!

Attempt #3
Material: Metal Business Card Holder
Engrave
Laser Type: Fiber IR
Dot duration: 2000
Power (%): 75
DPI: 300
Pass: 10
Bitmap mode: Jarvis
Engraving mode: Bi-directional
Frequency (kHz): 30

This is progressing well. Even the actual engraving process looks different this time, with actual visible light being present. Setting the dot duration to 2000 made a deep enough engraving that it can easily be felt. I am going to up the dot duration to the maximum of 3000. All other settings have remained the same. If we need to make further adjustments it will be in the power setting.

Attempt #4
Material: Metal Business Card Holder
Engrave
Laser Type: Fiber IR
Dot duration: 3000
Power (%): 75
DPI: 300
Pass: 10
Bitmap mode: Jarvis
Engraving mode: Bi-directional
Frequency (kHz): 30

Apparently I do not have calipers at my home workshop. I need to remedy that soon. Setting the dot duration to the maximum setting of 3000 did result in a deeper cut, but it is still no where near where I want it. This last engraving is still what I would call a surface engraving rather than an actual engraving. The processing time is now at 4' 34". This was the first engraving that when I ran my finger over the metal a different sound came from the engraved area. I am going to do leave the dot duration at 3000, but now I am upping the power from 75% to 80%.

Attempt #5
Material: Metal Business Card Holder
Engrave
Laser Type: Fiber IR
Dot duration: 3000
Power (%): 80
DPI: 300
Pass: 10
Bitmap mode: Jarvis
Engraving mode: Bi-directional
Frequency (kHz): 30

Interesting enough, the processing time looks to be the same as the previous run, but the results are a little closer to the desired end state. As was expected, this has been the best engraving so far. I would almost consider this great engraving settings for areas which will not get a lot of surface friction over time. But still, I think I am going to push the power to 90%. Process time was 4' 33".

Attempt #6
Material: Metal Business Card Holder
Engrave
Laser Type: Fiber IR
Dot duration: 3000
Power (%): 90
DPI: 300
Pass: 10
Bitmap mode: Jarvis
Engraving mode: Bi-directional
Frequency (kHz): 30

For this material, both the 80% power and the 90% power are great settings if these were going to be used as placards of some type. If they were going to be worn on the body, then these settings are still too low. The processing time was: 4' 33". Moving it up to 100% power.

Attempt #7
Material: Metal Business Card Holder
Engrave
Laser Type: Fiber IR
Dot duration: 3000
Power (%): 100
DPI: 300
Pass: 10
Bitmap mode: Atkinson
Engraving mode: Bi-directional
Frequency (kHz): 30

Processing time still 4' 33". This is not where I want it, but it is so far the closest to what I would like it to be. The machine is essentially maxed out for this material and settings. I guess the next adjustment to make is on the number of passes, however, the software does not let me do more than 10 passes. So, I could perhaps re-run the same job to artificially do a 20 pass run, but I am not keen on doing an engraving job over an engraving job yet. So, I modified the Bitmap mode from Jarvis to Atkinson. This is not intended to get a deeper cut, but rather a more crisp or sharp engraving with better visual depth.

Attempt #8
Material: Metal Business Card Holder
Engrave
Laser Type: Fiber IR
Dot duration: 3000
Power (%): 100
DPI: 300
Pass: 20
Bitmap mode: Jarvis
Engraving mode: Bi-directional
Frequency (kHz): 30

This seems to have worked well, but I would love to figure out how to get more passes out of the system. As I mentioned, I could just run the job twice. We shall see.