Rosewood Solid Wood Plaques

[Tim Baude]

Has anyone tried lasering directly on the JDS Solid Rosewood Finish Plaques. I am doing some and I can't seem to get through the finish. Any ideas on settings? Thanks...I started with 35SP 91 PWR then went to 30sp and 100 PWR on the second pass.... Any help would be appreciated.
Tim

[Ross Moshinsky]

I have. I can't recall the settings though but I know I did 2 passes because I had put a paper masking over it. If I had to guess it was probably similar to what you used on a 30w laser.

I like the way these look after being paint filled, but I don't think they make dollars and cents. A piece of brass coated steel costs about $1-1.50 so the additional cost is marginal. It takes me about 30% of the time to engrave one of these boards. On top of that, you have to figure in paint fill. Overall, I'd say I could do about 4 plaques with brass/steel plates in the time I could do 1 of these plaques with paint fill. It is also much easier work to use plates. Just my 2 cents.

[Tim Baude]

Good point....I found this out experimenting...However the top of the plaque needs a University Crest. That looks good gold filled. I am thinking of doing the logo in gold filled and then a brass plate for the rest of it. Any thoughts from anyone?
Tim

[Dee Gallo]

Tim, I've had good luck with my 25w using 10 speed, 100 power, 600 dpi on simple inverted photo with standard dot pattern. One pass. No mask.

Using PhotoGrav also worked well, inverted, same settings, a bit rougher appearance, but good contrast.

cheers, dee

ps - I posted a photo on this thread: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=134970&highlight=rosewood+plaques

[Ross Moshinsky]

Good point....I found this out experimenting...However the top of the plaque needs a University Crest. That looks good gold filled. I am thinking of doing the logo in gold filled and then a brass plate for the rest of it. Any thoughts from anyone?
Tim

That sounds like a good compromise to me. I'm not very good at paint filling but this is what I've come up with over my tests. I found the JDS paper masking is insufficient when using spray paint. I'm notorious a heavy painter.With the JDS masking, I found it started to lift thus causing the paint to seep onto the actual wood. I've seen a lot of people suggest using the green painters tape as masking material around the engraved area. It's supposed to keep really great edges.

I did 4 coats of spray total. 2 coats of clear coat and then 2 coats of gold. This was suggested by someone on this forum and it helped A LOT. I always found that the gold spray paint seeped into the grain when I just used spray paint. The clear coat really limits that quite a bit. I've never really liked how rub and buff worked. I don't especially care for the color or the overall finish.

In the end, I avoid paint filling if I can. I know if I did it more often, I could get it right, but in the end, engraving a plate is faster, cheaper, and more efficient no matter how you figure it. On big signs it's another story, but that's not my business.

[Martin Boekers]

I've done a handful of the standing Rosewood plaques, (new JDS) the piano finishes do take a bit more power or slowing down the speed to get a nice burn.

I do mask it as the burn develops a bit of residue.

I do quite a bit of the high gloss Mahogany composite plaques with a gold fill. They come out nice and cost is quite a bit cheaper.

They must use a different process for the high gloss veneers as the wood effect is quite a bit better than the standard composite plaques.

Marty