Content to include:

  • Speed has units!!
  • How to identify good/bad settings
  • Min/max power
  • Links to relevant troubleshooting

Speed & Power Lab

A material test simulator laid out like LightBurn’s Material Test Generator. Choose a laser and material, set the rows and columns, and press Start to watch the grid burn.

About this simulator

The preview uses a simplified energy model calibrated against the manufacturer tables further down the page. It shows how speed, power and passes relate; it doesn’t replace a real Material Test. Focus, lens, air assist, tube or module age and the material batch all change results. Output size and time are rough estimates. Saving files and sending jobs aren’t available here, so those buttons are disabled. Speed & Power Lab is an independent learning tool and isn’t made by LightBurn Software.

Speed units

Material Test Generator · Speed & Power Lab

Vertical / Rows

mm
mm

Horizontal / Columns

mm
mm

Laser

Preview

Click a square to inspect it. Material Test reference

Selected square

Why speed and power trade off

LightBurn’s Speed vs. Power explainer
Energy per mm = watts × power% ÷ speed

The beam leaves a fixed amount of energy on every millimetre it travels. Halve the speed and each millimetre gets twice the energy; double the power and you get the same effect. That’s why equal results fall along straight lines through zero.

Passes stack energy too, though each extra pass works a little less well because the cut moves out of focus and smoke and char block some of the beam. Set Param to Passes on either axis to see it.

Manufacturer starting points

“Load” fills the generator around that setting. Save results in a Material Library

Safety notes

    Never put these in a laser

    Exhaust and air assist don’t make these safe. Choose one from the Material list to see more.

    LightBurn documentation

    Your first Material TestStep-by-step guide using LightBurn’s built-in presets.Material Test referenceEvery field in the generator, including Passes, Interval and Frequency.Speed vs. PowerHow the two settings control engraving darkness and cut depth.Material LibraryStore and reuse settings you’ve proven on your machine.Default layer settingsReset layers to your own defaults for each new project.Documentation homeAlways opens the newest version, including the Safety section.LightBurn forumAsk staff and other owners of your exact machine.
    00Cut Settings Editor: Material
    Mode:
    %
    mm

    01Cut Settings Editor: Text labels
    %

    Labels are engraved with these settings. If they come out faint or charred in the preview, adjust them here.

    02Cut Settings Editor: Border
    %

    The border is a line traced around the whole test so you can see its extent on the material.