The Anvil guide
Treat every starter as a starting point
Even published chart values are not tested on your laser. Run a power-and-speed test grid on scrap of the same batch, pick the best cell, and save that as a setting of your own.
Reading the numbers
Power is a percentage of the laser's rated output. Speed is stored in mm/s; LightBurn often displays mm/min (×60). DPI is the engrave line density; LightBurn asks for the line interval instead, which is 25.4 ÷ DPI in mm. Frequency applies to fiber and UV sources.
Operations
Cut goes all the way through (LightBurn Line mode, usually with air assist). Engrave fills an area (Fill mode, at the given DPI). Score is a light surface line (Line mode at low power) for fold lines and outlines.
Getting settings into LightBurn
“Copy for LightBurn” puts a plain summary on the clipboard to type into the Cut Settings editor. The .clb button writes a LightBurn material library file (Library window → Load). The .clb follows LightBurn's published library layout (speed in mm/s, interval in mm, air assist as runBlower). Check the imported values before cutting. For xTool, use the “xTool sheet” export (power %, mm/s, passes, lines/cm) or the LightBurn → xTool tool.
Where the numbers come from
Maker chart rows come from xTool's published D1 Pro parameter charts and link to them. Vendor chart rows are OMTech's CO2 cutting speeds at 95% power. Estimate rows are our own starting guesses, scaled between wattages. All of them are starting points to test.
Import and export
JSON keeps every field. CSV opens in a spreadsheet. The columns are manufacturer, machine, laserType, wattage, material, thicknessMm, operation, power, speed, passes, dpi, frequencyKhz, airAssist and notes. My Settings live in this browser only, so export a backup.
Safety
Never cut PVC, vinyl, or anything that contains chlorine. Keep the lid closed, run ventilation, and keep a fire extinguisher nearby. Never leave a running laser unattended.