Really nice contrast on that.
Yup dish soap works best that I’ve seen…I used to use wet newsprint on glasses years ago…and that worked ok, but after someone found out dish soap worked…been doing that ever since…
Newsprint works better than paper towels - takes a lot longer to dry out. But dish soap seems to stay wet longest.
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Yeah, I still don’t have my settings perfected for glass, but I think I’m getting my best results with dish soap.
Would it make a difference if you masked the other side of the plate?
No, since the ‘masking’ for glass is about protecting the glass from breaking under stress from the laser and not about focus for the laser. The glass is opaque to the laser. Heat gets too much without some moisture masking, then glass breaks or other bad stuffs happen.
ok. I was just thinking that maybe if you put something on the other side
of plate for laser to focus on. So excited to try!
This thermal masking is a new concept for me. Would it be important for all glass etching? Or because this plate is fairly thin it needed a soap mask?
Not entirely sure. There are several undesirable things glass can do under the thermal stress, so I’d probably use soap or similar no matter the glass.
Laser can’t see the other side of the plate either way. If a defocused effect was desired, could just change the actual focus ‘thickness’ for the laser.
Could someone translate dish soap for a Brit ?
I suspect it’s what I’d call liquid detergent ?
The stuff you wash the dishes with, not keep in a dish by the sink !
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it’s liquid dish soap used for washing dishes by hand. It’s different from liquid dishwasher soap (meant to be used in a dishwasher) and liquid detergent that is used in clothes washing machines. 
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Thanks James, that is what I thought.
John
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ohh…Learning lots of new stuff!
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I recall someone saying the cheaper the glass the better it lasered, implying higher quality glass shattered more. I have no idea if this is correct or not.
Somewhat correct. Mainly refering to crystal glass…
Lead crystal can easily shatter so its advised to use the cheaper lower quality.
Aka Dollar store glass as opposed to Macy’s…lol
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What settings did you use? And if I am understanding this correctly you cover the surface of the shot glass with dish soap first then engrave?
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There are a lot of variables why these settings might not be ideal for you but I have had pretty good luck with 950 / 100 at 340 LPI. I have been thinking about backing off the power a little on the next run. Yes, I put a light coating of dish soap over any part of the surface that will get engraved. To date, I think I have sold about four shot glasses. Will take a while to pay for my Glowforge at that rate but it’s a start.
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I haven’t tried anything curved yet. Do you have a jig that holds the shoot glass? How much can you engrave at a time before the image/text looks warped? Do you cut the image/text into sections and rotate the glass between engraves?
Sorry for all the questions. I’m just curious as to how manual this process is.
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I have a couple other posts where I describe my process and answer some of your questions…
So far, I have only made a single shot glass jig based on the 20 glass jig I designed.
I started seeing distortion on the edges when the design got a little more than 1" wide. I haven’t tried manually rotating to do a wider design but it should be possible.
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Thank you! I will read through those.
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