Acrylic Diamond Plaque award HELP!

[Debra Thayer]

Hi Guys,

I mostly work on marble and wood however, I have three awards that have to be delivered this Sunday.http://laserbits.com/images/ame110.jpg

And I would like to know what settings are best for Mercury 25w and should I reverse engrave? I have also attached the template for this, I am assuming that I will just print this on cardboard first and then line the piece up at the top edge since the template does not show the side or bottom bevels.
Thanks
Debbie

[Mike Null]

Debra

By all means reverse engrave. I find that these are not always precisely the same size so I take transfer paper and run a test on each piece for location.

I would not remove the protective cover from the front of the piece until you're finished engraving. You might find that a simple L shaped jig will help you get constant positioning. (the jig would go to the 0-0 position on your table and would be high enough that the bevel on the plaque could be set against it.

I can't help with your settings but I try to engrave these to a depth of about 1/16".

[Frank Corker]

Debbie, put the award face down on your scanner at 300 dpi it will come out the exact same size when you import it to Corel. You can make your template from the scanned image. I know that there is a problem with the base but just put something in the centre to balance it out, the scanner should still be able to 'photograph' the correct size. You'll also be able to see the bevels quite clearly.

When you come to engrave your first, place a piece of clear acrylic over the award and engrave that. A visual inspection will tell you if you have it correctly centred, if it is, remove the acrylic and engrave the real deal

[Bob Davis]

A good way of checking layout is to get some (cheap) 2mm clear acrylic cut to around 250mm by 200mm (10 x 8 inches). You can then set up the job with the clear acrylic on top of the piece, run the job (usually at low resolution for quickest results) and check the outcome without marking the actual award. This works great because you can see the exact result without risking the much more expensive and last-one-in-stock piece.
I also have a Mercury, and the usual way I would approach this is to reverse engrave it and also have the award upside-down in the machine. That is, the award face-down in the machine and the base of the award against the x-axis ruler. This should ensure that it is square.
The simplest way to proceed from there is to use the "Engrave from Centre" setting. Use a wax pencil to mark the centre point of what you are engraving onto the award and line up the red dot pointer to it. Works like magic.

[Debra Thayer]

Dear All,

What great ideas!! Makes me a little nervous on this because they are not cheap. AND it's a favor for my church done barely above cost so I can't afford errors. Thank you for the tips, I will use an L jig and slap a piece of clear acrylic on top to check alignment first. Wil post finished pics!
Debbie

PS: Never saw an Engrave from Center setting, maybe I never looked!

[Joe Pelonio]

For checking the alignment I use the blue masking tape as suggested way back when by Keith. It rastors a nice white on the blue so it's really easy to see. Rather than wait for the whole thing to run I just make a dot at each end of each line of text and run that, then after it's in the right place delete them and run the text on the acrylic.

Just remember to run it at lower power!

[Brian Conklin]

I, of course, would reverse engrave. I have a 30W ULS and do most of my acrylic at 38p 100s for a nice white frosted look. However, if you want a more 3-D look, then use more power for a deeper burn.