10 important tips for laser engraving and laser cutting
In this article, we are going to mention some important points about laser engraving and laser cutting in working with materials on a laser engraving and laser cutting machine. Note that for some of these points, you need to know the difference between vector and bitmap files. Vector files are files like mathematical formulas that specify lines, circles, and so on. These types of files are provided in programs such as Adobe Illustrator, AutoCAD, and Corel.Bitmap files are a collection of pixels, such as digital photos, photoshop files, JPG and more.
With laser devices, you can only cut vector-sized files and engrave on vector and bitmap files. For the details below, you need to have a vector file.The first point is the laser engraving and laser cutting tips: Get ready for laser engraving and laser cutting
Let’s start with a few good ideas for laser cutting and engraving, before we can give some tips for engraving and cutting:
Coverage:
If you want to engrave on the material, be aware that the smoke from engraving on the edges of the engraved surface creates abrasive and hot. If you do not want this to happen, we suggest you cover the material with a strip of adhesive. The adhesive tape does not reduce the laser power much too much, but if you feel the power is less than your power, make the laser power up slightly.
The adhesive tape protects the material from soot and burn. Remove the cover after finishing the engraving. You can also use this technique for engraving on leather.
Predefined settings:
You can set parameters for laser engraving and laser cutting on different types of materials with different thicknesses and use them as default settings in different laser engraving or laser cutting conditions. These settings should be saved as default settings in your computer and laser system.
Be sure the name you provide for these files is the name that you can later easily identify based on your type of work. For example, in leather engraving or a thin, up to 1.8 inch acrylic cut, you can easily find and use the default settings for leather engraving or acrylic cut.
Cutting test:
If you want to cut the material on the material with a laser machine, it is best to cut it first on a piece of material as a test, before laser cutting it over the whole work. Nothing is worse than doing the entire laser cutting material and ultimately doing the job properly.
For example, you can cut a material that is not used or damaged as a circle or square test and decide, based on the test result, whether you need to reduce or decrease the power of the laser?
The second point is the important points of engraving and laser cutting: the power of the layers
Several points are worth mentioning that sometimes you need to print a section of your file or layout. The easiest way to do this is to create your layout with several layers. Most graphical programs allow you to have different layers and enable and disable these layers during work.
While you can put designs in one layer, but for you, we’ll give you the benefits of using multi-layered designs:
Controlling the order of the cut:
Your Laser Cutting Machine must have this feature to recognize the order of the lines to be cut. One way to do this is to place different cuts in different layers so you can enable / disable different layers based on the need.
Put multiple layouts and parts in a file:
Except that you have a separate file for each layout, place all the designs in a file, but place each layout in separate layers and enable each layer you need, in which case the files will be organized.
The third point is the important points of laser engraving and laser cutting: wood texture and engraving
It’s time to get your design or logo on a piece of wood. Wood is the best material for engraving, but you need to be aware of the different types of wood engraving, such as hardwood or wood, which combines several materials, such as laminated wood or MDF. Unlike materials, natural wood is not a uniform material. Typically, darker seeds are harder in the tissue, and lighter seeds are darker in the darker seeds. As you can see in the picture, you will finally have a zebra engraving. If you want to have a consistent engraving design, it’s best to engrave on multilayer wood with a smooth texture.
Tip Four: overlapping lines
Often when you cut multiple pieces at once, you’re tempted to put together the pieces that are similar. It’s a good idea, but it’s the right method, and the wrong one. Let’s explain, for example, a bunch of squares for cutting. If you draw two squares (4 sided) and put them together, it looks like a line between them. The problem with this is that while there is a line between them, the computer sees two lines. Ultimately, the two lines are placed together, and the laser engraving or laser cutting work is done twice, resulting in burning the edges so that the cut will not be clean and even wasting time and will take more time to cut. . The solution is to eliminate one of the repetitive lines. Design a square with three sides and place the other square with the four sides opposite it.
Tip 5: Checkered and Vector engraving
The main difference between raster engraving or photo and vector is to move the laser head from left to right, and vice versa across the printed area, and engrave the image. In the vector cutting, the laser head moves only on the lines to be cut. The chessboard takes more time than the vector cut. If you do not know how to prepare the image for laser engraving, be sure to read our article on this.
If you have an artistic design, like Slim sketches or maps that have a lot of lines, you can do it with a chess cut. The advantage of this method is that you can adjust the thickness of the lines to whatever you want, and lines of varying thicknesses. The disadvantages of this method are that more time is spent on engraving.
If your design is a vector, there is a quick way to produce lines. Set your file to the vector, but reduce the power when cutting and speed up. For example, to cut the multi-layer wood with a thickness of 8 mm, set the power to 90% and set the speed to 15%. But to just roll the power, set the power to 30% and set the speed to 95%. The advantages of this method are that it has a higher engraving speed, and the disadvantages of it can be the existence of very narrow lines of name and you cannot change the thickness of it.
Tip 6: Separating Laser Cutting Thicker Lines:
In the previous paragraphs, we talked about laser dotting material for a variety of art projects. The advantage of this is that the line that is created is very narrow, but there is a way to create a thicker laser line. The laser has a little focus, and if you lower or raise the laser head tube, the focus will disappear and the diameter of the beam will expand. Our suggested solution is to do the following:
Insert the focus size on a material
Vector setting on laser machine (low power and high speed)
Laser focus on wood
Consequently, if the laser does not focus properly, you will have a thicker line.
This technique has disadvantages, firstly, that the line created is very smooth and not like a rattling engraving. Secondly, it stops at the corners of the laser lines a little bit to change its direction, so the corners of the work are burnt a bit more than the rest of the places. Laser engraving of artistic designs takes a lot of time and cost using the engraving machine. But by doing these designs, using non-focusing vector line drawing techniques can cut the cut with less time and budget.
Tip 7: Add a vector line around the edge of cutting or engraving
Normally, if you check the lens and focus, you should have beautiful edges for each engraving. But if you want the edges of your engraving bit sharper and sharper, there’s a trick to add a thin, thin line on the edge of engraving. You must have your image in vector format. Choose your photo and create a thumbnail to the edges. When you set the laser to cut the vector, but reduce the power of the power and increase the speed, the laser burns the material but does not cut the edges.
Eighth point: aiming
Sometimes you need to hit the laser other than the origin of the laser. For example, there’s a piece of plastic that you used to cut in a different way, but there are spaces between the old cut and the new ones you’re supposed to create. However, how can you trim it in the remaining spaces?
First, measure the space. Be sure to have enough space for the desired cutting.
Then place the material on the laser device and measure from the source point of the laser to the desired area. For example, a rectangle 1 in 5 cm from the top of the material is 6.25 centimeters and far from the left edge of 4.37 centimeters. Then, in the files, use the guideline to determine the area and its location relative to the distance from the laser source.
Put the laser plan or cut the area. Be sure to do not cut off the specified area as directed. If you perform the measurements properly, your cutting will be in the desired area.
Point ninth: engraving multiple objects
Consider on a wooden surface, you want to cut several identical designs and engrave the logo layout on each one. You can insert each one at the origin of the laser one by one. But is not it better to engrave multiple designs at the same time and engrave them all together?
The trick we can say for this is to create a duplicate grid of designs that you can put on the pieces and properly engrave. Create a laser table size vector file. Then measure one of the shapes or items. If you can measure the exact size, it will be great, but otherwise, guess the geometry close to it, such as a circle or square, where the design is easy to put. This will be the target form. Then place your design in the final form for cutting or engraving. Now copy the final form to the layout and paste into the number you need or placed on the laser table.
Tip: Place a small space between forms.
Before you begin, put the forms in one layer and place the layouts in a different layer. Then turn off the layer on which the design is placed.
Cut a piece of cardboard to the size of your laser table and put it on a laser. Then make sure that the layers that are related to the form (target) are activated and make the forms engraved on the card or cut or branded. By doing this, you have a number of grid squares. Then place the materials you want to engrave on cardboard and in squares. In this case, you must enable the layers in which the layouts are placed.
You can repeat the designs as long as you do not move the cardboard and the substrate.
Tip 10: Use red dots to detect cutting or engraving
The pointer option in the laser device recognizes the red dots that are to be engraved or cut. It will be very helpful to specify before you work on the material where you want to cut or engrave with a laser.
Easily turn off the power of the laser device and turn on the red dot, then run the file and see where the red dot is located.
Note that once these conditions are well done to use vector lines and laser and red dots move on lines of work, but when the laser moves over the entire environment that is to be engraved, it’s not good to engrave.
If you need to use the red dot techniques to recognize the location of engraving, you can draw a square or a circle around the engraving points or drag the lines horizontally and vertically.