I decided I wanted to play with some wood on the laser at work. They have an Epilog and I’ve been using it to proof of concept the techniques I think that will benefit me when I have the glowforge at home. (Can’t come soon enough!)
Anyway - to cut to the chase… the finished product
Methodology:
Designed in Illustrator and made things well known colors where I wanted to change up speed and power. I used 0,0,0 100,0,0 255,0,0 0,100,0, 0,255,0 as my well known colors.
It’s very nice! I’d say you are very good at subtle layering. The settings photos are too small to read on my tiny iPhone screen but I’m guessing these or similar techniques will serve you well when you get your Glowforge.
Nice project, nice result, and nice write up! Thanks for sharing. I’m sure the experience will help you get a running start once your Glowforge arrives.
I’m wondering about that. There are some things the pre-releasers have posted about how they’ve prepped a design that are either not done that way on my current machines or would result in a radically different outcome. I wonder if those of us with laser experience already will need to unlearn a lot of stuff.
This is a great demo and very inspiring. I’ve been thinking about the different effects that you can get with engraving and it makes my head hurt. The Glowforge’s lines per inch setting can really make an engraving look totally different when coupled with power and speed. Makes me want to test some more.
If they give me a beta unit I have a project a day lined up and could iterate and tell you. (Hint hint @dan ;-). I have well over $1k in inventibles and Johnson’s plastics sitting and waiting. I can cycle through the projects I have for my club and work quicker on a machine at home than a shared one at work.
I did the day that was posted months ago. I work with 120 high schoolers every week in the robotics club - we’ve now used my work laser for signage, boxes to host marketing materials, and parts. I live all of 10 miles from the glow forge offices in Seattle - I offered to pick it up there without shipping if easier.
