New GF Owner Looking for Hardwood Engraving Settings

[evansd2]

Everything @geek2nurse said is spot on. As for engraving settings, we just had a similar discussion:

Raster ablation on Stahls Cad-Cut Heat transfer vinyl

Hello! I’m having some difficulties finding the right settings for Stahls CAD-CUT HTV. First I should clarify that this brand of heat transfer vinyl does not produce chlorine gas when heated or burned. It contains no vinyl despite the name. I think they continue to call it that not to confuse people who normally look for “HTV” when ordering material. Stahls has a whole page on MSDS and safety for this material in laser application. Just wanted to clarify that before I get mobbed on how this “is…

The entire discussion will be right up your alley, worth a read.

Also:

How I Prepare Photos for Engraving Using Photoshop

I originally posted this over on my website at Glowforge Projects: How to Prepare a Photo Engrave Using Photoshop and Engraving on the Glowforge Laser Cutter but thought it might make an OK addition here. I think all of the photos are carrying over - fingers crossed… If you’re here, you are probably wondering how to get the best photo engrave out of your Glowforge 3D Laser Printer / Cutter. And you’re in the right place, because, besides cutting jigsaw puzzles, engraving photos keeps my machine…

Oh and you’ll probably want to get to know jigs. Alignment of engraves on precut materials will be important:

Alignment of irregular objects (Coasters)

I got a set of slate coasters. Unfortunately slate’s a pretty analog material, and each square was very slightly different. Under normal circumstances, this would not be an issue, as the differences were very small… but these are to be a matched tiling set, and so alignment was crucial. The way I solved for it was to make a “consumable” jig. Carefully measure your coaster: length, width and height. Be sure to mark the bottom somehow so you know your orientation later. Go to your favorite S…