Heat compounds in small designs because there is less "bulk metal" to act as a heat sink. The settings that worked for a large plaque will instantly melt a tiny ring.
Act I: The Bug
The "Tiny Design" Burn
Design Size2 mm
Sink Area
4.0 mm²
Saturation
Critical
Thermal Stress
The Failure: When your design area shrinks, the laser returns to the same neighborhood 10x faster. This leads to Thermal Saturation—the part stays hot, compounding with every pass until it burns.
Act II: The Fix
Thermal Budgeting (Scaling)
Power Scale100%
Heat Budget
100%
Result
Solid
Thermal Stress
The Success: For tiny scales, you must scale down your power to match the smaller thermal sink. By budgeting the energy dose, you keep the peak temperature in the "Green" zone, preserving detail and color.