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Rich Fleming
04-30-2010, 2:26 PM
Does anyone know of a book out there for us beginers out there to learn from??

Dan Hintz
04-30-2010, 2:36 PM
I'm in the process of writing one at the moment, though I cannot give an actual publish date. It should prove useful to novices and old-timers alike.

Rich Fleming
04-30-2010, 2:41 PM
I'm in the process of writing one at the moment, though I cannot give an actual publish date. It should prove useful to novices and old-timers alike.

Well if you wanna sell a pre release copy let me know. :)

Lee DeRaud
04-30-2010, 2:45 PM
I'm in the process of writing one at the moment, though I cannot give an actual publish date.The title "Versalaser for Dummies" has been a standard joke around my house for years...lord knows they have one for everything else.

Dee Gallo
04-30-2010, 2:46 PM
I know it goes against the "code of the wild", but your manuals are actually pretty helpful, especially for settings and maintenance information. Read them!

Next, this forum will tell you more than you want to know on more subjects than you would think to look up in a book. Start from the first post and keep reading - you will be amazed at the breadth and depth of experience here and the willingness of people to help you when you need it. I am inspired to try new things all the time by these Creekers.

Finally, practice practice practice. You cannot expect to get an easy one-size-fits-all solution to your project because each machine, substrate and person is different in small but important ways. Keep track of your results and pretty soon you will see a pattern, which will help you understand how to make a good guess for the next job you try. Only experienced operators have pat answers for certain jobs, because they have piles of scrap they learned from. And what works for them might not work for you.

This is not a simple math problem where 2 + 2 = 4 all the time. There are many variables which you have to settle before 2=2 in the first place.

Good luck and keep coming back to SMC! dee

Lee DeRaud
04-30-2010, 2:57 PM
Only experienced operators have pat answers for certain jobs, because they have piles of scrap they learned from. And what works for them might not work for you.Not to mention that what works for them today may not work for them tomorrow.:eek:

Steve Kelsey
04-30-2010, 3:49 PM
Does anyone know of a book out there for us beginers out there to learn from??

I am still a newbie myself. There is no book that I know of, but a few things I that I found really, really helpful.

1) This site. I have read, or at least scanned, almost all of the posts. The amount of information here is amazing. Probably the most important piece of information for me was: hairline = cut (vector), everything else = engrave (raster). Once I knew that, it was off to the races.

2) As Dee said, the manual was helpful for me. There are still some things I want to go back to and revisit (like color mapping)

3) Corel tutorials. Unless you are quite proficient already find some and take some. Even ones not associated with engraving. Getting familiarity with the software is vital. There are many tutorials on the web. The software is enough to be overwhelming if you are not ready for it or if you are not comfortable with computers in general. The software is the key to doing everything.

4) I just signed up for Laseru.com I think it is going to be very helpful. Many of the things that I had figured out how to do have much more elegant solutions (creating templates, etc). LaserU is as much a corel tutorial as anything else.

5) Let your imagination run wild. Try things. I was lucky to come from a woodworking background which means I have lots of junk wood to play with. I am even practicing rastering on old 2x4 pieces. I also spent an hour at the arts and crafts store. I spent <100 and got myself tons of things to play with. Glass, cookie tins, canvas bags, cheap little wood things, leather scraps, etc.

Hope this helps.

Larry Bratton
04-30-2010, 6:49 PM
Does anyone know of a book out there for us beginers out there to learn from??
If you want to spend a few bucks, Laserbits sells a deal they call Laser University. I bought it back when I first got my machine and it was actually very useful. Check it out
http://www.laserbits.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=364&zenid=c0esq0lnvh2pir331iqcsnplj6

Chuck Stone
04-30-2010, 8:15 PM
The title "Versalaser for Dummies" has been a standard joke around my house for years...lord knows they have one for everything else.

You think if I asked nice, they might write one for me called
"Versalaser for Dummies for Dummies" ?

Rich Fleming
04-30-2010, 8:30 PM
I was just thinking something like tutorials.. But I guess it's like what I've been doing.. Trial and Error..

I do thank all you guys and gals though for helping me a lot

Tom Bull
04-30-2010, 10:29 PM
I found Corel Unleashed to be very helpful, and anything Roy Brewer writes on Corel. Also a guy on UTube: Alex Galvez (or something close to that, just search Corel+Alex).

john passek
05-01-2010, 1:33 AM
Hi Rich
Coreldraw and your Laser by Mike Clarke sold through Epilog dealers in Canada.
It is pretty informative and there are lots of tutorials on youtube.
Have fun.