Units: mm/min, mm/s and Why the Same Speed Number Can Be Dangerous

Why this matters

Learn to check LightBurn control units before copying settings, especially when comparing diode, CO2 and community material recipes.

How it works

• LightBurn can display motion speed in different distance-per-time units, and the numerical value is meaningless without the unit.
• Changing Control Units causes LightBurn to convert existing values rather than merely relabel them.
• Material Test documentation explicitly warns users to confirm whether speed is being interpreted as mm/s or mm/min.

Practical workflow

1. Before copying settings, identify the unit shown next to Speed in your LightBurn setup.
2. Record material recipes together with their speed unit and laser/device context.
3. Convert settings instead of copying the raw number when source and target units differ.
4. Run a Material Test on scrap material after conversion.
5. Store proven settings in a Material Library for the specific machine.

What to watch for

• 100 mm/s and 100 mm/min are radically different motions.