My Glowforge will not engrave on a black paper bag

Hello, my name is Ronda Fisher
from Layton, UT. I have been trying to engrave a logo on a black paper bag with no results. I don’t even see the light from the laser. I have my speed at 1000/10/270. Does anyone have any suggestions or can help.
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What are you expecting it to do? The laser burns material so that will leave a dark mark. On a black surface I wouldn’t expect to see anything.

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I have seen a lady on youtube that was engraving on a black paper bag get results from engraving.https://youtu.be/J9vaS9M71Hs

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As stated, you can’t engrave onto a black material. The only way that would work is if the underlying material was lighter, i.e. a black-painted paper bag where the surface paint was removed by engraving.

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I think you might get good results here. If it were me I’d make a very small graphic (like 1” square) and try going slower. Try 500/20/270.

I’m not saying this because I know it’ll work I’m just saying that you’ll need to test.

500 no result? Drop it to 300.

Eventually you’ll see something. It might burn through the paper. If so, speed it up some or drop the power. You’ll have it narrowed down very quickly.

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Yes I just watched that video to understand what was going on. It is a brown paper that had coloring applied to the outside. She is engraving off the color. If your bags are like that then perhaps you need to raise the power a bit more. Maybe you are not getting fully through the paint. It will be a fine line though between getting the color off and not going through the paper.

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Thank you for the suggestion.

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Thank you.

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You may think this has nothing to do with it…

But if you click through and click the “I have a couple other pictures” link in there you’ll see that I successfully engraved on a black envelope. I don’t recall my settings but it can definitely work.

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There are papers with a different color of ‘core’…I have some. In fact, I’ve used black and the laser leaves another color showing. I have also engraved on just black card stock…which just naturally showed a rather lighter brown engraving. Just depends on the paper. The black card stock was just a happy accident.

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I would have expected those settings to show, I engrave colored paper with those settings. But I’m sure the paper makes a difference as Xabbess said.

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There are exceptions. My black chipboard can be lightened by engraving on low power. The bag is worth a try.

image

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Could you tell me what speed was you using.

I have no idea what speed I was using…it was a long time ago. I suggest you just use the Proofgrade settings in the dropdown menu for 20# printer paper. That should give you some good results or at least a starting point to tweak your settings.

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The black stock I use frequently engraves nicely at 1000/17. However, different stocks may be different. Your might also have one that does not mark well due to the color being consistent all the way through.

I would do a test with a range of different power levels using something like @evansd2 's material test cut method.

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