Engraving trick for this?


so do i need to duplicate the image and put it behind the black one so it cuts it out after it engraves?

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Yeah pretty much. In the original example, they offset the silhouette by a thin bit to make a white border, looks nice.

I assume you used a trace function in your vector program to make the outline?

Also, btw, I did a quick google image search for that butterfly, I have no idea of its source or usage rights.

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I do not need the exact butterfly . I just need to know how to do this engrave feature or look :slight_smile: thank you for helping

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I do have another question. When i engrave mine looks so black. Is there a way to lighten the engraving part?

that butterfly svg is off Etsy for sale

That’s mostly a settings thing.

In general your engraving gets darker when:

  • You increase power
  • You slow speed
  • You increase LPI
  • You choose a material that engraves really dark (like cork and some others)

Do the opposite of one or more of these things and you can get pretty light colors. This looks like it was done in Baltic Birch plywood. Decrease power, increase speed, and/or drop LPI and you’ll get lighter colors. (Speed especially matters maybe more than the others for most materials.)

Heck (this is sort of cheating) some materials are inherently dark and engrave white. Slate, for example.

I mean technically that’s a light colored engrave, right? :slight_smile:

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Thank you for all your knowledge


It looks like the speed is already at its highest and power lowest ?

If you do this setting you’ll see no engrave at all. Top speed minimum power won’t even get through your masking.

Since we’re talking about custom settings I’m going to move this to BTM per forum policy.

It’s a feel thing and subjective in terms of aesthetics, but 1000 speed and 25 power at 270 LPI is a good start. I tend to find that anything lower than 270 LPI starts to look rough or “jaggy”, and I prefer a smoother border.

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I tried keeping that the same and lowered the lines per inch to 125 and it didnt engrave anything lol

Yeah 1 power will barely get through tissue paper :slight_smile:

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Thank you so much

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No worries! Hopefully it’s been helpful. Post a pic of your results if you have a minute, I’d be curious to see how it works out.

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One other thing to add that I didn’t see mentioned - once you’re done engraving, lightly scrub out the engraved portions with alcohol or ammonia (if you use water the wood may swell/warp) and let dry - it’ll be a lot lighter when any and all soot is removed!

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I declined to mention this because of the white paint aspect. If you do clean it with a solvent of some sort it will definitely get lighter, but the “untouched” parts will likely get stained a bit.

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I am slowly figuring it out :slight_smile:

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Looks like draftboard… which engraves pretty dark as a rule. It might be tough to get a significantly lighter color.

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You are!

The deeper the engrave the more the white bits will stand proud - but also the darker it will get. If you use hardwood or plywood that has a wood (not draftboard) core you can make it stand prouder and be able to clean the engraved parts :slight_smile:

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Such fine detail. Bootiful

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Using a second layer of acrylic will save tons of time compared to engraving all of that, plus it would not look that clean if engraved.

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