18th Century Crafts with 21st Century Technology. A Thread for Cheaters.

[Morgan Dreadlocke]

I tip my hat to those Crafters who create their wares with traditional techniques and materials. This thread is intended for us willing to use modern tech in their work and share tidbits of knowledge on how to whip beastly little CNC machines to our will. Feel free to post up a project pic, then tell us how ya did it.

[Morgan Dreadlocke]

Etching glass with a laser.

The task was put before me to place the Groups logo on an empty whiskey bottle. I had recently acquired a small inexpensive diode laser of 12 watts and was time to experiment. 1st attempt on glass was a failure, the beam passed thru the glass and etched the surface below the glass. Next attempt was at 100% power and a slower feed rate. This produced the weird effect of the etch being on the bottom side of the glass instead of the face surface. Research on youtube lead me to the paint trick. A light coat of flat black paint gives the beam something to react against. The paint is then washed off with cheap solvent leaving the etch where ya wanted it. I found the focus to be NOT critical at all, probably 3/8" difference between the high and low areas. Crown royal bottle was done with 90% power, 10 lines per mm and 1000 mm per minute feed. 'Bout 10 minutes run time. Software was the free Laser Grbl program downloaded from the net.

[madPete]

10 hours ago, Morgan Dreadlocke said:

Etching glass with a laser.

The task was put before me to place the Groups logo on an empty whiskey bottle. I had recently acquired a small inexpensive diode laser of 12 watts and was time to experiment. 1st attempt on glass was a failure, the beam passed thru the glass and etched the surface below the glass. Next attempt was at 100% power and a slower feed rate. This produced the weird effect of the etch being on the bottom side of the glass instead of the face surface. Research on youtube lead me to the paint trick. A light coat of flat black paint gives the beam something to react against. The paint is then washed off with cheap solvent leaving the etch where ya wanted it. I found the focus to be NOT critical at all, probably 3/8" difference between the high and low areas. Crown royal bottle was done with 90% power, 10 lines per mm and 1000 mm per minute feed. 'Bout 10 minutes run time. Software was the free Laser Grbl program downloaded from the net.

Interesting issues with glass. The paint trick for the win!