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Junior hall
01-20-2015, 7:43 PM
I am new to the engraving business but i like to show some of the pictures engaving i done today. Please be advised the picture quality i know sucks but it was taken by a camera phone.

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Mitchell Tutty
01-20-2015, 8:11 PM
You need way more heat, I'm not sure what settings you have used here, but either slow the speed or turn the power right up.

Junior hall
01-20-2015, 8:24 PM
the speed was 35 power was 50. I may do the speed slower say to 15 and keep the power at 50 thanks for your input thanks

Bert Kemp
01-20-2015, 9:23 PM
Please list your laser in your signature. Like you said the picture quality is bad so hard to tell whats up with the engravings.

Mitchell Tutty
01-20-2015, 10:31 PM
I can't understand why you would lower your speed when your power could still be raised. Raise the power to 100, then raise the speed as high as possible.
Give 100 Power 100 Speed a try. Also, take note of your dpi, as that is very important to the contrasting burn.

Junior hall
01-20-2015, 11:53 PM
thanks ill try that also my dpi is 0.003 which boss laser said that is the default if i have a lot of detail i should go to 0.002

Glen Monaghan
01-21-2015, 12:39 AM
Main reason you might want to lower speed rather than raise power is that, depending on the particular wood being used, too much power for a given speed can completely vaporize the engraved area leaving little or no contrast. So, sometimes you have to use a lower power to avoid total vaporization and lower speed to give the beam time to "toast" the wood fibers for darkness/contrast.

Dave Sheldrake
01-21-2015, 5:35 AM
I can't understand why you would lower your speed when your power could still be raised. Raise the power to 100, then raise the speed as high as possible.
Give 100 Power 100 Speed a try. Also, take note of your dpi, as that is very important to the contrasting burn.

It's a DC laser Mitch, not an RF, speed is in MM per second, power is a percentage

Dave Sheldrake
01-21-2015, 5:36 AM
thanks ill try that also my dpi is 0.003 which boss laser said that is the default if i have a lot of detail i should go to 0.002

Try speed 450 power 35

Junior hall
01-21-2015, 7:09 AM
sorry for ignorance whats the difference between DC and RF looked it up in my manual but do not see any thing about it as i may have over looked it

I know talking with bosslaser they said be best to keep the speed at no more than 25 but prefer 15 when engraving and dpi default which is at .003 unless has a lot of details then go to .002. I tried doing dpi at .004 wow thats fast i done it on a drinking glass holly cow that was fast and done in no time

Dave Sheldrake
01-21-2015, 7:26 AM
DC use a direct current to excite the gas inside a glass tube, RF use a radio frequency to do the same inside a metal or ceramic tube.

Figure on RF tubes costing 10x as much as an equivalent DC tube but are usually far higher quality.

Dan Hintz
01-21-2015, 7:26 AM
sorry for ignorance whats the difference between DC and RF looked it up in my manual but do not see any thing about it as i may have over looked it

Glass tubes are DC-excited (i.e., high-voltage arc)... this is typical of Chinese machines. Sealed metal tubes are RF-excited (think like your microwave)... this is typical of Western machines (e.g., Trotec, Epilog, ULS). RF tubes have a higher degree of control over their power, being able to go down to sub-1% and still have a stable lase. DC tubes will typically not lase reliably below 7-8%, and typically don't lase at all below about 5%.

Bill George
01-21-2015, 8:06 AM
sorry for ignorance whats the difference between DC and RF looked it up in my manual but do not see any thing about it as i may have over looked it

I know talking with bosslaser they said be best to keep the speed at no more than 25 but prefer 15 when engraving and dpi default which is at .003 unless has a lot of details then go to .002. I tried doing dpi at .004 wow thats fast i done it on a drinking glass holly cow that was fast and done in no time

Since your Chinese laser is slow anyway, I would keep the speed up at 300-400 mm/Sec and adjust your power. I don't run my power over 95% to keep the tube within safe limits. Trial and error is your friend when learning.

Art Mann
01-21-2015, 11:07 AM
May I suggest you either use a flash or a lot more ambient light on the objects you are trying to photograph. If you want people to really see any detail, use a real camera instead of a camera phone if that is what you are using.

Junior hall
01-21-2015, 3:52 PM
Thanks Dan Bill Dave For the information on DC and RF Art i took the pictures late at night on the front porch with the porch light on figured it would be bright enough plus the flash from the camera but i will take the pictures during the day thanks all

Been engraving all day long since about 530 this morning and staining the oak wood Gosh this is exciting looks good in person

I done my power to 65 and speed at 39.8? which is the highest for speed i think i like the speed at about 40 to 45 as it cuts into the wood deeper but not too deep but not shallow but decent i think personaly ut i am no expert on this as you guys are the experts been doing it a lot longer than i have

Once again thanks so very much

Roy Nielsen
01-21-2015, 7:29 PM
You may also want to try raising or lowering the bed a little to take the laser slightly out of focus. Many people find that helps significantly with the contrast. I lower my bed, as I recall, somwhere between .1-.2".

Junior hall
01-21-2015, 8:48 PM
Thanks Roy i will try that in the morning thanks

Henri Sallinen
01-22-2015, 4:02 AM
When you are doing vector art, you could also try running the outlines with low powered vector cut. This would outline the edges of the engraving and help it pop out a bit. We do this with our birch/walnut veneer jewelry. Here's a pic of what I mean by outlining the engraving with a vector cut:
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Mike Lysov
01-22-2015, 6:44 PM
What type of wood stained plaques are made of?

If it is light in colour(ie pine) then you need to lower your power. It won't leave dark etching and make it in light colour. For unstained you need to do it completelly opposite and it will make etched areas in dark brown colour.

Junior hall
01-22-2015, 8:14 PM
Thanks Henri Sallinen I will try the vector cut