When using a laser engraver, the machine should have some suggested settings for cutting or engraving different materials and different thicknesses. These are important as understanding their functions can save a lot of time, as well as improve the quality of your engravings overall.

You should also be able to load these settings into your computer or laser and save them as presets. Be sure to name them something that makes sense so you can easily find them again.

Test cuts are also an important part of presetting a laser and should always be carried out when setting up a cutter before hand. This can be done by creating a small circle or square (about 1/4″ or 1/2″ wide) and cut out in corner or on some scrap material. Then can see if you need to increase or decrease the power before the final cut.