Material test grid

A Material Test generates a grid whose cells vary across two parameters. It is a practical way to narrow settings for one machine, material batch, and operation, but it is still a live laser job that must begin from manufacturer guidance or a known-safe range.

What you need

• Scrap from the same material and batch as the intended job, large enough for the configured grid and labels.
• The machine connected, exhausted or ventilated, and ready to operate under its normal safety requirements.
• A known-safe starting bracket for the parameters you plan to test.

Steps

1. Open the Material Test

• Menu: Laser Tools → Material Test....
• The dialog opens inside the Quality Test Shell.

2. Set the operation

• Operation: Fill, Line, Cut, Score, or Offset Fill.

Choose the operation that matches the intended job. Interval applies only to raster-capable operations; Beam Bench disables an incompatible interval axis when you switch to a vector operation.

3. Set the axes

The application defaults to a 5 × 5 grid with X axis = Power and Y axis = Speed.

For each axis:

• Choose Speed, Power, Interval, or Passes as appropriate for the selected operation.
• Set Count for the number of cells, from 1 to 10.
• Set Min / Max to a narrow bracket supported by the machine and material manufacturer or by an earlier test on the same setup.

Do not copy generic diode or CO2 recipes into a live test. Power, speed, interval, and pass limits vary by machine, optics, material composition, thickness, and batch.

4. Set cell geometry

• Cell W / H: the size of each sample area.
• Cell Spacing: the gap between samples.

The defaults are 10 × 10 mm cells with 4 mm spacing, shown in the current Display Unit. Resize the grid to fit the available scrap while keeping each result large enough to judge.

5. Configure labels and border

• Text Labels records each cell's values on the test.
• Border outlines the grid.
• Use known-safe text and border speed and power when those options are enabled.

6. Preview and frame

1. Click Preview to inspect generated geometry and any configured-bed bounds warning.
2. Secure the scrap in the machine.
3. Click Frame to verify the grid's actual footprint lies entirely on the scrap and avoids clamps or fixtures.

Preview checks geometry; Frame checks the real placement.

7. Start the test

Enable ventilation, follow the machine's eye-protection requirements, and click Start. Never leave the laser unattended. Stop immediately if the material flames, shifts, or behaves unexpectedly.

8. Inspect

After the laser stops and the material is safe to handle, compare the cells for the result the job needs. Avoid treating the darkest or fastest cell as automatically best; edge quality, depth, charring, detail, adhesion, and repeatability may matter differently by operation.

If necessary, run a second test with a narrower known-safe range around the most promising cells.

9. Save a tested result to the Material Library

1. Configure a normal target layer with the winning operation and settings.
2. Select that layer and click From Layer in the Material Library panel.
3. Click E on the new preset row, add the material, thickness, machine, batch, and other notes, then save.

The Material Library's + Add button only creates a default Line, Fill, or Offset Fill preset row and does not open the editor. Applying a preset later does not change the target layer's operation.

Recipes

Material Test recipes save and reload the dialog configuration. They are useful for repeating the same comparison, but imported or shared recipes still require safe limits and recalibration for the current machine and material.

Verify it worked

• Preview showed the complete grid within configured bed bounds.
• Frame confirmed that the live footprint stayed on the secured scrap.
• One or more cells provide a repeatable result worth testing again or saving.
• The Material Library preset was created from a correctly configured target layer.

Related

• Material Test dialog
• Material Library panel
• Focus test: establish focus before comparing material settings
• Interval test: refine raster line spacing
• Quality Test Shell