Engraving Food

Beyond the Manual
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I’ve never done food, but I know some folks on here have done marshmallows. Here’s a forum search to help you get started.

https://community.glowforge.com/search?q=engraving%20marshmallows%20%23beyond-the-manual

Welcome to the forum! :slight_smile:

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I have had one successful attempt at engraving food, a sweet potato pie. I tried Macaroons once…they look great, tasted like the aftermath of a forest fire…

potato%20pie
potato%20pie612×816 207 KB

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THANK YOU x a million! I’m sure this will help :slightly_smiling_face:

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That’s beautiful!

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So did it work out? Got pics? I chickened out on my pumpkin pie yesterday. I didn’t want to risk an off flavor.

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Also keep in mind you can’t do anything taller than 1/2" without removing the crumb tray - so the “big warning” you’re getting may be the “it’s outside the focus range” rather than the “you’re not using proofgrade” warning :slight_smile:

If that’s the problem check out this: Hey experienced current laser owners/users and then No-Math Focus Ruler (there are others too!)

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Hey, you guys… I have been busy with Christmas events, so I haven’t had the chance to play with this anymore. Have an event on Saturday and Sunday coming up, and then one on the following Saturday. I’d so hoped to have some Christmas engraved macarons, but that won’t likely happen. Don’t know why I think I’m automatically supposed to know how everything works :thinking: I downloaded Inkspace, but I have zero knowledge of vector files or how to navigate that site. So, I see a bunch of tutorial study in my future. Ugh. If I miss out on Christmas, Valentine’s Day is right around the corner…

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Could you possibly tell me what settings you used for the macarons? Do you remember? I figure I’ll have to take the crumb tray out for anything I do, but how on earth do you measure a macaron?

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I didn’t save the settings for the macaroons, because they were a failure. I do remember that it was a pretty high power setting and two passes to get it to show up, it just ruined the taste.
On the pie, I used power setting of 30 at 750 speed, but made 10 passes…still a pretty soft engrave, but visible and no adverse taste.

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Okay. Thanks!

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I’ve done potatoes (raw, then deep fried) and corn tortillas (uncooked, then fried). The steak fries were okay, but the engraved parts of the corn chips not so great. The general consensus is lasing carbs wrecks their taste. So while you may get stuff that looks great, it probably won’t taste great. Obviously, depending on your end goal that may or may not matter.

As for the macaroons you’ll want to keep the tops as flat as possible. I’ve seen the sandwich looking ones (best) and more rounded ones (focus issues.) They don’t have to be perfectly flat, there can be some dome. The problem with anything round is the distance from the laser changes so the width of the laser beam where it hits the object changes. Some materials are more sensitive to this than others. My guess is macaroons are fairly insensitive, but I don’t know for sure.

If taste matters, another option is to laser-cut stencils and then use powdered sugar or whatever to decorate.

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Thanks for the info… much appreciate it!

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Okay, guys… anyone out there? I have loaded my design to test. How long are you supposed to wait for it to upload??? And what happens when it’s ready to print? The screen says uploading. I have the same design that is going to be engraved on 11 macarons. They are highlighted on all 11 on the computer screen. But all I’m getting in the right corned where the print button is is uploading. It’s been awhile… probably at least 10 minutes… :roll_eyes:

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Depends on how much text, because some fonts are pretty crappy from a construction standpoint. I’d cancel at 15 minutes if it hasn’t loaded by then and try fewer macarons at one time.

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Thanks!

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image
image1029×485 214 KB

This is what I have. A pretty simple clipart of holly.

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Could the silpat be causing a problem?

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Okay, no that’s a standard warning for non-PG materials.

Enter the height of the macarons in the Unknown Materials button over the left column, and MEASURE THEM with a caliper to make sure they are under 1/2 inch tall. If they are not under 1/2", you will have to remove the tray and prop them up on something in order to engrave them.

Check the height of one of the cookies first before you try to run the print.

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Uploading problems will not be related to anything in the glowforge. The message you are seeing in the screenshot is a CYA message courtesy of glowforge’s legal team. It may be ignored.

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I don’t recall ever seeing “uploading” on that screen before. It could be I just haven’t noticed.

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