Red Alder wood plaques

[Ross Lowry]

I have been getting these plaques from JDS.
I am having problems getting good results with pictures.
The machine being used is an Epilog 45 watt mini.
300 dpi is what the image is.
It is also ran through Photograve.
The engraving always looks to deep.
What I am going to do is back the power off and maybe speed it up a bit.
The settings I have been using is speed 25 power 100.
I am hoping some of you will be kind enough to give me some tips on how to achive outstanding results with this kind of a plaque.
Maybe the setting you use too.
Also maybe send some different suppliers too?
Thanks

Ross

[Mark Plotkin]

Ross,

I have a 45 watt mini and use 45s and 100p at 300dpi for photos.

I order my plaques from Al at www.smoke-wood.com (http://www.smoke-wood.com)

He makes them from strips so the grains don't aways match up but I have never had a customer complain. I keep a pretty good supply on hand and when doing a photo, I weed through the stack and pick the best match.

hope this helps.

[Ross Lowry]

Thanks Mark.
I will try your settings.
JDS uses strips of wood also and sometimes one strip will be a shade off from the other. This causes problems if it is in the middle of a face, don't want no braveheart action going on!

[Andrey Anfimov]

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=106330&d=1231498686

Ross,
before using Photograv make that Curve. You can find that picture in user manual for Photograv.

Good luck!

[Ross Lowry]

Hello Andrey.
I had played around with curves in photoshop in the past, but not a whole lot.

[Andrey Anfimov]

Hello, Ross!
It mean you should find value of power that make best contrast, but not big hole in the wood. More power doesn't mean more contrast.
Also try to make black a little gray. Please, look at the picture.

[Stephen Beckham]

Ross - I know it will double your work time, but what I've done to get good photos in the same plaque by JDS is double my speed and run two passes.

What I believe is happening is the first pass damages or removes enough of the finish and some wood, the the second pass is allowed to put the photo directly to the wood instead of having to pass through any surface first. Keep in mind - the settings shown in our books are not written to compensate for thickness, hardness or presence of any type of finish on the wood...

Steve

[Steve Clarkson]

Keep in mind - the settings shown in our books are not written to compensate for thickness, hardness or presence of any type of finish on the wood...


Hehehe! Ain't THAT the truth! I've burned some really soft wood to a CRISP using Epilog's suggested wood settings! (Maybe they accidently gave me a 100 watt laser tube by mistake.......).

[Ross Lowry]

Stephen, I agree with that about the finish.
I wonder if I can order them unfinished, engrave it, and then put my own finish on?

[Stephen Beckham]

Ross - more trouble than it's worth in my opinion... I've mentioned before about the local guy that I've got (actually three now that all have their unique offerings to my business - and to help the economy, keeping it local, but that's another thread). I had him make me a couple cherry plaques, sanded and sealed with sanding sealer for testing. After done, they cleaned up okay, but my expertise is not finishing. You'll need a paint room that can be environmentally controlled for moisture and overspray - you'll also be taking time away from your money maker while you're trying to finsh products along someone elses' line of work.

If you're small time and don't have that much laser work - then it might be worth it, otherwise - keeping the laser burning is better for the business than turning it off for a couple hours to go and spray laquer on plaques...

My 2 cents...

[Ross Lowry]

I will take your advise.
Thanks