Just how accurate are laser cutters in general?

Discuss laser machine here freely.

Moderator: baker

Post Reply
WilliamNep
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Jul 25, 2015 8:30 pm

Just how accurate are laser cutters in general?

Post by WilliamNep »

I bought a laser cutter/engraver, had a few issues getting it working and they have now been solved.
So I thought I should start a new thread.

My laser cuts inaccurately. Period.

for example in the x direction its fine but in the y direction it is about 5% out. If I cut a square 100 x 100 (x,y) it cuts 100 x 105.

If I compensate and reduce the y axis percentage to say 95% it's pretty close but no matter what I do I get weird results. eg if I ask it to cut a 5mm circle it will start in one spot, follow roughly where it is supposed to go and then when it gets to the end it might be a millimetre or two out, so it cuts a shape a bit like a single loop spiral. You have to tear it out because it's still joined to the main sheet.

I tried cutting a 5mm x 100 rectangle and it cut one line about 5mm but the rest of the rectangle was close to 4mm by 10mm so it was a bit like a "b" shape, eg it had a stem one one side.

When I got it to cut a bunch of big circles you could see they weren't perfect, they were slightly oval in shape, and even if you compensated on the y direction they still didn't look symmetrical.

Anyone know what might be causing this and how I might fix? The manufacturer has stopped communicating with me because I wanted to take them up on their warranty and get a replacement or my money back.
Post Reply