Engrave a Hymn on wood

FabLab Laser Cutter
1

I’d like to laser engrave a page from a hymnal onto wood as a gift. If anyone has any suggestions about any part of the process, from scanning & getting the file into laserweb to suggested laser settings, I’d appreciate it.

I took the laser class last week, so I’m pretty new to it. I think I’ll use Alder wood for contrast based on a little google searching, but otherwise my searching has turned up sites selling the completed project & not much help on how to do it myself.

Thanks,
Matt

2

You’ll need to scan the page with the hymn on it to get it into Inkscape or other graphics program so you can use it. I believe the color laser in the Print Lab has a scanner on it, so if you bring the page and a USB (thumb) drive, there are a number of us who can help you get set up.

3

I would use GIMP. The scan doesn’t have to be super high resolution, like 150 DPI will be enough to exceed the capabilities of the laser, then GIMP has this handy colors > threshold function so you can set exactly where the pixels are black so the laser fires.

Then I’d crop the image to make myself a test sample for power, like I’d engrave a 2” wide by 1” tall version on a test peice of wood to get the power setting right.

4

Thanks for the advice.

I thought I had it figured out, but when I tried to do the full page, the laser turned off sometimes when it should have been on. I can’t tell anything different in the file in those areas, and the laserweb preview showed coverage in those areas. The laser did go over those areas at the same speed as the others, I just didn’t fire.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

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5

Was it where the wood grain was denser? If the wood doesn’t have consistent density, that can happen.

6

Maybe, but I don’t think so. Watching it happen, it was pretty obvious where the laser was firing and where it wasn’t (bright laser vs nothing). In the bottom two areas, it was like it just completely quit firing through the whole area, but in the top area where the words are missing you can see where it hit a few spots within that mostly blank area.

7

wonder if the door switches are going out again… I would have slapped on the door.

8

There are a few possibilities:

  1. Bitmap darkness varies, and some places fall below the burn threshold, or the laser power falls below the minimum power that will currently fire the tube.
  2. Door switches are acting up
  3. Tube is not firing consistently

For #1 you can set the minimum and maximum power to the same value, turn off the “Burn White” setting, and check that all of you text shows up in red in the simulation. If not, you can mess with the contrast setting until everything shows up correctly.

For #2 and #3, the machine will need some work. We’re replacing the tube today, so that should eliminate #3. I’m also looking at getting some magnetic switches for the lid to replace the mechanical ones that keep failing.

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