Laserable Metal Frames

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

I've looked through the forum and have not seen much talk about the JDS Laserable Metal Frames. I tried engraving a black/gold frame and it engraves really nice. I was pleasantly surprised to find how mirror-like the gold is underneath the matte black finish since the catalog photos do not do it justice.

For those of you who have engraved the metal frames, do you find that you need to engrave it twice in order to achieve a nice, clean gold finish? No matter how much I bumped up the power, or slowed down the speed, the 1st pass was always left a somewhat dull finish, and the 2nd pass produced the clean, mirror-like finish. Obviously, when I bumped up the power too much, or slowed it down too much, the engraving was not as crisp as it should be.

I did not take good notes last night. With my 45-watt, I had good results at 100 s, 50 p, 600 dpi with 2 passes, but I think I was able to drop the power down even more and achieve the clean, crisp results on the 2nd pass.

There was not much clean-up needed. A quick wipe of the glass with glass cleaner and then an overall wipe of the frame with the same cloth was all that was necessary.

[Mike Null]

I, too, am impressed with the JDS metal frames. I recently did a large order for a photographer and he was very impressed. I think I only ran them once.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

I think I only ran them once.

What settings did you use?

[Mike Null]

50% power at 56 ips and 500dpi. My machine is a 45 watt.

I probably could double the speed and power but I'm getting very nice crisp results. (this is my lacquered brass setting)