Fascinating!!! How do you laser engrave without any charring of the wood? I make cookie presses out of maple using one pass at 60% power (60 watts) and there is a lot of char.
I think there are several factors. First, each laser is different. My power might be different than yours. Also, the combo between the power and speed make a difference. You might consider a higher speed but several passes, with changing your focus between each pass. Third, Since this was for a print press, the maple is engraved on the end grain and not the face. We sand down to an exact depth for the press of .918", then do several coats of shellac, let cure for 7 days before we engrave. You can also play with the DPI as well as dithering to help. Finally, you can always do a last pass that is very high speed and low power to help remove some of the char. Hope these help.
@@1elephantmemories following up. We tried blowing the char off at low power and high speed on plywood, not end grain maple which I’m sure is very different given that there aren’t any glues or layers, and were met with only a nuanced change in the char. Many times you actually want some char or it isn’t an issue, but we think we are going to buy a Genmitsu CNC for the kinds of projects where we want a deeper engraving but no char (to pour light colored epoxy resin into). We have plenty of other things we can use it for too. I’m not sure my husband changed the focus between passes so I’m going to double back with him on that and if not, we will make another run at it. We have a 100 watt laser that my husband built himself with plans. Rezo laser is the name of the plans; he bought them online (where else, right?) and had a great experience with the architect of them (Jonathan Frost) and the community of builders on that closed forum. Thank you again for taking the time to help us! I appreciate you!
@@CutItOutWithUs I do think you will get more char from plywood. Maple is not as bad. You also have a much more powerful laser as mine is just 50 Watt. My guess is that if you did higher speed and less power, but do more passes and change focus after a few passes, you might have a lot less char. CNC are fun too. You can't get quite as much detail but nice and clean. A lot more of a learning curve especially when creating your own designs. We use both and will marriage projects together with CNC, laser and resin. Good luck.
I Like this.
Thank you!😁
Great!! May I ask you which kind of wood you use for this kind of work?
We use hard maple when making our wood type and blocks. If possible, try to use end grain. That is the proper way to create wood type.
Fascinating!!! How do you laser engrave without any charring of the wood? I make cookie presses out of maple using one pass at 60% power (60 watts) and there is a lot of char.
I think there are several factors. First, each laser is different. My power might be different than yours. Also, the combo between the power and speed make a difference. You might consider a higher speed but several passes, with changing your focus between each pass. Third, Since this was for a print press, the maple is engraved on the end grain and not the face. We sand down to an exact depth for the press of .918", then do several coats of shellac, let cure for 7 days before we engrave. You can also play with the DPI as well as dithering to help. Finally, you can always do a last pass that is very high speed and low power to help remove some of the char. Hope these help.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience with me. I truly appreciate the time you took to explain this. Dana
@@CutItOutWithUs Let me know how it goes for you!
@@1elephantmemories following up. We tried blowing the char off at low power and high speed on plywood, not end grain maple which I’m sure is very different given that there aren’t any glues or layers, and were met with only a nuanced change in the char. Many times you actually want some char or it isn’t an issue, but we think we are going to buy a Genmitsu CNC for the kinds of projects where we want a deeper engraving but no char (to pour light colored epoxy resin into). We have plenty of other things we can use it for too.
I’m not sure my husband changed the focus between passes so I’m going to double back with him on that and if not, we will make another run at it. We have a 100 watt laser that my husband built himself with plans. Rezo laser is the name of the plans; he bought them online (where else, right?) and had a great experience with the architect of them (Jonathan Frost) and the community of builders on that closed forum.
Thank you again for taking the time to help us! I appreciate you!
@@CutItOutWithUs I do think you will get more char from plywood. Maple is not as bad. You also have a much more powerful laser as mine is just 50 Watt. My guess is that if you did higher speed and less power, but do more passes and change focus after a few passes, you might have a lot less char. CNC are fun too. You can't get quite as much detail but nice and clean. A lot more of a learning curve especially when creating your own designs. We use both and will marriage projects together with CNC, laser and resin. Good luck.