How do you set jump speed and jump delay on a galvo laser?
Slow the jump speed and your galvo marks beautifully, and a job that took three seconds takes forty-six. Galvo jump delay is how you get both. Jump fast, then give the mirrors a few hundred microseconds to stop shaking before the next line.
Applies to
- Process
- Galvo lasers: fiber, UV, CO₂ galvo
- Software
- EZCAD 2/3 and LightBurn (EZCAD Lite handles jumps differently)
- Settings
- Jump speed, min/max jump delay, jump limit, NTC
Why it matters
A jump is the move between marks: laser off, mirrors reposition, laser on. Fast jumps leave the mirrors vibrating when they arrive, and marking while they shake leaves tails and bubbled line starts.
Slowing the jump fixes it at a brutal price. On Alex’s sample text, 7,000 mm/s ran in 2.44 s, 250 mm/s took about 7 s, and the slowest jumps took about 46 s.
The delay is the cheat. At 4,000 mm/s with a 500 µs delay, the same text looked as clean as a 100 mm/s jump and ran in 3.17 s.
Short jumps settle faster than long ones. EZCAD 3’s jump limit (10 mm by default) gives jumps longer than the limit the full max delay, and shorter jumps something between min and max.
What good looks like
- No tails or bubbles at the start of lines on small hatched text
- Run time close to the fast-jump time, not the slow-jump time
- Min delay lowered only while quality holds
How to apply it
- Set Start TC, Laser Off TC and Polygon first, with jump delay parked at 500/500/500.
- Make a test string of text hatched at 0.02 mm. Text forces lots of long and short jumps.
- Set jump speed to 4000 mm/s with min and max jump delay at 500/500. For most people, this is done.
- Chasing time? Drop the minimum delay (e.g. 250 with max 500) and mark the text again.
- Keep lowering the minimum only while the text stays clean. Note the run time each pass.
- Leave NTC at its default of 100.
Test it on your setup
- Alex’s split tests: 100/500 showed minimal distortion, and 25/100 brought the tails back. The time saved between those two was just over a tenth of a second. He runs 250/500 for full quality.
Exceptions & tradeoffs
Only care about quality, not speed? Leave jump delay at 500/500/500 and skip this page. It works fine.
Most stock galvo heads are rated accurate to about 4,000 mm/s, even when the spec sheet lists 7,000–10,000. Above that Alex saw timings drift and beam-width problems, so fast work there needs its own tuning.
Common mistakes
- Fixing jump wobble by slowing the jump to a crawlJump fast and add a jump delay instead
- Cranking NTC to clean up jump marksLeave NTC at 100; jump delay does that job
- Slashing min delay to save timeTest on text; the savings are often a fraction of a second
- Running jumps at the head’s brochure max speedStay near 4,000 mm/s unless you’ve tuned for faster
Frequently asked questions
- What is jump delay on a fiber laser?A pause after the galvo mirrors jump to a new position, so they stop vibrating before the next line is marked.
- What jump speed should I use in EZCAD?Laser Everything’s safe start is 4,000 mm/s with min and max jump delay at 500 µs. Faster jumps without enough delay leave tails.
- What does NTC do in EZCAD?It pauses the laser after each curve. Alex found it barely helped and cost lots of time, so he leaves it at the default of 100.
- What is jump limit in EZCAD 3?Jumps longer than the limit (10 mm by default) get the max delay. Shorter jumps get a delay between min and max.
What a jump is and why the mirrors need to settle after one — The COMPLETE Guide to Timing and Delay for Galvo Lasers ↗ at 16:44.
Jump speed test on hatched text; quality vs. run time from 7,000 down to 25 mm/s — The COMPLETE Guide to Timing and Delay for Galvo Lasers ↗ at 17:53.
4,000 mm/s with a 500 µs delay matches slow-jump quality at 3.17 s — The COMPLETE Guide to Timing and Delay for Galvo Lasers ↗ at 20:12.
Jump limit (10 mm), split min/max tests, 250/500 as his choice — The COMPLETE Guide to Timing and Delay for Galvo Lasers ↗ at 21:44.
NTC barely helps and costs time; leave it at 100 — The COMPLETE Guide to Timing and Delay for Galvo Lasers ↗ at 24:09.
Timings hold to ~4,000 mm/s, the rated limit of most stock galvo heads — The COMPLETE Guide to Timing and Delay for Galvo Lasers ↗ at 25:58.
All the numbers are from Alex’s machine and his test cards. He’s blunt that they won’t work on yours. The point is the method: fast jump, small delay, prove it on text.