Introductions

[Amanda Shughart]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to the whole engraving business, I can't really even call what I do much of a business as far as laser engraving goes. I'm first and foremost a silk-screener but that "Other duties as assigned" tag gets me every time!

My company just got a new Epilog 75W laser and I've spent a good bit of the last few weeks/months (on and off) figuring things out and testing stuff. I've done some pretty nifty things with the rotary attachement with some flashlights and even a couple of rifle scopes.

I'm definately still learning and researching, however, and any advice is greatly appreciated. What I find most difficult in finding is settings for material. Now I did do a little reading on here before posting and I've seen it said that you can have two of the same systems next to eachother and they may use different settings, I'm just looking for a place to start from. Most of the settings I am finding are for 25w, 35w and the occasional 60w system.

I'm also a bit different in when the engineers here at my company came to me and said, "You can use Corel or Illustrator" I chose Illustrator being that is the program I know, now finding that the industry mostly uses Corel. Easy enough to adapt but if there are any Illustrator tips or tricks I would appreciate them as well. I've already worked through a couple of Illustrator bugs.

Anyhow! Hello, sorry for the long post. Thanks for having me here and I hope to learn a lot from you guys.

~Amanda

[Steve Clarkson]

Hi Amanda and welcome to the Creek!!!

Engineers? What kind of company do you work for?

[Dan Hintz]

Welcome to the Creek, Amanda. If you have the time, you may want to consider joining us for our Mid-Atlantic meet in mid May (see the sticky at the top the the thread list). A number of us in the MD/VA area have more powerful machines (a 60W, myself), so there's plenty of help available...

[Amanda Shughart]

Steve: I work for an Army Depot in one of their paint shops. To get just about any equipment with a high cost it has to go through numerous channels, one of them being the Engineering Branch. Other than that I don't know much of what the Engineers do besides aggrivate people because thats all I hear about.:)

Dan: I was reading your thread about that. I will definately consider it, I wouldn't mind meeting up with some industry pros and seeing how some things are done, and just learning more. I love this machine I'm working with now and I wouldn't mind getting one to start a personal business outside of here. Being that this is a Govt. facility using the machine here for personal gain is out of the question.

It just means I'll have to get a toy of my own. But I don't know how personal funds and scheduling will look come that weekend, I may have to let you know closer to the date, don't count me in just yet.

Thanks guys!:D

Edit: First question, CerMark vs. Thermark for metal marking. I have a Silver Plate (As in awards type of plate) to engrave on. My design has some halftoning/shading in it. Which of these marking materials would be recommended? These are the only two I have come across so far. Is there another marking material for metal out there?

Also, I have a sample jar of the TherMark material that got left open and dried out. Being that it is water soluable is it possible to bring it back to "life" by adding water to it?

[Dave Johnson29]

Engineers do besides aggrivate people because thats all I hear about.:)


Amanda,

Hi and welcome to the group. As an Engineer of many many years, I say, harrumph. :)

I am guessing Engineers are deemed to "aggravate" because we want things exact to prevent failure. :D Pretty much all other disciplines, "close" or "that looks good" is usually adequate. :eek:

One of my favorite quotes for an Engineer I believe was made by Sir Joseph William Bazalgette (1819 - 1891) of the London Board of Works who was responsible for London's first Sewer system.

"The great Engineer is a pragmatist made conservative by the conspicuous failures of structures and machines hastily contrived."

There is more to the quote but the above probably will account for the "aggravate" side of things. :)



Also, I have a sample jar of the TherMark material that got left open and dried out. Being that it is water soluable is it possible to bring it back to "life" by adding water to it?

I think denatured alcohol is the preferred option for that.

[Amanda Shughart]

Dave: Thanks. From the few Engineers that I've dealt with some of them here are genious level smart without a lick of common sence who insisit what they are telling you is correct when you try to explain to them as plainly as possibly how what they want us to do will not work.

Everything works in Theory.. Unfortunately not in practice.

They theorize, I practice.:p

The guys I deal with who make my positives are great though. Complete with common sence to boot!

[Doug Griffith]

Hi Amanda,
I'm an Illustrator user as well as a few others here on the Creek. If you need help just let us know and we'll help you out. Some optimizing tips I mentioned a while back:

To cycle through the item order in Illustrator: command-option-] (control/alt-])

Another helpful trick is to select all and temporarily add arrowheads to the ends of the lines. This will show the direction of the cut.

Another trick is to click the scissor tool on a point of a closed path. This will set the begin/end point.

Also, this handy script will change direction of a closed or open path:
http://illustrator.hilfdirselbst.ch/...epathdirection (http://illustrator.hilfdirselbst.ch/dokuwiki/en/skripte/javascript/wr-reversepathdirection)

Cheers,
Doug

[Amanda Shughart]

Awesome! Thanks Doug!

[David Fairfield]

hey Amanda

I also use Illustrator with an Epilog. The previous version of Epilog's driver had some issues with Illustrator, apparently they've worked the bugs out with the new driver. But its something to be aware of, in case you find the laser behaving erratically. If its an Adobe issue, there are ways to work around it. Just ask here. :)

Dave

[Dan Hintz]

Cermark and Thermark are essentially the same thing (being manufactured by the same company, Ferro), but there are several formulations. Some are water-based, others are alcohol-based, but they both do the same job. Reconstituting dried out material shouldn't be an issue, and some of us collect the overspray and throw it back into the jar. Make sure you know the type of surface you're spraying onto, particularly metals, and add a few drops of dishwashing liquid to the spray jar to cut down on beading on slick surfaces.

[Amanda Shughart]

Thanks Dan, I did some more research on CerMark and found out they are the same makers as TherMark so I am in the process of getting some material ordered.

In the mean time reconstituting the Current sample I have is working wonderfully. I'm excited to use that, in combination with some laser foil I got in yesterday to make this award plate.