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Whether youu2019re an amateur or a successful engineer, it takes time and patience to learn the proper uses of design equipment, and gaining expertise to avoid mistakes and pitfalls. Often it happens that designers fail to understand what went wrong and wonder how they could improve upon their mistakes. And this holds true for every field and not just laser engraving.
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Whether you’re an amateur or a successful engineer, it takes time and patience to learn the proper uses of design equipment, and gaining expertise to avoid mistakes and pitfalls. Often it happens that designers fail to understand what went wrong and wonder how they could improve upon their mistakes. And this holds true for every field and not just laser engraving. Having knowledge to avoid these mistakes is similar to winning half of the battle. Universal engraver reviews few common mistakes related to laser engraving and explain the ways to steer away from them:
Ensuring that laser doesn’t burn material while engraving fabric: The most primary step while using laser engraving/cutting machine is to ensure that you avoid burning the fabric. This can be attained by understanding which fabric can withstand what temperature and the endurance of the fabric for the process. Fabrics such as canvas, denim and leather can easily endure the high power settings during engraving. However, delicate fabrics are trickier to use. While handling delicate fabrics it is utmost important to keep your setting and high speed and low power initially. It is only after testing these initial settings on a spare material, that you increase the power and use it on the actual material for desired results. By testing the spare material you must ensure that the fabric can withstand the engraving process.
2. No Frosty White Engraving While Using Acrylic: This typically occurs when you use wrong acrylic during the engraving. There are two kinds of acrylic used in laser engraving and each one of them are used and suitable for different applications. First one is cast acrylic sheets or objects, they’re typically created by pouring liquid acrylic into moulds of different sizes and shapes. This acrylic when engraved produces a frosty white colour, making them perfect for awards and plaques. These acrylic can be cut with a laser without polished edges. Universal engraver explains that the second type of acrylic is called extruded acrylic and is formed by machines into sheets. It is more economical than cast acrylic and reacts distinctly to cast acrylic while engraving. This acrylic cuts cleanly and produces zero white frosts.
3. Inconsistent Glass engraving: Sometimes when a laser hits glass, it might fracture and not engrave properly. While the fractured glass may produce a frosty look, it can be chipped and rough. Although this completely depends on the type of glass being used for engraving. Nevertheless, no one wants a rough and chipped look on glass.
4. Not anticipating different results while engraving Wood: While wood is one of the most laser-friendly materials out there, different kinds of wood react differently to laser engraving. While lighter woods such as cherry and maple produce good contrast when engraved, denser woods demand more laser power for cutting. Take care of these two things while engraving on wood - wood engravings produce smoke during the process and can get embedded into the wood grain. In order to avoid this, always engrave from bottom to top as this helps smoke steer away from the engraving. Also, while engraving stained wood, debris and smoke can be whipped off using damp cloth.
5. Non- Maintenance of the machine: Similar to any other machine, or design equipment, laser engraving machine also requires maintenance. A clean machine will produce better results. Tips and steps for maintenance are usually included in the laser machines’ manual. If you observe a drop in performance, the first things to check and clean would be the optics. Universal engraver reviews and recommends that laser optics are checked and cleaned on a weekly basis. Optics might need frequent cleaning if they’re used to engrave materials that produce residue such as acrylic and wood. Optics when healthy are clear gold in colour and when they seem cloudy or smudgy, it means that it is time that they’re cleaned.
The above listed mistakes and errors are highly common among designers, especially the beginners or novice makers. But these mistakes are easily avoidable, if one knows their basics. Universal engraverassists designers and engravers in purchasing the right laser machine for them and guides them in selecting materials and aware them about common mistakes.
