Tutorial done! Time to play ;)

I am such a slacker. It too me 2-3 weeks to setup my Glowforge. I had to get the kids back to school and they just kept getting sick. I have finally named my Glowforge Fotoforge Glowinkle (yes, I panicked. I thought the names were just people naming them for their own reasons). The name is slowly growing on me. I printed these 4 tutorials on Monday. I am noticing alignment issues in the Chinese wave design. The rulers look great though!

I am currently printing a 3D photo engrave on prograde plywood. I see cutting is not an option at the moment. Do you recommend engrave first, cut later or is this something in the works?

And, on a side note, I love these little pieces! I am making a collection of these bits as well as my duct tape tears!.. (I’m an artist, not a hoarder. I promise!)


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Your going to need a bigger collection box.

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Correct – bitmap/rasters may only be engraved. Cutting requires vectors. If you want to cut out an engraved object, it will need a cutline drawn around it. Many methods for doing so here:

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Love it! Duct Tape Art! :wink:
(And all your other projects are fabulous as well!) :smile:

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Thanks. I will try this shortly. I just dragged the puzzle over the photoengrave and am surprised with the results!

Still a work in progress. I removed the tape and washed the dust off. It is still drying, but I am really impressed and inspired to do another one!

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I’ve started a jar!

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I am starting off with a shoe box. I am using the glowforge proof grade material shipping boxes for the big skeletons.

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I’d love to see that once you finish! I think I’m over wood engravings. Now it’s time to move on to metal. Originally when I purchased this I was hoping to engrave on copper (like a photogravure), but that’s not possible. Now I think I will try some other sort of metal.

I am storing my offcuts in a jar exactly like this, too…only one with a clear lid. Great minds!

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Glad you finally found some time to set up your Glowforge. Neat collection of leftovers. I look forward to seeing that jar fill up!

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Don’t give up on the idea, I have been thinking on that, and while Glowforge cannot do copper directly, it will do 3D-engraves on wood and if thin copper was fastened to the engraving and rubbed thoroughly with the rounded end of a stick it would flow into the grooves and valleys of the engraving. A few finishing touches and you could say that Glowforge was a big part of the process.

I will have to get mine and do some research to know exactly what worked and what didn’t but the plan is sound I think.

This is an interesting idea, but not exactly what I had in mind. Photogravures are made with copper to essentially transfer a photo to a copper plate that can be inked and transferred back to paper. It sounds pointless, but the point of transferring a photo to a copper plate can have endless possibilities for hand manipulation. Originally, photogravures were and still are made with very toxic, cancerous materials, which is why a lot of people do not make them anymore.

I tried the 3D engrave feature. It is awesome looking, but not the same as a photogravure. I am slowly abandoning the photogravure for a new evolution. I feel my Fotoforge Glowinkle (my Glowforge) will have a huge part in whatever that evolution is.

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My bane in life has been an inability to narrowly focus, or rather more I follow opportunity as it presents. If nobody wants “X” (or the tools are no longer availible) but “Y” is available to accomplish, I don’t lose interest in “X” but add “Y” to what I am interested in doing. I have pretty much run the Alphabet that way, and have found that every older thing has insight to add to the new one that others have not brought to it, and so it is with the copper.I have not focused on repossee much though I have done a lot with copper. but I can see the opportunity of having a robot doing the hard work, and how that would be a really nice result.
As for the printing you describe there has been a lot of efforts that the laser is uniquely qualified to do by engraving wood, marble and even tile to an amazing level of precision.

I have not gone down the printing path as I have mostly stayed in 3D so there may be subtleties that copper can do but similar Stainless Steel or marble cannot but that is beyond my knowledge to know it.