Engraved / Etched Shot Glasses

Omg this looks AMAZING!!! I’ve etched glass with my Cricut and the cream but this came out way better than using the cream. I can’t wait to begin using mine to do the same thing.

I’ve done some Shot glasses as well couple of tips I found helped
1: Square Glasses are you best friend when it comes to etching, flattish surface means consistent engraving
2: Painters edging tape is the next best friend, it’ll give the camera something to focus on when it’s setting depth. Also found that it stops the glass from cracking inadvertently.
3: Settings wise I’ve been selecting Medium Clear Acrylic and it seems to work really well :slight_smile:

You can make a jig for tapered glasses to flatten the surface. The angles of the slots are just at a higher gradient so that the top fall through more then the bottom:

I uploaded mine to the free files section: https://community.glowforge.com/t/tapered-shot-glass-jig

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What settings did you use to engrave on these glasses? Did you use the Glowforge excel sheet settings? Also, did you use one sheet if cut up wood to keep the cups in place? Or did you stack them? Just getting info for when I decide to do it. Thanks!

Hi GingerBased! Just found your post. I purchased the shot glasses from your link and I am excited to try it out! Per chance did you ever share the jig you created for these shot glasses? Thanks!

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Absolutely! Here is a link to the shot glass jig :slight_smile:

My husband came home and asked if I could engrave shot glasses. I said theoretically, yes, but I’d never done it before. I used the above settings, and the jig from here:

along with dish soap on the surface, and my first try was a great success.

This isn’t my design, it’s a random quote from a megabundle I got from Creative Fabrica for sending an invite to a friend to join their mailing list.

This photo is after washing off the fuzzy bits.

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Has anyone found a good square shot glass like OP used? The product linked is no longer available.

I can find square shot glasses all over Amazon … but if someone has already bought something that worked well in the :glowforge: I’d love a link.

Currently these look like good contenders.

https://smile.amazon.com/RUCKAE-12-Pack-Heavy-Glasses-2-Ounce/dp/B07R22CS8Y

Literally all of your posts are pure genius.

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Lol, thanks :slight_smile:

I have used these for 2 years. No masking or magical dishwashing liquid at all, just straight into the machine - propped up so they are level.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011TCHU50

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These are great glasses, thanks. Easy to prop them up with a little stack of post-it notes.

I did a quick test with the OP’s settings and got a good engrave, but I had to use a pick to scrape out the top layer where it didn’t release.

image

(Hmm, also I just realized I used Pro “Full” power, maybe power 100 would have been better.)

2 passes at power 100 was much easier to clean up, though of course it takes longer. There are also a couple of blemishes that won’t scratch off, I guess due to variation in the glass. Probably only a laser nerd would notice.

Anyone have other settings ideas? It would be nice to find a way to do a whiter frosted glass look so you could have two shades.

image

(Any similarity to a major league sporting logo is coincidental.)

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My settings for those glasses are gone. I have some for spice jars but my shot glass ones are missing.

I had the same issue where the surface cracked or flaked at first, but I just kept playing with it, turning it 1/4 around, until I got a nice clear engrave. I still have my test piece so I guess I’ll be starting over if I need to engrave some more. These days, I tend to test before anything as material can be so inconsistent.

Not sure you could get a two-tone engrave on glass, but I’ve never tried.

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Yeah it might not be possible with a laser. I am trying a more defocussed, lower power trial right now. It looks good in progress but we’ll see what happens when it is cleaned…

edit to add: speed 700 / power 30 / focus 0.4 made a really nice frosted etched look… that scraped off in patches when washed. I have a feeling that the laser is just the wrong tool to fog/frost glass.

Actually, just in the couple of minutes since I posted, I thought - it might. If you use a very low DPI raster image (along with a low LPI print setting), you might be able to get that kind of effect.

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I was thinking similarly. Going to try a few more vector trials since I’m already set up for it. If anything good happens, I’ll post.

To conclude things for any other readers; for single-“color” on the glasses linked just above, I’m currently fairly happy with Speed 700, Power 100, Focus 0.25, Passes 2.

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What Program do you usually use to make the design? I am not currently paying for the Glowforge program because I don’t think it really has good features for $50 a month. I would like to use adobe illustrator maybe.

Also do you usually Engrave more than one at a time?

Sorry I’m still a little new at the design programs stuff but i have etched a PCB circuit board.

I use both Affinity Designer and Adobe Illustrator. You can use any vector art program… those, the free Inkscape, VectorStyler, Corel Draw… there are probably others. If you are proficient with such a program you don’t really need Glowforge Premium. (Gaining that proficiency is the best thing you can do to maximize your use of your Glowforge.)

For these shot glass tests I didn’t actually make any art though. I found logos online and did only basic adjustments and resizing to make them fit the work area.

I have only made shot glasses one at a time so far. If I wanted to make many at once, I would invest time in making some kind of re-usable jig that would hold many in place perfectly.

I can’t thank you enough for sharing these settings. They worked perfectly.

I noticed most people use a cut out to hold the shot glass in place, but in a pinch, I improvised and just used three coasters to hold it in place and it turned out perfectly!


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Very nice engraving.