I am currently working on a marriage plaque made from clear acrylic. the customer wanted two lovebirds in the center that would stand out. I engraved the lovebirds then cut them out on separate red acrylic and set them inside the engraving. Once it’s all completed later today i’ll post you a picture. But that would the lettering a little pop.
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Read this, if you haven’t:
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^^^what @evansd2 said. it makes a HUGE difference. If I am going to paint, I always defocus.
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I’ve used India Ink with pretty good success. You can brush it into the engraves, or use a dropper which is effectively a controlled flood. You can also do layered approaches, if you invert and engrave from the back.
As for the frosted/frosting, I believe it’s only on one side? If you’re engraving through the frosted side, the frosting should be effectively gone where you’ve engraved.
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Not exactly what you are looking for, but how about engraving the letters (or cutting them out totally) from the front and then cutting letters out of colored acrylic and glue into the the slots? That would give the letters a raised effect suspended in the air due to the clear acrylic.
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I could have sworn there was a powder that you could sprinkle on before engraving. That way the color actually bakes into the melted acrylic as it’s getting done. I can’t remember what that was though, sorry! Maybe someone else can?
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I have, but that does not solve the color fade. thanks
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Now this I have to try. It does make sense that it would liquify the ‘frosted’ look of the engrave.
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Yes. I always defocus the laser for engraves. Doesn’t matter what the material is. It just gives a more uniform engrave.
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Wouldn’t the air assist blast away any powder that is on the surface of the workpiece?
Etching on extruded clear is not as frosted as cast. When I did my earrings, I got better results with the extruded.
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Good point lol It may not have been a powder exactly but something like that:man_shrugging:
I used laser printer toner for this…lol. Way messier than acrylic colorful… 
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Here the pictures not completed yet they will be placed into thick PG Walnut. But the lovebirds are acrylic and glued into an engraved area of the same design.
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That looks great, but I could get to the same effect just using my vinyl cutter and stickering the colors. But I’d like to avoid that.
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Hi, do you defocus by setting the focal height to less than actual material height, or do you set it to more? For simple example: if material is 0.5" thick, do you set focal height to 0.25? Or if 0.25" thick, set it to 0.5? Thanks!
(Today is both >85F and can’t open windows due to hazardous air quality from wild fire smoke–so can’t simply experiment myself today without making it more hazardous inside the house!).
I set the focus higher. So if the material is 2,5mm thick I will set it at 5mm
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Thanks!
There are plastics made that will change color where the laser strikes… and/or even bubbles up to create raised markings–usually just for product labelling/date code type of work.
