JDS Plaque question

[Jeff Belany]

I seee JDS has a sale on Cherry Finish plaques. These are their particle board ones. They don't indicate that they are laserable on the catalog page. Curious if anyone has tried lasering them and if so, how do they look? I assume most people add a brass/plastic plate to this type of plaque.

So far I have been making all my own plaques, buying hardwood from a local sawmill. Just looking for a possible way to lower costs to hopefully get more wholesale orders. I have to add up all the costs of a cheaper plaque plus a plate and the mounting to see if it is worth it to go that route. Any thoughts/ideas greatly appreciated as always.

Jeff in northern Wisconsin

[Josiah Gallo]

Hi Jeff, Those plaques, when lasered, turn up tan with the particle board showing through. We usually color fill them when engraved since we don't like the particle board look, or use them with a brass plate.

[Martin Boekers]

Jeff, the veneers or coatings on these are very thin, I use the Mahogany version mostly for
putting plates or acrylic onto. The time it take to fill is sort of wasted on a cheap plaque.

What I do recommend is the High Gloss Series (page 121) JDS makes a fairly cheap plaque but fills nicely
and looks great finished. I sell quite a bit of these! A pretty good buy as for as plaques go.


Marty

[Ross Moshinsky]

If you just want to engrave into the boards and leave the particle board showing, I'm not sure if JDS's "vaneer" is laser friendly. It might have PVC. Marco has a bunch that are laser friendly. I wouldn't exactly call it the classiest presentation though.

With my 30W, I find color filling a waste of time. It takes about 2-3x longer to engrave. Then I have to lay the clear coat. Let it dry. Then go back and color fill. All said and done, the process takes 3-4x longer. It's more cost effective to engrave into brass, aluminum, or brass coated steel. If you really want to save money, cut your own material and vector engrave boarders. A happy medium is something like Alderwood. The material is relatively inexpensive and engraves so that there is enough contrast where you don't need to color fill.

[Martin Boekers]

Ross,

Isn't it amazing with all the technology we have there still isn't an easy way to fill plaques!:D

[Mark Sipes]

I buy the oak finished particleboard and paint fill with black... very impressive results