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Laser settings converter
You have a setting that works on one machine and you want it on another. Speed converts between machines reasonably well; power percentage does not convert at all. This does the part that can be done honestly, and tells you plainly where it stops.
What this converts, and what it cannot
Speed converts. Power percentage does not. That is the honest limit of any tool like this, and it is worth understanding before you trust a number.
Cutting speed scales fairly predictably with how much usable power a machine puts into the material, so moving a known-good speed between two machines is a reasonable thing to calculate. We use the same speed model the rest of this site runs on, anchored to a 100 W workshop CO2.
Power percentage is a different animal. 80% on a 10 W diode is 8 optical watts of blue light; 80% on a 60 W CO2 is 48 watts of far infrared. Those are not comparable numbers, the two wavelengths are absorbed differently by every material, and most machines do not have a linear relationship between the percentage you type and the light that comes out. So there is no honest conversion. Set power high, convert the speed, then tune.
Read the warnings, not just the number
The speed model knows how fast machines cut. It does not know what they physically can cut, and that is where converted settings usually go wrong. A diode and a CO2 are not the same tool with different dials:
- Clear acrylic cannot be cut by a blue diode at any speed. The beam passes straight through. Only tinted, cast-coloured or black acrylic absorbs it. The converter will tell you this rather than hand you a plausible-looking number.
- Glass is the same story. A diode does nothing to it without a coating — see can a diode laser engrave glass.
- Pale and reflective materials absorb blue light poorly. White acrylic, light fabric and bare metal all under-perform what the speed ratio suggests.
- Air assist and focus matter more than the last 10% of speed. If a converted setting fails, check those before blaming the number.
How to use the number you get
- Take the converted speed and drop it by about 20% for your first test. It is much cheaper to find out you can go faster than to find out you did not cut through.
- Run a short test grid around that speed rather than committing a sheet.
- Keep the pass count the same as the machine you converted from. Changing speed and passes at once tells you nothing about which one helped.
- Write the working setting on the offcut and keep it. Your own measured numbers beat any chart, including this one.
The relative cutting power figure compares the two machines on this site's speed model. It is a planning number, not a specification — real machines vary with lens, tube age, focus and how clean the optics are.
FAQ
Can I convert laser power settings between machines?
No, not honestly. 80% on a 10 W diode is 8 optical watts of blue light; 80% on a 60 W CO2 is 48 watts of far infrared. Different wavelengths are absorbed differently by every material, and most machines are not linear between the percentage you set and the light they emit. Convert the speed, set power high, and tune from there.
How do you convert laser cutting speed between machines?
By the ratio of the two machines' cutting-speed factors. This site rates every machine against a 100 W workshop CO2, so a machine at factor 0.2 cuts roughly a fifth as fast as the reference. Moving a speed from machine A to machine B multiplies it by factor B divided by factor A.
Why does the converter refuse some combinations?
Because the speed model knows how fast machines cut, not what they can physically cut. A blue diode passes straight through clear acrylic and glass, so any converted speed for those would be a meaningless number. The tool says so rather than showing you one.
Should I use the converted speed directly?
Drop it by about 20% for the first test. Finding out you can go faster costs nothing; finding out you did not cut through costs a sheet. Then run a short test grid around that speed before committing material.