Wood business cards

[Jamie Ringelberg]

I have been doing laser engraving on glassware for a while now and have had some questions on wood business cards. I have read on here about different thicknesses of wood veneer that people use. I was wondering about how people transform a regular business card to something laser engraveable. Does the card have to be a vector file? Is there a way to transpose a normal card to something engraveable? I appreciate anyone's knowledge and opinions on how this is started. Thanks in advance !

[Paul Phillips]

Hi Jamie, while real wood looks nice it can be a bit of work to seal and then they are pretty fragile, I've had success with using wood grained laminate such as Wilsonart. It looks good and has a phenolic backing that makes it stronger than real wood at that thickness (.028") Here is a picture of what I make for my boss.
395059

https://www.wilsonart.com/tan-echo-7941

[Jamie Ringelberg]

That looks great ! Is there a process to turn a regular business card into something laser engraveable? Not sure how that's done. I am doing the research now.




Hi Jamie, while real wood looks nice it can be a bit of work to seal and then they are pretty fragile, I've had success with using wood grained laminate such as Wilsonart. It looks good and has a phenolic backing that makes it stronger than real wood at that thickness (.028") Here is a picture of what I make for my boss.
395059

https://www.wilsonart.com/tan-echo-7941

[Paul Phillips]

I just layed it out in Corel, just takes a few minutes if you know your way around it.

[Jamie Ringelberg]

I use Corel draw for lots of things. I'm not sure how to change a business card in its present state to something engraveable.

[Keith Downing]

I use Corel draw for lots of things. I'm not sure how to change a business card in its present state to something engraveable.

Think we probably need some more details to help you any further. Ex:

What machine are you using? What software? Do you have the business card in a specific file format already? Or are you literally trying to take a business card someone else printed for you and recreate it?

[Jamie Ringelberg]

I have universal laser equipment. I am using Corel Draw. I have two people's business cards that they gave me, to scan and work on? I am trying to just make their present card in laser engraveable format. I guess, from your question, I am to re create this particular business card. I don't have the business card format, I doubt the customer even has that info. Just the card itself. Thanks for your input !!

[Paul Phillips]

Then the way I would typically do it is to find the closest match for the fonts and just lay it out in Corel to come as close as possible. There are countless font websites that can help you match. Usually text that small won't scan and vectorize clean enough to be usable unless you have a very good scanner.

[Jamie Ringelberg]

Thank you. I was wondering more about the photo items people have on their business card. Seems hard to duplicate most of that.

[Joe Pelonio]

Thank you. I was wondering more about the photo items people have on their business card. Seems hard to duplicate most of that.
If you can find the graphic on the Internet larger, if not use the paper card. Then scan, and clean up with Corel, and shrink to fit. I have made them for customers using a variety of veneers, and postcards using 1/8” basswood.

[Kev Williams]

Having a Universal, you also have a great driver for photos...

Do you have a regular printer/scanner at home? If not, decent inkjet printers with a flatbed scanner can be had for cheap...

If you do, network it to the computer your Corel's on. In the file menu partways down there's an 'Acquire Image' selection. Click on that, if connected correctly you'll have 'select source' and 'acquire' options, click on 'acquire', and the scanner's menu should pop up. Set it for fairly high resolution, and set it to scan in grayscale (color scans are okay too, scanning in grayscale just removes a couple of steps) - scan the card, and if it looks decent in Corel, run it! It should be actual size, just move it to the home corner, put some test material in the machine. I don't remember exactly how to do this, but in the printing options somewhere, your ULS driver will have a halftone option. There may or may not be a one-button 'calculation' button that automatically adjust brightness, contrast, etc... Set the machine for medium resolution (3 on that dumb slider scale should be fine)... choose your speed and power settings, and let 'er fly.

I miss my little ULS because of how effortlessly it would engrave photos and graphics.
This dive helmet on leather, I just put the customer's artwork as-is in Corel, told the ULS I wanted it done in halftone, this is what I got...
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With a little practice you'll likely find out how easy it can be :)

[Jamie Ringelberg]

Thank you all for your advice! I will try this later today.