We have a 60w CO2 laser. Using a test engrave, we thought that 100 speed with 10% power would be best since the engraving would be on the surface. We used the dish soap technique to avoid the white haze. First layer you almost didn’t see anything so round 2 we didn’t move the plate and went over it with 100 speed and 15% power. This worked well.
But when we put it in our light base, its not the effect I was hoping for. Extra information: this is made with extruded acrylic instead of cast acrylic (I don’t have that laying around here). Could that be it?
I think you hit the nail on the head there regarding extruded acrylic.
In my experience all extruded is good for is cut shapes that can remain clear. It cuts OK but doesn’t engrave at all well. Yes, Cast is the way to go.
Hi, if your trying to have the light be visible throughout the engraving it may be that your engraving is really large and dense. Being that the llama or alpaca is just about completely engraved throughout, it might be that it is trapping nearly all the light causing it to be very dim towards the top. Maybe try doing a vector engraving of one or finding one that is more like line art and checking the results if that’s what your going for.
Maybe something more like this that has lines to be engraved (i found it on google-searched “llama line art”)
Thank you for your reply. It is a vector file so I can make it into a line art but this is what the customer wanted. I also got the tip to engrave in cast acrylic so I just ordered that and will try it again next week. If that still doesnt work out, I will consider the line art.
