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Laser engravers use raster scanning to engrave images: the laser head sweeps back and forth across horizontal lines, firing the laser where the design requires marking. The total time depends on how many lines need to be scanned, how wide each line is, and how fast the head moves.
Not every line is engraved from edge to edge. A text engraving might only have 30% of each line actually firing the laser, while a photo engrave might be 70–90% filled. The fill density setting adjusts the time estimate to account for this. When in doubt, use 70% for detailed images and 30–50% for text and logos.
The laser head doesn't move at constant speed — it must accelerate at the start of each line and decelerate at the end before reversing direction. On a typical gantry-style laser (like xTool S1 or Sculpfun S30), this adds approximately 15–25% to the pure engraving time. Galvo lasers (like xTool F1 Ultra) have much lower overhead because they use mirrors instead of moving the entire head.
The default 20% overhead is a reasonable middle estimate for most gantry diode and CO₂ lasers. If your machine has very fast acceleration (check manufacturer specs) you can lower this to 15%. For very large work areas or slow machines, 25% is more realistic.
Doubling your DPI roughly doubles your engraving time because the laser must scan twice as many lines. For most work, 254 DPI (0.1mm line spacing) produces excellent results. Going to 508 DPI only makes a visible difference on very fine photo engraving. Use 150 DPI for large signage where fine detail isn't needed.