Placing a plaque in laser

[Wilbur Harris]

I recently acquired a used Rabbit laser about 10 days ago and almost have my money back in pure entertainment. Working through the ins and outs it dawned on me that if I engrave something that's too thick to cut I have to place the material correctly. I've come up with a couple of ways to do it trial and error but can't help but believe there's a better/easier method. For example...I wanted to center some text on a precut plaque. How would I go about placing the plaque in the laser? I don't have a red dot locator.

[Mark Sipes]

When you say "plaque" are we talking a board with a metal/plastic plate attached.... or Just a board. Measure size of "plaque" and create a job the size of the item to be engraved with the text in the proper location on the job. Place the item and job in position and lase ..... nervious..... lase onto a piece of clear acrylic and overlay on plaque and see if they align.....

[Eddie Castaneda]

Does your Laser have Scales "Rulers" on the table?

[Dennis Watson]

Wilber,

Did you buy the red and black one Ray had on his trailer? He installed my 80w on the 15th.

[AL Ursich]

If I wanted to place a plaque in the machine in the proper position I would make 2 jobs.

1. Draw a rectangle slightly bigger than my plaque and make it to laser a line on something in your laser bed from masking tape to a hardboard liner. Then make your text inside the rectangle.

2. Save and rename the project and delete the outline in file 2.


3. Back in file 1, remove the text. Now Laser just the outline.


4. Place the plaque inside the laser outline.


5. Call up file 2 with just the text and laser the text AFTER Focus....

OR do it with LAYERS inside your software and turn on and off layers to print or even pages.


Good Luck,


AL

[Wilbur Harris]

Wilber,

Did you buy the red and black one Ray had on his trailer? He installed my 80w on the 15th.

Yes sir, I'm sure that's the one....he delivered it on the 16th.

[Wilbur Harris]

Does your Laser have Scales "Rulers" on the table?

Yes, but I haven't tested the accuracy. Will do that soon. The LaserCut software shows a grid to match the table - whether or not everything aligns is a need to know.

[Wilbur Harris]

Al - sounds foolproof....but I'm sufficiently talented....

[Vicki Rivrud]

Hi Wilbur,
Trying to find the exact location on your actual table to match the grid you see in the Lasercut screen is problematic at best.

I highlight the entire project on the screen in Lasercut, and then use the ctrl Y command. This will place your project dead center on your work table. I also do my placement much like AL - draw the perimeter of the plaque and then lightly cut onto a cardboard liner held done by some very strong magnets - then I know that the plaque will be exactly where it needs to be. You can also use the offset feature on the outer part of the drawing so the plaque outline will be slightly larger so yuo can fit the plaque in the outline. Just uncheck the offset or lines so it doesn't cut when you go to engrave your plaque. You don't want to actually delete it or else your engraving will shift in the scheme of things.

Using tape IMHO isn't the best solution as it will sometimes shift or blow around if your air assist sputters.

With all due respect, you may think you are talented but after you mess up a few plaques by eyeballing the placement, you'll see that have an exact location is much better - time & money wise.

Happy lasering,
Vicki

[Wilbur Harris]

I'll complete the age old adage as I see you may have misunderstood the intent there. I took liberty using an excerpt....

"Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool."

If there's a way to goof it up I will find it and make use of it.

[Hilton Lister]

Scan the Plaque, bring the jpg or bmp into your drawing program. Outline the plaque and any boxes for your text using your vector default (I usually colour the outline red) Delete the scan.
Check the dimensions of your drawing against the plaque. Layout and position your text where required, then save the file. If you can't engrave by colour, cut the text then laser the vector on a piece of cardboard
attached to the bed. Place the plaque on the outline, delete the vector and paste the text back in position. Laser the text. I use this method for many odd shaped or difficult to position objects. I don't trust my measuring
skills. !

[Mike Lysov]

The easiest way that saves a lot of time time on big runs is to cut the plaque shape out of something cheap(a sheet of 3mm thick MDF for exapmple) in order to make a template. This way you will have a slot where to put your plaque in and it will guarantee your text to be engraved on the plaque exactly where you want to. But that's for plaques in simple shapes or the ones you have outline for in vector.

[Wilbur Harris]

Thanks Y'all !

[Ross Moshinsky]

Nearly every western laser engraving machine has guides on the top and the left which forms 0,0 at the intersection. The way they achieve repeat-ability is by homing the machine using limit switches. Then the machine automatically has the head move a certain distance (say one inch to the right and one inch down) which would then be at 0,0. It's a simple and effective way to do things, and that's why it's been done that way for decades.

My suggestion? Do the same thing. Some tape, a couple of good rulers, and a good template (file not physical) should allow you to do what you need to. Cutting out shapes every time you want to engrave something with any accuracy sounds like a big waste of time to me. We do it when required, but most of the time the guides are more than sufficient.

[Doug Novic]

Wilbur,

Unless you own on others cannot understand that there is no exact placement on a Rabbit Laser. No markings... nothing. So how do you correct this? I am posting this hoping it will help a lot of other Rabbit Laser owners or anyone needing references on their table for placement.

I have used this top for a couple of years with verifiable results. Just finished an order for 50 plaques with no placement problems running four at a time. Here is how it works:

Purchase a piece of plywood with multiple veneers for stability. Around 1/2" in thickness (12 mm 0r 13 mm) is good. Here i9n the states Apple plywood works best. The more veneer layers the more stable the plywood (the flatter it will stay). Cut the plywood to the size of your table. Mine is around 35.5" x 23.5" +/-. I have smaller ones as well. Now finish both sides of the plywood with a clear waterborne finish. At least 3 coats each side. It is important to finish both sides equally to maintain a balanced board (will not cup/warp).

Now attach e flat piece of 1/8" x 1" aluminum to the front. It can be 16" or longer. Make sure the top edge of the aluminum is about 1/16" below the top of your board. This acts as a front stop when placing the board into your machine.
265957

Place the left side against the metal piece the your Z axis worm drive is attached to.
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Now vector cut the lines and engrave the location dimensions onto the board using the attached file.

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Blue is for engraving. White is for cutting (enough power to create the lines so you can easily see them). The green is for placement into LaserCut. Delete this line after importing the file into LaserCut.

You should end up with something similar to this.
265961

The board can easily be removed by simply lifting it out. To re-insert the board place the left edge against the metal angle of the maching and the aluminum strip butts into the front of your table.

If the file did not attached properly please PM me with your e-mail address and I will send it to you in either a Corel file or in a *.dxf file.

If any other people want this I would be happy to share. Just let me know.