# Can I/Should I change pointrate for cheap laser?

**URL:** <https://forum.liberationlaser.com/t/can-i-should-i-change-pointrate-for-cheap-laser/1577>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [22 November 2025 15:09 UTC](https://forum.liberationlaser.com/t/can-i-should-i-change-pointrate-for-cheap-laser/1577 "2025-11-22T15:09:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Alex\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@Alex\_Lake](https://forum.liberationlaser.com/u/Alex_Lake)\
**Post date:** [22 November 2025 15:09 UTC](https://forum.liberationlaser.com/t/can-i-should-i-change-pointrate-for-cheap-laser/1577/1 "2025-11-22T15:09:05Z")

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So I’ve got a laser that in theory has a maximum point rate of 15000. Should I change the setting? It seems that if I try to, it just reverts to 30000.

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**Author:** ![seb](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/forum.liberationlaser.com/seb/32/3_2.png) [@seb](https://forum.liberationlaser.com/u/seb)\
**Post date:** [22 November 2025 15:58 UTC](https://forum.liberationlaser.com/t/can-i-should-i-change-pointrate-for-cheap-laser/1577/2 "2025-11-22T15:58:10Z")

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Hi Alex, good question!

In Liberation the point stream is generated on the fly, so there isn’t really a direct relationship between the point rate and how fast it actually scans. The _Speed_ control for each laser is what sets the real scan speed. (In fact, in a future update the point rate setting won’t change the scanner speed at all.)

The default speeds are quite conservative, so they should be totally fine for a 15k unit, at least for beam effects. If you ever notice the scanners working a bit too hard, just slow the speed down a touch and you’ll be safe.

The one setting that really matters is _Scanner Sync_, which helps keep the output clean and prevents those little “tails”. Here’s the doc for a proper explanation:

> **[Laser output settings panel | Liberation User Manual](https://docs.liberationlaser.com/setting-up/laser-settings#scanner-sync-colour-shift-blank-shift)**

Hope that helps, and welcome to Liberation!

Seb

PS I’m not sure why the scan rate is reverting to 30000 - I know some DACs don’t support all point rates, let me know what you’re using and I can look into it more.

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**Author:** ![Alex\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@Alex\_Lake](https://forum.liberationlaser.com/u/Alex_Lake)\
**Post date:** [22 November 2025 16:59 UTC](https://forum.liberationlaser.com/t/can-i-should-i-change-pointrate-for-cheap-laser/1577/3 "2025-11-22T16:59:20Z")

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Hi Seb, I’m using Helios DAC, but the change I was making was on a PC that had no DAC attached to it. Was just looking around.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![seb](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/forum.liberationlaser.com/seb/32/3_2.png) [@seb](https://forum.liberationlaser.com/u/seb)\
**Post date:** [22 November 2025 17:10 UTC](https://forum.liberationlaser.com/t/can-i-should-i-change-pointrate-for-cheap-laser/1577/4 "2025-11-22T17:10:25Z")

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Oh that explains it. You can’t change the point rate when there’s no DAC assigned to a laser. Glad we got to the bottom of that!

Seb