LaserMaker_Mike

Tried dry moly lube, mustard, Cermark, and laser bonding spray. Here's my honest comparison after 6 months of testing on various SS grades.

I've been keeping a spreadsheet since I got my first laser. Sharing all my settings for MDF, ply, acrylic, leather, felt, and cardboard.

Got tired of fumes. Used 20x20 aluminum extrusion, polycarbonate panels and a 4" exhaust fan. Total cost: $118. Plans available if anyone wants them.

If you're getting horizontal bands on your tumbler engravings, here's the fix: it's almost always your rotary roller speed not matching the linear speed. In LightBurn: go to Device Settings > Additional Settings and set "Rotary Scale" based on your tumbler's circumference. Formula: (360 / tumbler_circumference_mm). Once I got this right, zero banding.

Cutting 600x400mm pieces from 6mm ply and the corners always lift. I've tried tape but it's not enough. Any tips?

After 2 years of LightBurn I found some settings most people miss: 1) Enable "Cut Inner First" to avoid warping on small pieces. 2) Set "Overcut" to 0.1mm on closed shapes — eliminates small tabs at start point. 3) Use "Flood Fill" for large engraves over 100x100mm — 30% faster. 4) Ramp length 5mm on cuts over 3mm material. 5) Enable "Remove Overlapping Lines" before any cut job.

After 3 months of fighting with my Shapeoko 4, I finally got a perfect spoilboard setup. The key was tramming the router head AND facing the MDF with a fly cutter before drilling the holddown holes. Sharing my LightBurn template here — all measurements in mm, fits a 30x30 table.