Rich Ebner
05-23-2014, 9:04 PM
I'm new to this and after making etched wine and beer glasses for my wife and friends I've got so many requests from friends and projects at work that I decided to get a laser. So, after looking and seeing how the response would be I decided on getting a low budget (2800.00 form Amazon) 40w laser. Currently, it takes me about 12-15 min to etch a glass by sandblasting. I was hoping that I could cut that cycle time to about 3 min with the laser. Anyway, I got the laser and after looking on this site and others trying to get tips on how to get the finish looking acceptable I decided that I'm kind of stumped. I've got about 3 min of power on time on the laser (in 24 sec increments). Yesterday I turned on teh laser and was going to try the wet paper technique but the laser would't even make any marks on the wine bottle I was using. I tried it on a bare bottle and no marks at all. I checked the alignment and I adjusted to get in the center of all the mirrors except the head, which I haven't figured out how to check. I tried a test name on a square of 1/4" plywood and the lettering is lighter than expected. What could be the problem? Is it possible that the laser tube is going bad or maybe the power supply is out of adjustment. The manual is sooo bad that it concentrates on software and nothing about the machine.
Any help would be great.
I got this last week so I can do an event which is the second one for me and it's a big one which I'm hoping to kick off my business with. I'll be pretty handicapped if I have to rely just the sand etching since there is going to be a bunch of people at this event.
Any help would be great.
I got this last week so I can do an event which is the second one for me and it's a big one which I'm hoping to kick off my business with. I'll be pretty handicapped if I have to rely just the sand etching since there is going to be a bunch of people at this event.