Which laser should I use?

[wizlog]

Hi everyone,
For making an engraving on cherry is the thunder better than the epilog? Is the epilog better?

Which one will produce the cleanest and darkest marks?

[jmeinel]

What are you trying to engrave? Something very light on the surface or something deep? I’ve done tons of cherry on a laser equivalent to the Thunder and it always turns out amazing and dark. Now the finish really brings out the contrast with cherry, so it might not look too dark when you first do it. I think it will also depend on the resolution you are going for. The epilog will give you much better resolution, but if you’re just doing words or letters, then that doesn’t matter. If it’s a detailed picture, the Epilog might be better.

[wizlog]

Thanks! It’s an end grain cutting board so I don’t think it should be deep at all. As far as resolution, I’m engraving a large graphic of a family crest. Lots of curves and detail but definitely not anything like a photograph. I’m leaning towards the epilog then too unless you think it won’t get dark enough.

Best,
Michael

[jmeinel]

You don’t by chance have any scraps from the cutting board, do you? If I’m going to use the laser and it’s something I’ve made, I always save some scraps to use as test pieces. That way I can perfect the power and speed before actually lasering my piece.

So in a perfect world, I would take my scraps and set up the laser to do engraving at different speeds and power levels and then put my planned finish on it to figure out which one I liked best. That’s when I would do the final piece because I would know exactly what to expect.

[wizlog]

Interesting idea but not really, I think I’ll just cut some new cherry then. Which machine would you try first?

[TSki]

I use the Thunders for my engraving - just cause it’s easy. My speed/power settings are 200/30, but they might be too deep for your project [around 1/8"].

Has anyone created Arrow of Light plaques before?

I have done plaques for my Eagle Scouts, they are roughly 11"x8" and laser engraved front and back. The front is shown below, the back lists all the ranks and dates earned as well as all the merit badges they’ve earned. I think the total laser time is 45-50 minutes. The wood [usually cherry] is cut and surfaced in the woodshop. [PBUX7400] For my son’s den, we purchased a kit and assembled the arrow ourselves [it’s been too many years to remember where the kit was purchased…]. But a plaque…

The edges aren’t the cleanest, but I think if you use the Lightburn Fill+Line technique it would look a lot sharper. You could also burn the edges [line] a little deeper than the fill portion to be a little darker.

Lightburn Tip/Trick: Fill+ Line

I was lasering some images on some 4.5mm ply recently…in past I used just the “fill” option (aka “scan” in RD Works): [image] But I noticed a setting in dropdown called “fill+line” and was curious: [image] Turns out it “intelligently” traces the image to create on outline after scan/fill process is done. See difference: [image] Maybe not appropriate for some images,e.g. PNG or JPEG files, but for line art/clip art/vector graphics that one migh…

Finally, I saw a member etching out the design and then cutting a veneer to use as an inlay. It would take some testing, but if you could cut 1/8-3/16" thick contrasting wood it might look pretty good. You can also use a CNC [the Shapeoko 2 would be ideal] for the inlay, but the member working with the laser said the laser was giving him better results [I haven’t done either so…]

Whatever you do, make sure to post the pics in the “Show & Tell”

[wizlog]

Thanks so much for the tip and picture @TSki!