Walnut Veneer engraves

So first off, @Jules is like my Ygrette - “You know nothing @henryhbk”. So to start out with I realize daily that I know nothing about AI, since before having a laser, I would use it once in a very long while to fix something for a poster or something; and of course @jules is amazing; so when I comically discolored and burned (engraving and cutting wouldn’t really apply to that hot mess) some walnut veneer, I figured I needed some help.

So after learning how to properly trace and then fix-the-trace on a wave pattern I needed (actually not the one I ended up using, but the technique was the same), and how to properly do an outline offset path so I could do a tight surrounding cut, off I went:

Now note, the going outside the cut line was very deliberate (I wanted it to give the “looking through a window effect” and while I could have masked it, wasting a pair of 1/4" little spots of veneer really didn’t matter enough to spend the time.

So engraved and cut it and ran into a problem (although it sort of works with this project):


The dark engrave setting is cut way too thin for the strength of the adhesive backing. When you peel off the protective sheet, it peeled the thin wood right off with it (no matter how gentle I was). The lighter engrave works perfectly.

Luckily when laid on the maple backing, it sort of resembles foam on the waves, so I went with it.

Unfortunately I can’t show the final project for my friend (which looks really cool) as the thing laid on top of this can’t be shown (no not that way you perverts, as in “public can’t view product prototype”). But the prototype was made in a kind of cool way as well.

It is an insanely complex CAD model with 545 parts in the assembly and then partially covered by a really complex lofted spline surface and I wanted to do a cutaway drawing. Suddenly I had an insight. What if i used the mechanical drawing mode of OnShape and produced the drawing I wanted, and exported the drawing as a PDF which I could edit in AI.

So the process works pretty well (note what appear to be lines are actually shapes in OnShape’s PDF) but since I wanted to engrave that worked fine. Note all the other stuff on the mechanical drawing was slightly painful to remove (tick marks, information tables, etc) but not hard.

For the cut line I used the outline technique that @Jules steered me to, which is basically bake the objected an outline path and use that to offset path the cut line.

Looked fantastic, and since I wanted this thing to be sitting as if it was backgrounded by the ocean, I used some 3M VHB adhesive tape (Very High Bonding) which is industrial double stick tape which is pretty thick stuff so actually makes the part look like it is floating in front of the walnut waves since it actually casts a shadow.

Then just engraved the team info in a nice arc above the product (even more floaty appearance) and cut some mounting holes…

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I’m not sure who Ygrette is, but I did not ever say that! Snortle! :wink:

And I never would have thought of engraving the veneer - opens up another huge wad of possibilities! :smile:

That image turned out great…works a lot better than the other one for this.

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Whoa! Never seen/read game of thrones?

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This is a little bit embarassing, but which one was she? (It’s been a few years.) :joy:

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Jon Snow’s wildling girlfriend whose signature line was “you know nothing John snow”

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Okay, I remember her…
(didn’t she get perforated?..doesn’t bode well for me… :fearful:)

Did they ever finish that series?..I think I left it when the chicks were taking over.

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YOU KNOW NOTHING JULES SNOW

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Well, relatively little, truth be told…:wink:

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So yes she does die in Jon’s arms after being shot, and in fact dies with those words on her lips. The show is now past the books, and last season definitely picked up to be a lot more interesting, and can’t wait for this season to start!

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I haven’t seen the last three seasons. She was a great character. Loved the red hair!

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It’s a George R. R. Martin story, so all the best ones get perforated … decapitated (lots of this!), folded, spindled or mutilated.

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Moral of the story…don’t be a nice guy. :unamused:

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The not nice guys are dead too. Moral of the story is don’t be a character in game of thrones.

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Yup kill’em all…lol

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…and never, under any circumstance, attend a wedding.

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Although the revenge for the red wedding to the Freys by Arya was one of the better revenges in the show… :cake:

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I need to go back and rewatch the last season.

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“The only way to win … is not to play.”

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Mr. McKittrick, after very careful consideration, sir, I’ve come to the conclusion that your new defense system sucks.

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Now, listen carefully. Path. Follow path. Gate. Open gate, through gate, close gate. Last ferry 6.30, so run, run, run.

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