Laser all the Food?

So, we aren’t really supposed to do food in a Glowforge unless it is a unit we have dedicated specifically for food as there is the concern of contamination/chemicals/etc from previous projects. Is anyone else planning to scrap the “First three” until after having done a few food items?

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I know I am. Have several Items in mind…toast, steak, bologna, reese’s PB Cups, Spam… I have a list somewhere. That first engrave/cut of a steak with a really good beer.

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I was thinking of cutting the Founders ruler from chocolate.

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I’m sure Glowforge can’t really approve of this nor can they encourage people discussing how to do this on the forum. Nevertheless after a good cleaning and a complete scrub of the honeycomb? Can’t be too bad. But ash particles that may become trapped on the air assist fan or under the gantry could get blown in. I just haven’t put anything particularly nasty in the Glowforge at least nothing worse than when I barbecue. I don’t know enough about contamination from airborne nor decomp of acrylic and stuff to make a good decision. But I’m the guy using his oven to slump form acrylic bowls.

However, it was Dan who made the pancakes on TV. And most important: did Henry eat the guacamole?

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There ya go!!

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thats generally my belief on the matter. food in the laser is generally more of a novelty than anything but occasionally you can get a good product.

something to keep in mind, even the lowest power may ultimately be too much for most food. we (well i dunno about the rest of y’all but i don’t) don’t eat wood or acrylic, so the carbonization is not a problem. on food it’s vile and renders most laser-cut items inedible.

things often work best if you pick foods where a little bitter overcooking isn’t too bad, like sugar. sprinkle sugar all over your chocolate bar, then lightly engrave. carefully pick it up and pour the uncaramelized sugar back into a bowl. hard candies / :lollipop:, words on crackers, etc.

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Maybe defocusing it a bit will help.

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sure, i’m sure you can do some nicer engraves that way. though for the most part that’s still an obscene amount of energy to focus on the top of your supper :smiley:

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I didn’t scrap the first three, but I still plan on etching some food. I only have a few foods in mind. Like I figure there’s a setting that would work to “erase” the Hershey’s logo from a Hershey Bar. And then probably a setting that would work to etch something new onto it. Not saying I’ll eat it, but… yeah I’ll probably eat it. :wink:

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Probably. After reading all the material tests for harmful chemicals, I’m pretty sure my vapor/particle paranoia will keep me from doing any food after my first non food cut.

along with my family…

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“Scrapping” may have been bad verbiage. My intention is not to ignore doing them at all. It is to not do them quite first.

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No, I knew what you meant. I’m just saying that I have cut and etched woods and acrylics so far, yet I will still attempt food at some point. Certainly I’ll clean as much as possible if I intend to eat it, but I assure you it’s going to happen. :slight_smile:

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This. What I plan on doing - novelty.

If you’re really worried about it take a parasitology class. It’s the equivalent of, if your foot hurts hit your hand with a sledgehammer.

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I ate the banana & chocolate from my banana split :grinning:

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This made me think of hot dogs. Kind of like @marmak3261’s pencils, one could personalize everyone’s hot dogs at a party :slight_smile: Maybe you could engrave a ruler on the hotdog to measure who can take the largest bite? Or video it in order to calculate the rate at which one eats a hot dog?!

Oh the possibilities!!!

Or a cob of corn? Can you focus it long enough on a kernel for it to pop?! Hmm…

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Is pop corn the same as regular maze?

There is a YouTube video of pop corn being lasered.

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Just going to blurt out this random thought here…

How odd… I was just wondering that yesterday.
If only I believed in coincidence…

We are growing maze at the moment, so if I get my GF before harvest time I could test it.

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I couldn’t resist. I looked it up…

Apparently corn and maize are the same thing. (At least as defined by US & Canada.)

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