Egg-ztra Exciting Eggs

Yes, it’s possible to laser those blown egg shells. :grinning:

I’m still working out the optimum settings for it, and there are a couple of tricks to get a clean egg, but I’ll get there eventually.

I’m gonna have to set it aside for a bit starting tomorrow, but I thought y’all might want to see the progress before I have to go play accountant and do other assorted family related things.

(Man, I hate tax time…):grimacing:

But anyway:

DO NOT look at the flame when you are lasering an eggshell. I actually watch the reflection in the dull metal at the back of the unit. And it’s still too bright.

Like I said, I’m still working on the settings - if you have it set wrong, you will burn the inside of the egg - leaving unattractive black spots on the backside. (Which you can see through the cutouts.)

If you set the burn too lightly, no black spots, but the material isn’t removed. While that can be scratched out with a needle, it’s super easy to break the egg, depending on the design.

(The planters are actually repurposed logo fails.)

I need to mess some more with the focal distance as well, to determine the optimal settings - these were just “take a shot at it and see what happens”, and I didn’t bother measuring. (That will have to be done eventually, but I’m still figuring things out, and I’m out of eggs.)

:smile:

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You win the forum and maybe the interwebs today. Why is not in the highlight reel yet?

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Just haven’t gotten to it yet… :wink:

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Very cool experimenting! Have fun playing with numbers.

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Love it! every time I turn around there another - “Wow! I want to try that!” moment. One of these days…one of these days…

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Wow…those are fantastic! Very classy designs, too. You think of the most interesting things to test. Thanks you, Jules!

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I read if you heat calcium carbonate it turns into calcium oxide, which is caustic. Do you get an ash deposit or does it blow away as smoke? Will it corrode the machine?

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So this would be perfect to decorate hard boiled Easter Eggs!

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No idea. I hadn’t read that before lasering the eggs.

There is practically no smoke - there is a superfine ashy powder from the membrane that wisps out. The burned edges are more like hardened cement or melted eggshell. It’s an interesting process.

(Should be a good test of how well the closed system works for the GF though.)

Well not really - the eggshell doesn’t actually burn. What is burning is the membrane inside the egg. So you would have to burn all the way through it to get any shading, and that would trash the egg inside.

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Could you imagine someone seeing your post and trying to laser a raw egg? Wonder if it would explode inside the Glowforge? Will someone try it and let me know?

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no, no, no…

Maybe I shouldn’t include this one in the highlights…:neutral_face:

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My guess would be it wouldn’t eggsplode because the cuts would give an escape route for any steam. Might ooze and get a bit messy.

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No problem then. Let me know.

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My guess is that the protein in the eggwhite would make a really bad smell, but that you wouldn’t be depositing enough total energy to get lots of boiled water. (A microwave is still multiple seconds at 1000W to make an egg go boom, so at 40W…)

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Not going to experiment with a raw egg, chuckle!

As a matter of fact, I hope I haven’t just caused some poor soul on the GF engineering team to have a coronary by lasering the shells into a caustic compound.

(Might just wait to find out that they’re all okay before continuing this little set of experiments.) :neutral_face:

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Another awesome project from you! I’ve been planning on trying this when the time comes, even got some blown eggs. I’ve got a collection of decorated eggs I’ve done over the years and it would be so cool to include laser cut ones.

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You’ve done pysanky…it’s about on a par with that at this point.

(You’ve got to be really careful.) If I can tighten up the settings, (and if it’s safe) then it should be a lot less work for people.

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This is actually a good tip for most materials. Staring at that mesmerizing light trace can be bad. It’s very bright in a very small point so too much staring and you can end up seeing stars or artifacts after you look away. I don’t know if it will do permanent damage but I do discourage students from staring at a project.

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If I had a laser I would try it as I am confident enough to risk my own machine. As the shell is cut through, even if the egg inside expanded rapidly it would just crack the shell along the existing cuts. It couldn’t build up a high pressure and then go bang like an intact shell can because a) it is no longer sealed and b) it is no longer a strong shape.

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These are awesome! I wonder if you should color them before or after lasering.

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