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Michael Oswald
02-20-2010, 5:10 PM
Hello all, new to the forum, but been lurking for monthes and reading thousands of posts. Really have learned a lot. I will intro myself later.
I have a 9060 Rabbit 80W machine that I have owned for only 1 month. Been experimenting with all sorts of materials. Today I put my rotery device in the laser for first time. Right off the bat I thought it was working great, at first glance. After I pulled the glass out, and ran my finger across the engraving, there are numerous glass burs just along the edge of the engraving where it started and stopped. My settings were 300 speed, and power anywhere from 20-35% with a scan gap of anywhere from .050 to .12. and the laser was focused

Anybody have an idea of what the settings should be to eliminate this?

I have read all the posts about using a paper towel or dishwasher soap to engrave on. I have not done that yet (only because I don't have either of those on hand as sad as that sounds) , would doing those things eliminate the problem? The glass is pretty thick so I don't think heat should be a problem. I have attached a picture in hopes that might help. Thanks in advance SMC.

Steve Clarkson
02-20-2010, 5:17 PM
Hi Michael,

Welcome to the Creek! Please update your signature with your machine and software....it helps so people don't have to ask over and over.

Definitely use either soap, wet towels or both (I use only soap). Also, after you are finished engraving, use a scotch brite or brillo pad over the engraved area.....it helps to make it smoother.

By the way......I absolutely HATE my rotary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (just thought I'd throw that in there!).

Bruce Volden
02-20-2010, 6:08 PM
Michael,

When the laser beam hits the glass surface the heat from the beam "shatters" the glass. I have found no way of getting around this fact. I'm with the scotch brite suggestion of Steve's! Wood, plastic and other materials are vaporized but glass will leave shards.

Bruce

Michael Oswald
02-20-2010, 6:13 PM
Thanks Steve and Bruce. Will update my sig now. I did just the diswasher soap, that helped a little. I did the soap and wet paper towel, and that helped even more. Also used the brilo pads. There still is small burs on some of the edges going cross grain how it engraved. I hope this now if just a power/gap setting. I ran at a .050 gap(500 dpi) with 39% power and at settings close to this. Should the DPI be higher or lower by any large amount.

Frank Corker
02-20-2010, 7:54 PM
Michael, having seen your picture, it looks like the laser has hit the glass very hard. Lower your power if the shards are still sharp, personally I think looking at your picture that you are in danger of causing that glass to be potentially dangerous, it might be very thin in the engraved area.

Scott Shepherd
02-20-2010, 8:08 PM
You can also change the color of the text from black to 90% black or 80% black with less power and see if it helps. 100% black can be really bad for many items.

Martin Boekers
02-20-2010, 8:30 PM
Just remember when you "polish" it with a Scotch pad, that it is glass shards you are cleaning up.

I use a stiff brush first (so a shard doesn't scratch it as you move over the surface)

Different soaps have seemed to make bigger differences as well as application of it. After doing some testing you'll find a good approach. I use a liquid dish wash soap. You can feel that it is quite a bit smoother by touch when finished.

Welcome aboard! One thing you will find out that this is a great source for information, but it is just a guide. Final testing yourself will fine tune the parameters that work best in your particular situation.

Marty

Michael Oswald
02-20-2010, 10:16 PM
Thanks everyone. I got it to work pretty good now. I went out and bought a scotch pad but it was agressive and scratched the glass. I will try the firm brush approach first tomorrow and then follow up with a softer scotch pad. Hopefully this will work out good because I have some good things lined up locally here very soon as soon as I can present some samples.

Michael Oswald
04-18-2010, 2:46 PM
Hey guys, just wanted to give an update on my progress. I have had some sucess with the soap, toweling, newspaper. I have also tried a 100mm lens just for he hell of it as I was cutting so thicker material.

It have been experimenting for weeks now, and I getting better, but still struggling for perfecttion. I guess at this point I am wondering if I am expecting too much from my engraver.

The first picture you can see some pits removed from the c and the h. While the 2nd picture I consider good quality. I can not seem to get consistant results time and time again. All settings, set up is the same, but I get 2 different results.

Also, in theory, a 55mm lens should engraver crisper than a 100mm correct?

Thanks again for any help, I love all the info on this site! I would be so lost without it.

Ross Moshinsky
04-18-2010, 3:05 PM
Hey guys, just wanted to give an update on my progress. I have had some sucess with the soap, toweling, newspaper. I have also tried a 100mm lens just for he hell of it as I was cutting so thicker material.

It have been experimenting for weeks now, and I getting better, but still struggling for perfecttion. I guess at this point I am wondering if I am expecting too much from my engraver.

The first picture you can see some pits removed from the c and the h. While the 2nd picture I consider good quality. I can not seem to get consistant results time and time again. All settings, set up is the same, but I get 2 different results.

Also, in theory, a 55mm lens should engraver crisper than a 100mm correct?

Thanks again for any help, I love all the info on this site! I would be so lost without it.

Yes, you are.

1) As mentioned previously, laser+glass = chipping.
2) If it isn't perfectly cylindrical, the laser will not do the job well.
3) Every piece of glass is very different so results will vary dramatically.

If you really want to do glass/crystal, you should look into sand-carving.

Martin Boekers
04-18-2010, 4:03 PM
Not sure how resolution works with your laser. I tend to go with a high DPI 600-1200, that works for me, others have success with lower DPI.

When I do testing (with out setting up a grid) I usually run what I call hitting the "outer perameters".

If I run my tests lower than one quite a bit higher to see about where I think the correct setting may lay. Then I sort of interpolate and split the difference. This helps me in finding the settings quicker.

Hope this helps a bit.

One thing, don't ever expect lasered glass to come anywhere near sand etched, It won't.

For many things it will be fine, but for a truly "nicer etch" sand etch.


Marty

Dan Hintz
04-18-2010, 5:15 PM
Here's a macro pic of an engraving I did a few months back into a Riedel Wine goblet. The monogram is <1" high and just over 2" wide. Although the image appears to show slight chipping in spots, it's simply because it's a dirty glass (we're wine drinkers :)). This etch was done bone dry (no water, no soap, no newspaper), and I think I did a single back-and-forth pass with a Scotch pad just to make sure there were no jaggies (though it came out of the laser feeling baby's butt smooth.

EDIT: I'll also add that the edges of the monogram are quite crisp, but the black sock tended to make some of the edges look blurred. Blame that one on my current lack of a photo tent and having to snap the pic near the vertical blinds.

Scott Shepherd
04-18-2010, 5:30 PM
I still say take it off 100% black and crank up the power some more.

I went to a seminar put on by Universal and the applications engineer said they had tried all the "tricks" out there and they had not provided any data that showed any of the wetting methods working any better than any other result.

They also told us NOT to use 100% black as the color of the item to be engraved.

Dan Hintz
04-18-2010, 5:57 PM
To reinforce what Steve said about color... I did the monogram at 70% black.

Probably could have made it a faster turn-around time if I slowed it down and backed off on the power, but it was only a few glasses and I knew 60P worked at 100S for my machine. BTW, Riedel glasses are ultra thin, so you don't want to hit them very hard.

Martin Boekers
04-18-2010, 7:39 PM
I don't do many glasses, most of the glass I do is JDS Black mirror plaques. (Nice product!)

I get a final result that looks and feels the same as yours Dan, I do use a liquid dish soap. It does make a difference for my set-up, as you said Dan, smooth as a BB.

I haven't tried lowering the black value, That I will try on the next wave of those plaques. No sense doing extra work if you don't have too.

Should I use the lower value for everything?

On maple pen cases I do a second burn a bit faster to get a darker engraving.

I'll have to play around with the values. Thanks!


Marty

Mike Null
04-18-2010, 9:53 PM
One way or other, either by using a lesser % of black or less power you need to lower the power.

Bjorn storoien
04-19-2010, 2:03 AM
By experimenting with power and speed settings you should be able to find perfect settings for glass and crystal

the power variations between bad and perfect are small !

you will be able to get a mark that looks like its sandblasted not to deep and not just scratching the surface

i get very good results on glass and have found good settings for some crystal brands ( led content varies so one crystal setting for different brands wont work )

the crystal i do i run a second pass at the same power

glass setting 35 p 35 s 500 60 W pls 4.75

Bjorn

Roy Nicholson
04-20-2010, 6:15 AM
Michael

What is the name of the Heart Font that you've used.


Regards


Roy N.

Jack Burton
04-20-2010, 9:09 AM
70% black fill, that's it, no soap, no wet paper, just a 70% fill.

Works every time.

100% black is pushing melting glass around then off, which creates the edges,hairs.

70% black modulates enough to work this out.

Todd Suire
04-26-2010, 5:03 PM
I quit using the dishwashing liquid method because it would sometimes dry too quickly on long runs and cause inconsistent results.

I etch all my glass products dry. I set up each project at -23% of the standard Glass setting in the ULS materials database; haven't missed yet.

On the first run of any glass project, I'll cover the item with masking tape and do a light burn to make sure the artwork is in the right position. If all is good, I just take off the tape, reset the laser settings to what I mentioned above, and fire it off. Since I started using this method, I haven't added near as much to my trash glass collection.