Laser power and speed starting points

Starting-point cutting speed, passes and engraving settings for plywood, MDF, acrylic, leather, cardboard and metals, scaled to your laser's type and wattage.

Pick the material, your laser type and wattage, and get a cutting speed and pass count to start testing from, plus an engraving power and speed. Then burn a test grid around them; every machine is a little different.

How the numbers are made

Cutting is an energy budget per millimetre of cut. The budget a material needs grows a little faster than its thickness, because the beam defocuses through the sheet and the kerf has to clear, so speed = watts × power ÷ (J × thickness1.3), with J calibrated per material at 3 mm on common machines. Engraving is a power and speed pair per material, with speed scaled by your wattage so the same energy lands per square millimetre.

Before you trust a setting

• Check focus: a 1 mm focus error can halve cutting speed.
• Use air assist for wood and acrylic; without it the suggestions run slow and char.
• Burn the material test grid around the suggestion and keep the result with the sheet.

Related tools

• Engraving time calculator: Raster engraving time from size, line interval, speed and overscan.
• DPI ⇄ line interval: DPI, LPI and mm interval, and the interval that matches your spot size.
• Spot size & depth of focus: How small your lens focuses and how much height you have, from wavelength and focal length.