Hand Washing sign, first print

Just got my Glowforge up and running, thought this would be a great sign for the bathroom when we get the studio opened back up. This one is on draft board, probably see what it looks like in acrylic. Any tips for artwork changes if I want to light it up with leds?

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Nice job! If you do it on acrylic for edge lit, be sure to flip the design horizontally so it reads correctly through the opposite side—it will look much better that way.

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Nice project and really important. If it were me, I’d make it a bit bigger, that font is cool but crowded at this size and the purpose here is to be easily understood.

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If you add LEDs, you have to program them to light up each step at the appropriate time, so the handwasher knows exactly how long to keep doing them. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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I love this idea and legit have everything needed to do this.

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Totally new here, so I apologize if this is an amateur question. Did you color in the black? I just did my very first cut with coasters. I have a very faint brown line and not really anything like an engraving. It may be my fault due to the intricate image I chose. Yours looks amazing and nice and bold!

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Hey not to speak for the OP @jaywilliams2112 or anyone else, but since you’re both brand new (also welcome, that’s awesome, glad you guys are here!) maybe I can offer some help on this.

Engraving is a really subjective topic, how your individual project comes out will depend a great deal on your material choice, art choice, and settings.

From the pictures and the fact that this is jaywilliams’s first post, I am guessing that’s draftboard (aka MDF), which does engrave pretty dark. Using the glowforge default settings should be able to get you started, I’d suggest doing small test (like a 1" square piece of art, so you don’t waste too much material) with each setting to see what you like.

Other materials engrave higher or lower contrast, you’ll just have to experiment as you go.

Cork, for example, engraves almost jet black at the slightest hint of laser, and walnut is kind of the opposite, and is usually pretty low contrast when you’re done.

There was a thread recently where we talked a bit about engraving tests, it’s one of many such threads, but it’s fresh on my mind, so let’s see if I can find it:

Aha here we go… read this whole thread, it’s very relevant to what you’re asking.

Have fun and test a bunch :slight_smile:

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It is draft board, I didn’t color in anything. The hands came out really light the first time it printed, and I ended up sending it back through for a couple more passes over just that part. Everything else was just engraved and scored.

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First mistake here then, did 6 of them and they all suck :grin:

I’m learning the value of materials testing as well. Put 'em back in there, that’s what I did!

Christ, I’m sorry, I’ve been bugging evansd2 thinking I was asking you! Nice sign btw.

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Would love to see that.

When our preemie daughter was born at 1lb - 10oz we had to wash hands for 2 minutes to get into the Special Care Nursery. That is a long time. Many would be surprised that a proper hand wash takes longer than 5 seconds.

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Yep, totally remember! (Two of my three were preemies, but not quite THAT tiny!) Do they still use those little plastic scrub brushes? I wish I still had some of those! :slight_smile:

He can handle a little bugging. :slight_smile: And you can’t go wrong learning stuff from him, I’ve gotten a wealth of great information by bugging him!

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Yes we used a brush for nails. That was in 1997.

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That’s RIGHT you better apologize, I hate talking about laser stuff with nice people. YOU MONSTER.

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haha, i know, pretty terrible right!! I’m hitting you up with my next question, you might hate me soon :slight_smile:

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This might be a stupid question but do you have to do that with all acrylic LED stuff? I plan on doing some next weekend.

Yes and if I remember right they had a kind of gritty hand soap as well. Here anyways.