I'm Loving Anodized Aluminum!

Made on a Glowforge
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Sure…

https://www.amazon.com/Business-Anodized-Aluminum-Metal-Blanks/dp/B01LMWY8S4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1507669754&sr=8-1&keywords=anodized+aluminum+business+card+blanks

Also, there are a couple other sources that op’s have mentioned in this thread. These cards from Amazon are really beautiful, though…it’s the one pictured in my post above.

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“Halloween is just the beginning.” I like the sound of that!

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What are the settings?

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I posted my settings in Beyond the Manual. They prefer us to do that when we’re using other than proof grade stuff. There may be some posted by others, too.

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I tried looking for it, but couldn’t find it, can you link here?

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Appears I lied…sorry! :roll_eyes: I couldn’t find it either! I just now added the settings at the very bottom of my post. I’ve used the same settings on any anodized aluminum I’ve done. They work consistently well and the outcome has been mostly very good, depending on the quality of the material

https://community.glowforge.com/t/this-doesnt-fit-anywhere-really/10282?u=xabbess&source_topic_id=12490
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Thank you. I’m curious, would I have to set the height of the object I want to engrave?

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Yes. And if the material is somewhat lightweight, you may need to anchor it to make sure it doesn’t move when the fan is running.

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@Xabbess Thanks again! So on the GF setting for material, what should I choose? I don’t see an option for aluminum, just wood and acrylic. Does that matter? I’m worried it will engrave down really thick, when I just want to “scratch” the surface of alumninum. I selected veneer because it’s thin, but not sure.

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You’re most welcome. Anytime you use a non-proofgrade material, you must enter settings manually, beginning with this; click on the word ‘unknown’

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Then you will see this;

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click on ‘use uncertified material’…
then you will see this;

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You then enter the thickness of your material and click on SUBMIT, then down the left side, enter the settings that I gave to you for speed, power, and LPI.

You should be ready to go! Post back and let me know how it worked for you, please.

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Thank you, thank you, thank you!

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:+1:

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Is that Pro or Basic Full power?

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Basic

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I’ve never tried anodized aluminum, but dan has said that the key is to be measure the thickness precisely. Some materials are more sensitive than others to the focus height and supposedly aluminum is one of them. Good luck!

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We are wanting to do business cards as well but seems like everything comes in sheets, did you cut yours or were they pre-cut? If they were pre cut can you tell me where you got them?

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I got 10 business card shaped pieces ordered from amazon:

Amazon Anondized Aluminum Link

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I ordered them from Amazon. They come in several colors and are very good quality.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LMWY8S4/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

edit* great minds think alike…same link as @atlwcb5579 posted

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awesome! thank you so much! When etched is it silver? We are trying to find something that is black and etches gold or gold that etches black

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Yes. When you etch aluminum you are just removing the colored “anodized” portion, which leaves bare aluminum.

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