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bruce edwards
08-17-2011, 3:52 AM
I have had pretty good luck with aluminum and photos etc...but want to engrave on larger pieces such as wood. Attached is a photo I engraved on 3.5 inch by 2 inch business card and also on 5x7 wood I got from Laserbits. I used the recommended settings for 400dpi on wood but it sure is dark! (50 speed/100 power)
And it seems there is a large patch that doesn't look good because of the woodgrain also, but guess can't control that. Any help much appreciated. Thank you in advance
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Frank Corker
08-17-2011, 6:22 AM
Bruce, 50% speed when engraving wood is very slow, it will be fine on the writing because that is what lasers are supposed to do, nice deep and clear. Photographs require a lot less and I believe that if you switch the two around for the photo part you will have better success. 50% power to 100% speed has a much better chance of making a good clear mark for a photograph.

bruce edwards
08-17-2011, 6:34 AM
Bruce, 50% speed when engraving wood is very slow, it will be fine on the writing because that is what lasers are supposed to do, nice deep and clear. Photographs require a lot less and I believe that if you switch the two around for the photo part you will have better success. 50% power to 100% speed has a much better chance of making a good clear mark for a photograph.

Hi I thought it seemed slow....but the Epilog manual says 50 speed 100 power (40 watt mini). I did another engraving with same type of wood from Laserbits and it came out pretty good (to me for my 1st time engraving wood) with the settings I used here. But I'll try with the power cut back quite a bit and see what happens. Thank you Frank
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Dan Hintz
08-17-2011, 6:51 AM
The values given in the manuals are "suggestions"... it's a starting point to get you in the ballpark, but don't take them as gospel. In fact, the numbers are rarely appropriate for any one machine.

Mike Null
08-17-2011, 7:18 AM
Bruce

As you work to improve the quality of your photo engravings i suspect that you'll ultimately move away from wood as a substrate. In reality it is one of the poorer materials for laser photo engraving partly due to the grain, partly due to the finish and partly due to the low resolution results it delivers.

That said, it is still plentiful and cheap so it works well for practice.

George M. Perzel
08-17-2011, 7:52 AM
Hi Bruce;
Are you lasering directly from the photo or using Photograv or another preparatory software?
I have found that the photos need to be a bit washed out-play with the "curves" adjustment in PShop or PPaint
Also adjust your size and dpi before converting in Photograv-use same dpi to laser.
I am curious-you live in the Philippines and buy prepared wood from Laserbits? Have you tried any of the local woods, like mahogany?
If you don't have Photograv but have Photoshop, you may want to purchase the India Ink plugin ($15)=works very well.
Good Luck
Best Regards,
George

bruce edwards
08-17-2011, 8:58 AM
Hi I am using Corel Paint to prep the photos. I use the same dpi for the pic as in the Epilog dashboard.

As far as the local woods here...I could type a few paragraphs....but I'll just say that high quality mahogany or other local woods are insanely, beyond comprehension, difficult
to locate and obtain....:mad::(:confused: it was much easier to order from Laserbits and have my brother send it to me!!!! And even if I got some mahogany here, it seems to be very expensive.
This being a 3rd world country I can't expect to make much if any profit if I pay a lot for the substrate.

Thank you for your help :)

Martin Boekers
08-17-2011, 9:36 AM
I don't know if you have access to JDS, but they recently introduced a line of Alder plaques (and Walnut)
that are "color matched". That being they match the wood pieces through the plaque so that there isn't
quite the difference as might be in some of the "paneled wood". These are great for lasering images as you
don't have the variences. It is a bit more expensive than regular plaques, but I feel it's worth it. I have switched
my purchases to this premium line. Other vendors are starting to manufacture an "upper line" also.

bruce edwards
08-17-2011, 1:54 PM
Bruce

As you work to improve the quality of your photo engravings i suspect that you'll ultimately move away from wood as a substrate. In reality it is one of the poorer materials for laser photo engraving partly due to the grain, partly due to the finish and partly due to the low resolution results it delivers.

That said, it is still plentiful and cheap so it works well for practice.

Hi Mike, what would say is the best consistent substrate for photo work?

bruce edwards
08-17-2011, 1:56 PM
The values given in the manuals are "suggestions"... it's a starting point to get you in the ballpark, but don't take them as gospel. In fact, the numbers are rarely appropriate for any one machine.

Yup the Epilog recommended settings seemed to work well with the aluminum...but for wood...yikes!! hehe Will have to experiment a bit....

Mike Null
08-17-2011, 2:01 PM
Anodized aluminum, if you like the look. Acrylic is better than wood. Marble, even glass if you're careful. Certain leather will produce an excellent image if it's not overpowered.

I think once you have a chance to sharpen your technique you're going to find these and other materials will give you pretty good results.