Test "3D Engrave"

[pauljima]

So I’m working on a project to make a portable version of my favorite board game. All the components are done (standees cut with Glowforge instead of giant miniatures), so now I’m working on making the box. I wanted to engrave the logo, but decided to try a 3D Engrave first. I’m really happy with these results!

It’s amazing what a simple dropshadow in a grayscale image can do!

Settings on Maple Hardwood PG.

Top:
Map grays to power
Speed 500
Power 80%
Minimum power 1
340 LPI (I figure 300 dpi is good quality print resolution, should be fine for this)
2 passes

The bottom is the same except…
Power 100 on first pass
Power 50 on second pass

Just a minor variation test to see what would happen. I then washed under water and scrubbed with an old toothbrush.

These were small (logos are ~3" wide)… when I do it to my box lid, it’ll be much larger, so I’m sure the engrave will seem shallower, but I’m quite pleased with how these turned out!

[tim1724]

Very cool!

[cbarker]

Excellent work!

[michell_tateoka]

looks great!

[Jules]

Wow! That’s a stunning result from just a drop shadow! Great technique!

[PrintToLaser]

Ver nice detailed work! Aren’t these machines great?!

With the first few engraves I cleaned with water, I noticed a slight raising of the grain. A while back Dan mentioned alcohol won’t do that, and ever since that is what I have used.
On those thousand tokens I did in maple, it was infinitely quicker to peel the mask before the operation and wash them instead of weeding them. I would drop 15 of them into alcohol and let them soak a few minutes before removing them one at a time an wiping them clean. By the time I got to the last one soaking it had been in alcohol for like 10 minutes. Never a trace of any effect on the wood.

[takitus]

This is great! I can’t wait to get a machine that can Andre the map grays to power. 3d engraves was one of the major reasons I bought this laser.

[ptodd]

What an amazing finish! Bookmarking! Thank you for sharing!

[pauljima]

I’ll have to give that a shot! And it never occurred to me to take off the masking tape first since I’m gonna wash the whole thing anyway!

So you just let it soak in alcohol and no scrubbing? I can’t say I’ve noticed much raising of wood grain in these, but for future projects, it’ll be a good nugget of info to keep in my “memory warehouse.” =)

[PrintToLaser]

No scrubbing, just a through wipe with a rag took the residue right off. The rag suffered though.

[mpipes]

I can’t say I’ve noticed much raising of wood grain in these, but for future projects, it’ll be a good nugget of info to keep in my “memory warehouse.” =)

I had washed my first solid maple PG pieces using water and toothbrush, and after drying they physically curled. It may have been the deeeeep engrave in them, but I switched to acetone because I didnt have alcohol handy, and that works well too.

[bruceaulrich]

Acetone can kind of eat up your skin, even though I use it for quite a few things. Denatured alcohol can be used as well. Many woodworkers will use this to rid the piece of dust and see what the grain will look like once finish is applied. Acetone does do well with stickers in general though.

[mpipes]

I might be immune to acetone, hands in it daily with composites, casting or painting work.

[jeanneleigh]

Those look fantastic! Thanks for sharing!

[shollg]

The engraved logo looks great! Really good to see what your settings were, but any chance of posting the file you used? I know what I mean when I say “dropshadow”, but would like to see the “before” to compare to the final product.
thanks!

[cynd11]

Wow, that looks fantastic! I really must give it a try.

[chadmart1076]

Cthulhu Wars is a HUGE game to make portable! Would love to see the final project. And that logo looks awesome.

I’ve never played the game, but the group I was in when I first moved to WA knows Sandy Petersen (designer of the game) quite well. He was at our game nights fairly often demoing and playing the game. I may have taught him a game once, Mission Red Planet maybe? I can’t remember. For those not familiar, here’s a pic of the “mini’s”

[pauljima]

Ah, good call. Here’s a shrunken version of the image I used…

The text is 25% black and given an outside stroke of white. The drop shadow I just messed with until it had a spread and darkness I liked.

[pauljima]

Yeah, CW is a luxury game for sure, but it’s SO DAMN GOOD! If you haven’t played it yet, you’re missing out! I decided to make a travel edition because I wanted something I could bring to a friend’s house as a “just in case”… and I can’t bring the massive box.

My travel edition is only the core box, so it’s only 4-player, but I’ve painted my minis, so I made standees using photos I took of them, front and back.

The project is done, just missing the box and custom trays, but here are some progress shots at the start of the project…

The Great Cthulhu faction in its entirety fits in the palm of my hand! =)

The map tiles I made are actually double-sided trifolds like the actual map boards.

I’ve mounted everything on some chipboard, so it’s portable but still pretty solid. =)

[chadmart1076]

That’s awesome!