Do you ever deliberately run out of focus for wider line?

[Stroonzo (Jeff)]

Showing it here:

[HELP] - creasing for a box

If you have a motorized Z, you can out focus Z roughly 10 to 20mm on a vector line increasing its width substantially. With the correct speed and power (cardboard or paper is going to be really fast speed and low power) you can remove a small amount of material without cutting though. All this requires is experimentation, your time, your machine, and your materials. Here is an example of out-focused Z at various distances: [Laser Airbrush] Also, I just so this posted:

Out-focusing Z strategically to thicken line here:

Vector Engraving Instead of Raster

Faster process time, less wear on the machine, more predictable outcome when designing large quantity multi item runs. The flaming on the Out-Focused Z (when the two inner rings are being processed) is expected as I intentionally do not run air assist to prevent flaking. I made many test runs of this to dial in the precise speed and power for this wide line’s depth and preservation of the frosted look. I’m running a modified lens holder with a 101mm lens in the lower mount of the tube to span…

Demonstrating it here as well:

Change line thickness of shapes

Here is a tip / trick. If all you’re after is a thicker line, you can effectively increase the line thickness of a shape by out focusing Z. Lines are a lot faster than fills. Here is an example: [image] And a video example:

And here:

Throwing Knife, Archery, BB Gun, etc Targets

I make mine on Ram Board Heavy Duty (Chip Board). The job is made to take advantage of motorized Z out-focused work on the rings (making very quick time of producing these). You can modify the job for your own machine / preference (but I suggest not changing from line to fill on any of the rings as this will create a very long running job). SportTargets.lbrn (275.2 KB) [First Day with a Bow, it’s Been a Long Time] [Sporting Targets]

One more (although there are more)

So now that I got Z working, it was time to experiment with intentional unfocused work: Speed Shading!

Lowering the laser .75 inches out from focus, I apply only 100 lines per inch resolution. This being only a test, I ran the scanning at 25 inches / sec (635 mm / sec) at 95% power (roughly about 125 watts). The square is 3 inches by 3 inches. This was really interesting. With some further testing I can really perfect this and create cool effects as well as substantially speed up shading with very predictable accuracy.