Laser Cutting & EngravingDialing In SettingsSettings library

Save your dialed-in settings so you never guess twice

Newcomers fire up a laser, guess a power and speed, and pray. The fix isn’t a better guess — it’s running one sane test, then keeping the result so that material is solved forever.

⚡ Rule of thumb

Run one focused material test to find good settings, then save them as a named material profile — build a library so each material is dialed in once, not re-guessed every job.

Starting point

Test once → save per material · never start from a random guess

Measured

Speed, power (and frequency/pulse on fiber) saved per material

Confidence

Process-dependent

▶ Source video — Your Laser Settings Are a Hot Mess! Here's the Quick Fix! — Steve Makes Everythingwatch on YouTube ↗

Applies to

Process: CO₂, diode & fiber/galvo lasers
When: Any material you’ll cut or engrave more than once
Software: LightBurn / EZCAD material or settings library

Why it matters

With power spanning 10–100% and speed spanning a huge range, the odds of guessing the perfect combination are worse than flipping heads sixteen times in a row. Random numbers off a Google result are usually for a different laser type or wattage and won’t transfer, so every guess wastes material — real money on a tumbler blank or an expensive offcut.

The win isn’t just finding the settings once; it’s retaining them. Save the winning cell as a named profile and that material is solved for good — pros keep a growing library (Laser Everything literally publish and update a monthly CO₂/fiber parameter library) so they never re-derive a material they’ve already run.

What good looks like

Every material you use regularly has a saved, named profile
New materials get one deliberate test, then get added to the library
Nobody on the machine starts from a blind guess or a mismatched forum number

How to apply it

For an unknown material, run a sane material test (see the speed/power test rule) rather than guessing.
Pick the cleanest cell for your goal and note the exact speed/power (and frequency/pulse on a fiber).
Save it as a named material profile in your laser software’s library.
Reuse and refine the profile next time instead of re-testing from scratch.

Exceptions & tradeoffs

Settings still drift with focus, lens, tube age, and material batch — treat a saved profile as a strong starting point and spot-check on a new batch of stock.

Common mistakes

Grabbing a random power/speed off a web searchIt’s likely the wrong laser type/wattage — test and save your own
Re-testing the same material every timeSave it once as a named profile and build a library

Steve Makes EverythingSource & visual reference

Why guessing fails, running a sane material test, and retaining the settings so you keep them forever — Your Laser Settings Are a Hot Mess! Here's the Quick Fix! ↗.

Laser EverythingSource & visual reference

Maintaining a growing, updated per-material parameter library — ALL of my Fiber Laser Parameters and CO2 Laser Settings ↗.

Summarized and independently edited by Start Here. Starting values and cautions are our editorial notes, not a quotation from the creator.