The engraving area, the line spacing or image resolution, the speed the material allows at the available power, and whether the job is raster engraving or vector scoring. A listed maximum speed is a motion limit; the material and power set the working speed.
Laser jobs vary from seconds to hours, and a few settings explain nearly all of that range.
Raster and vector jobs
Raster engraving scans line by line across an area, like a printer. Its time grows with area and line density. Vector scoring and cutting follow outlines once, so time grows with path length and passes.
Settings that decide time
Speed, limited by how fast the material marks at the available power. Line interval or image resolution for raster work. Passes for cuts. Overscan, which lets the head decelerate outside the image. Bidirectional scanning, which engraves in both directions.
Why the listed speed rarely applies
A published maximum speed describes how fast the head can move. Engraving at that speed needs enough power to mark the material in the time the beam passes over it, and acceleration limits reduce speed on short lines.
Reducing job time
Lower line density where fine detail is not needed. Use vector scoring for outlines instead of raster fill. Group jobs to reduce travel. Test settings on offcuts to find the fastest speed that gives the result wanted.
If this page and the manufacturer’s manual disagree, follow the manual. Every laser power, speed, build volume, resolution, temperature and safety rating on this page is taken from the maker’s own documentation, with its unit as published and its source named — none of it is measured here. A figure is written the way the maker states it and is not converted into another convention, because the converted value would be a different number. And for any print speed: a published maximum speed describes what the motion system can reach, not how fast a good part is printed. The speed that works depends on the material, the geometry, the cooling and the slicer profile. This page quotes the maker’s figure as a maximum and draws no print time from it.
Questions makers ask before buying
Why is photo engraving so slow?
Because the head scans back and forth across every line of the image at a fine spacing. Doubling the line density roughly doubles the passes over the same area.
Does more power make engraving faster?
More optical power allows a faster speed for the same darkness on many materials, within the motion system’s limits.
Last reviewed 15 September 2026