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joe daley
03-20-2008, 3:36 PM
First let me say- what an impressive site---

I manufacture custom poker chips including ceramic chips and we were sort of forced to invest in a laser engraver to do wooden cases for a large client on a continuous bases. The unit is an Epilog 30W laser.

Wih no knowledge whatsoever on theses things ( bought this one used for 6500.00) and tossed the dice so to speak-- never received the exhaust unit or the rotary attachment from the seller but not sure I need it- a hi speed hi cfm blower does a very adequate job of exhaust... anyway
Can someone offer some advice on settings for burning chinese mahogney poker cases to a depth deep enough to allow us to fill the engraved area with gildan wax?

This for now is ALL we need to do- I an running flexisign which works well-
the PPI and DPI and power levels in addition to raster/vector settings in the print driver settings area are unfamiliar to me with regards to correct laser settings.

Also-the unit seems to burn the cases well using random settings- but never really deep- I am assuming I may not achieve a great degree of depth on one pass--but I would also think that for a thin light wood a 30w laser would slice through this using proper settings.

Also- regarding software usage- we basically just type the text onto the screen in black and then print-- what I am basically looking for is a fast quick way to set this unit up to burn wood poker cases until I have time to do some reading and expand it's usage. THinking we could also engrave ceramic dealer buttons but thats down the road.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
THanks
Joe
Palm Imports

Garry McKinney
03-20-2008, 4:45 PM
If the seller sold it as a combined unit , get the other pieces. The rotory unit is a 1200.00 option and the bolower is already set for the machine so you should check.

There are 17 types of mahgony . If they are comming in from China they could be almost anything , from a almost paper density to rock hard. Your 30 watt unit if the laser is still producing correctly , should cut .005- .010 depth per pass.

300 dpi at 100 power , 20 or less speed .

Increasing the dpi will increase depth , but can cause burning.

High power - low speed increases depth. But the draw back is it can also cause burning. I asume you boxes are finished when your burning them. You should contact the mfg. and get the spec of material and finish, as comming from China things have a tendency to change.

If they are not deep enough you can try using 3-D burn . But you can expect to have to do more than 1 pass to get the effect you want.

joe daley
03-20-2008, 4:55 PM
Thanks- coming from china there is no consistancy- these are a mahogney FINISH wood- I need to see exactly what wood it is but its probably a mdf composite of some sort-- we sort of burned the text ok and filled it- not knowing what were doing-- but I'll follow your recommendations.

You didnt mention PPI which is another parameter- I see dpi and ppi settings plus speed and power.\

We only need a depth great enough to be filled with colored wax-- I mentioned depth of cut because like all newbies we expect this thing to slice and dice LOL

The seller is a liquidator out west- he claaims he delivered the other two components to the shipping company and they lost them- now we have poor communication as I am sure nobody wants to replace these items- but last email about amonth ago he was purportedly filing a claim- who knows- as far as I see it I own an Epilog 30w laser less these parts.

New toy - lots of questions- same when we bought two large format printers- now we can service them here ourselves including printhead replacement- I am HOPING laser servicing isnt much more complicated-but something we know we need to tackle due to not being able to have down time on anything we run. Our thoughts were- get this used- learn it- make sure it suits our needs-- then probably sell it and buy a new one as we like new things here... and support is invaluable--

THanks again-
I'm off to make some smoke

Garry McKinney
03-20-2008, 7:45 PM
Joe ,

Normal for us is a 300 standard.

The finish , can be anything, including lead based. Since you do not have to go deep you should be fine , the 3-d effect will give you a bit more on the first pass, you might get enough for what you need by using it.

Welcome to the club.

Garry

joe daley
03-24-2008, 1:37 PM
Joe ,

Normal for us is a 300 standard.

The finish , can be anything, including lead based. Since you do not have to go deep you should be fine , the 3-d effect will give you a bit more on the first pass, you might get enough for what you need by using it.

Welcome to the club.

Garry
We found our local dealer for this unit in Orlando and decided to meet with him- spend 200.00 for 3+ hours of time incl how to clean, align etc this unit- and probably down the road purchase a new unit from him.
I think it's money well spent--

In the meantime- 300dpi is working for the cases- 85 per cent power and a speed of I think 40 per cent-400 ppi I think- burns adequately deep enough to allow filling--

Fortunately for us were working out of flexisign professional which we use for printing- its a similiar front end to Corel-just have to remember if we put a circle or outline as a guide- the laser will take that as a a cut area

Thanks for taking the time to advise us- really apprecate it--