Contrast when engraving wood - Darker Letters

[Dave Yanke]

I am running some tests on pine similar to a job I have coming in. .75 X 5.5 in pine boards. the Letters are 120 pt, a little over an inch high. My issue is getting contrast, i.e. burnt brown coloration, in the letters. I have tried playing somewhat with the settings from the ULS materials BD, The settings of the example in the pic (taken with my Droid, sorry) are 63% power, 85% speed, 600 dpi and Density set to 6. It is not much different in appearance from the standard ULS of 50/100/500/5 other than I get less residue with the ULS setting (Wipes right off). I even tried moving the bed slightly closer and "re-running' the job.

What can I do to get the letters to look browner in the pine? No air assist.

[Frank Corker]

Dave pine is a funny wood for engraving, it can work well but it doesn't brown that well, run it slow with high power and do more than one pass.

[Eric Edgette]

I'm not sure what kind of depth you're looking for but the pine I've worked with gets deep quick, even on one pass. Have you considered filling in the engraved area with some of the products you can get in laser bits to get you the darker look?

[Dave Yanke]

Frank and Eric;

Yea, and this pine, as well as that for the project, is cheap. I can do multiple passes on the future run however was woried about not getting residue off.

As to filling it in, would not mind is I can get the look right. I was thinking of two variations of your suggestion.

- Take a darker stain and do a "dry-wipe" type method to make the letters actually lighter looking to contrast.

- Doing the same as above but with a brush inside the letters.

On both methods, consisting of 26 letters, I am worried about staying in or outside the lines. In life the latter as proven something I am more adept at, not sure if it will translate.

My wife also suggested maybe applying painters tape, engraving through it the with the tape still in place applying stain to the letters.

[Eric Edgette]

I like the last idea, just be careful of using to much stain. It can soak into the grain quickly and you'll lose all definition to the letters.

[Dave Russell Smith]

Frank and Eric;

- Doing the same as above but with a brush inside the letters.

On both methods, consisting of 26 letters, I am worried about staying in or outside the lines. In life the latter as proven something I am more adept at, not sure if it will translate.

My wife also suggested maybe applying painters tape, engraving through it the with the tape still in place applying stain to the letters.

Be careful on staining inside of the pine unless its been sealed first other wise you will getting it bleeding through the grain

[Tim Bateson]

Engrave, then run again, but slightly out of focus - lower the table, do not raise the table. This works 90% of the time.

[Michael Hunter]

If you need to paint or stain the engraving, try "stencil paint" - it is nearly solid and so won't soak into the grain of the wood.
You need a really stiff brush to do it : a toothbrush or even a stencil brush!

Pine is a devil. It is so inconsistent that it is almost unusable. I was doing engraved pine picture frames and the engraving on the top and bottom bars of the frame never came out the same.
(Fortunately, my customer is now pushing glass frames which are easier for me to do and I get more money for each one.... nice).

[Dan Hintz]

Also consider slowing down and lowering the power... you want to "smolder" the sap in the wood, not vaporize it.

EDIT: Just noticed Tim's comment... that would work, too.

[Steven Wallace]

go from 600 dpi to 1200dpi. They will darker up with just one pass. works for me.

[Dan Hintz]

go from 600 dpi to 1200dpi. They will darker up with just one pass. works for me.
On lighter woods (density, not color), this can often dig deeper without increasing the darkness, so be careful.

[Martin Boekers]

I usually do 2 passes on some woods like Maple, at reduced settings. It seems to help.

Have you thought about cutting veneer? Laser bits sells veneer sheets with adhesive backs.

Also I have a customer who brings in softer wood that has a sealant coat over it, I laser it a bit deeper than usual, then he sprays it with a black or brown spray paint, for fill. (light coats so it drys quickly before bleeding into the wood.) Then he resands the surface and reseals it . A lot of work but it works for him.


Marty

[John Noell]

To darken it you might also want to check out threads here on powder paint and commercial versions like lazerdarc. Raster, spinkle the powder into the engraving (stop here for resiny woods) and re-raster (lower power) to bake it in.

[Tim Bateson]

To darken it you might also want to check out threads here on powder paint and commercial versions like lazerdarc. Raster, spinkle the powder into the engraving (stop here for resiny woods) and re-raster (lower power) to bake it in.
For color filling wood, nothing works better - but that's just my biased opinion.

[Dave Yanke]

All great suggestions, and I am not done experimenting. Unfortunately I did not see them till I walked away from the machine.

Attached are photos of what I did. Basically, I did the engraving. Wiping off the residue with mild soapy water like I do my carvings. I then brushed in chestnut Miniwax stain. Wiping as I went. Came back after it set up an did a wipe down with alcohol for the clean up. Since this was scrap for the test, wood was pretty beat up.

Thanks for all the help.

[Dan Hintz]

League of Adequate Gentleman, eh? ;)

[Dave Yanke]

:rolleyes:

[Bill Gailey]

You didn't mention if the pine has a finish on it. I used to laser for a customer that spray painted the lasered area with whatever color he wanted the letters to be and after it dried he simply sanded the surface paint off and then sealed the pine. Looked great and was foolproof!

[Bill Cunningham]

Slow and hot works for me... 100% power/20% speed 300 dpi for line art,(such as below) or 600dpi for photos
This was just into a plain pine board.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=53313&d=1166925365

[Dave Yanke]

Bill,

On thin lines it works for me, even ay the default ULS materials DB settings. It was the width of the letters I was using that seem to cause me the grief.

100/20 I am betting you have air assist. Seems to me slowwing down the speed too much flamed for me.

[Bill Cunningham]

Yup.. If there is a chance of flame, I use air assist. Pine can have a lot of sap in it, and if it does, it darkens well, but also can flame pretty good. There are a lot of jobs, I just wouldn't do without air assist. It comes with the Epilog, no extra charge, but if your's does not have it, it's well worth the installation.