Wood Character Charms and Ideas

Beyond the Manual
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Been a while since I posted on here and I want to give people ideas and general expereinces with the laser, but I make a lot of charms either for my friends so heres some things I’ve made and some settings.

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I used MDF sourced here: Amazon.com
and covered it with paper transfer tape: Amazon.com

I like the MDF for charms cause the transfer looks super super crisp even on small stuff so its nice for freebees you give to people.

ALSO greys look great on the MDF So here’s some examples of how I did the greys in the charms.

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For the black you can make it the standard draftboard, but I like it with more lines per inch,
LPI :340
Greys are made with using a draft graphic at 70 power, speed 1000

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I’ve also made some Purpleheart charms, these are extremely annoying to make as purpleheart is hard to cut, kinda unpredictable.
My settings have been
Cutting:
Speed 130
power 100
cut: 3
Engrave:
Speed- 1000
power-100
Lines per inch: 450

The reason purpleheart is annoying is because it can just not want to cut complex things cause its really dense, also leaves tons of ash no matter what you do, and if it scorches can leave a red-ish tint and looks really bad and is next to impossible to sand it off right.
I sourced my wood here: Purpleheart Hardwood - Purpleheart Wood and Thin Boards | Ocooch Hardwoods
Covered it with the paper transfer paper: Amazon.com

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Lastly, when you’re assembling them you can pick either super cheap phone straps or the cool clasps, idk I figure I’d link some of cool ones, I like the star ones they make the charms really pop.
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Star Clasps: Amazon.com
Basic phone straps: Amazon.com

33 Likes
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Nice work!
I just moved this post to Beyond the Manual, as it contains settings. See the FAQ.

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Purpleheart is definitely a tougher wood to cut but it can be done. You didn’t mention what thickness it was, and limiting yourself to 100 instead of full will definitely hinder you.

Full on a pro is different from full on a basic but on my pro I usually get through 1/8” purpleheart at about 180/full/1x. It can vary a bit but it’s right around there. It does char black though so if you use it in a box and want less noticeable finger joints you’ll have to cut it long and sand it down.

For example:

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Great share. Thanks for the links and the inspiration.

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Nice write-up … plus always nice to have links to products. Some very cute charms!

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Those are pretty cute. I wish I could draw…:confused:

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