Big change in raster detail...
This whole consumer laser technology is daunting. Installed the Gerbil on my K40. Got Lightburn fired up. Used the same photo with Whisperer/StockBoard and then with Lightburn/Gerbil. Same general setting DPI, Speed and even tried matching the burn color on my test material. Found several distinct differences. The machine is much noisier/clunky in the Y while engraving. Even changed speed while I watched it. I attached a pic of the difference in detail. Can't say anything about cutting or vector engraving (smooth X axis movement) because I'm only interested in engraving.
Messed with speed, power and scanline step in Lightburn over and over and over. Can't reproduce the detail I get with Whisperer/StockBoard. Unplugged the Gerbil and I'm moving on. Was hoping the that Lighburn/Gerbil would somehow drive the steppers in a way that Whisperer can't. I might try a Lightburn/Ortur combo to deepen the mystery for me.
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Hi Scott, thanks for your post.
There's various blogs on our website that note different laser controllers will produce different visual results from the same file and settings. So we just need to build some understanding of what levers to pull and you'll be doing better than ever.
You mentioned the noise and motion from the stepper motors. It's hard for me to know if this is a problem or not from that description - if you think something's wrong, please take a quick video and email me, I'll be able to recognise if it's ok.
I'd love to tell you the exact settings that make your particular image perfect. Unfortunately it depends on the age and condition of your laser tube, your material etc.
To reduce the darkness seen in your bottom left image, you can either:
- reduce the laser power in lightburn, and/or
- increase the speed. If you think about it, the faster the laser movement, the less time the laser dwells on each point and thus the less burning that occurs.
If you have knowledge of photography the above should make sense as they're comparable to forming an image on a photographic film of digital sensor. Maybe you know a keen photographer that can help you up the learning curve and get 'the knack' for settings that will bring your images to life.
As well as our own blogs, please see
https://forum.lightburnsoftware.com/t/grayscale-engraving/8551/10
Regards,
Dan