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Carol Barbero
08-04-2009, 3:26 PM
Hi All:
Haven't been here is awhile since other areas of my life took priority but while I was gone I did a small garden bench made out of barn wood. I have a very large barn that was built around 1850. We are in the process of doing some repairs and I saw all that wood just laying there and thought, why not. I am not the best woodworker in the world (understatement) but was actually happy with the way it turned out. It will be a gift for a friend who lost her father. I tried rastering the top but found vectoring the following saying into it actually worked better and made a nice dark contrast to the weathered wood.

"Perhaps they are not stars in the sky, but rather our loved ones shining down to let us know they are happy."

I added stars all around the quote and will upload a photo as soon as I can get the card reader on my computer working.

Phyllis Meyer
08-04-2009, 4:43 PM
Carol,

It sounds beautiful...can we see a picture:)?

Phyllis

Andy Joe
08-04-2009, 4:45 PM
nice gift. I like to use substrates with history to them as well. Ive been finding its cheaper for me to cut a mask on my laser table, line it up on my substrate then sand blast it. I only do this on woods with heavy grain otherwise i get alot of highs and lows in the engraving. Im confused what u mean with the rasther and vector. At least with my laser everything that is etched is rasther, even if i draw it up in corel draw as a vector image when its printed to the laser interface it converts to raster, if not it would be a cut line rather then a engraved area. I experimented around with cutting letters into wood useing vector lines and turning power down so i dont cut through the material(to speed up complition time) but at the start and stop of each line, and at each intersection u get a spike downwards from where the laser slows down and then speeds back up. I tried adjust ramp at start and stop but its always going to be there. Does your machine work difrently? If so how? If not and im just not understanding the termaknowlegy please fill me in.

Carol Barbero
08-04-2009, 9:17 PM
Attached is a picutre of the top. It may seem silly to be so excited about something so simple, but it made me feel good that I made it all myself from my barn that I love.

As far as the rastering, I originally rastered the text & stars but they didn't show so I changed them all to hairline and vectored it. It gave me a darker burn like I was looking for.