3D or not 3D

[Doug Lynch]

Before I play with this I thought I would ask the experts. What are my chances of rastering a 45 degree angle in 3mm Baltic Burch plywood? I can set up Corel to do a blend from 100% white to 100% black in a 3mm distance (see attached Corel Ver 9). I guess the real question is should I turn on the 3D mode on the Epilog or am I better with out it. Has anyone done this or played with it?

Thank You
Doug Lynch

[Rodne Gold]

It might work , but it might be inconsistent or innacurate in terms of depth and angle

[Ron Chapellaz]

Hi Doug,

I tried doing a 45 degree bevel but in plastic instead, and it only kind of worked. I wanted to see if I could get a nice bevelled edge for name tags similar to what my rotary engraver does...

I created a box then used the interactive contour tool stepped down with 6 boxes in the same width that is needed to create a bevel. I then used vector color mapping and gave them each a different color and changed the power setting on each one. The power was increased as it made it's way towards the outer one which was set to vector cut right through. It made the edges slightly rough and not a clean perfect finish. By going around the 1.5" X 3" name tag 6 times I think the plastic may have heated up too much with each subsequent pass and may have melted and re-hardened which caused the rough edges. I think it may still work, but for larger pieces where the plastic may have a bit more time to cool in between each pass of the laser. Maybe, wood would be more forgiving.

I never tried rastering to achieve a 45 as I think it would take too long to accomplish with the machine. By vectoring it added an additional 30 seconds to complete the cut out.

I am still new to lasering, and learning new things at the forum here all the time. I'm sure there are many others here that may have tried this out and likely have a better method than what I used. I would also like to hear if anyone has any success.

Unfortunately I was unable to open your file as I have v12.

[David Fairfield]

This concept comes up from time to time. It can be done, it might work for some things that do not require great precision. Here is a search of the forum for bevel cutting

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/search.php?searchid=3972173

Best if you just gave it a try on scrap material and see if the results are acceptable.

Dave

[Mark Winlund]

Why not just buy a used beveler?

Mark

[Michael Kowalczyk]

don't forget that grain and grain direction also plays a big role on how a 3D rastered edge will look. You would have better results with acrylic or MDF, a more homogeneous material.