First, remember that not all glass is created equal. While you may think you need more expensive glass to get a great engraving, that’s not always the case. Many of our customers use glassware from restaurant suppliers or dollar-discount stores, both of which engrave beautifully.
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We’ve also developed the following tips that help ensure a nice, frosty engraved finish:
Generally speaking, this material is cut with a laser more than it’s engraved. For engraving, we’d suggest starting with the recommended wood engraving settings in our manual. Plywood can be tricky and inconsistent in terms of cutting, due to the various layers of glue found within it. Balsa seems to cut very nicely and many of our customers use this medium to build various types of models.
This is going to depend on your machine and wattage, but we’d start with the recommended settings for “leather” in Epilog’s user manual. When in doubt, start with a relatively high speed and low power. If you don’t move the item being engraved, it is easy to add a little more power or reduce the speed and run the job again until you get the look you want.
Scrap materials are great not only for creating new projects, but also for use as practice pieces for more challenging engravings, such as photographs. We’ve seen customers make all kinds of things from scrap, such as small acrylic edge-lit signage, ornaments, name tags, and lots more!
Yes! Epilog’s current product lineup can be used with Mac Operating Systems. Our Pulse app lets you connect the laser to your device in one of three ways: Wi-Fi, Ethernet, or USB. Once you connect your device you can open a web browser window, type in the IP address of the laser, and hit enter. The app loads automatically, and you can then import various files and send them to the laser for processing. If you have a legacy system, we recommend using Parallels or Bootcamp to power the lasers from their systems, or simply purchase an adequate PC and dedicate that machine only to the laser.
The biggest piece of maintenance advice is to keep your system clean, especially the optics. Clean optics help ensure that your laser produces the most precise engraving and cutting results. Other maintenance activities will depend on the model of your machine and are included in your owner’s manual. You can also find maintenance videos in our online training site and knowledge base.
This is where scrap materials come in very handy for testing speed and power settings, experimenting with different resolutions, etc. Many of our users go to the big home improvement stores for inexpensive wood and tile (ceramic, marble, etc.) to test and play around with. Thrift stores are also great places to find lots of different low-cost substrates to experiment with. Additionally, “dollar store” retailers often have glassware (pint glasses, wine glasses, beer mugs, etc.) that engrave beautifully.
When you’re in the laser business, you get a lot of questions. Below, we’ve answered 10 of our most frequently asked questions.
Yes. A properly outfitted CO2 laser can cut metal. We’ve developed a metal cutting option, which allows CO2 lasers to cut metals with relative ease. We’ve been doing it for years.
It depends. More specifically, it depends on three primary variables:
If you have a particular metal you’d like to discuss, you can always contact us to discuss the specifics of your material. We will help you determine how or if you’re able to use a CO2 laser cutter to process your desired thickness.
Another option is to send a piece of your material to us and we will cut it into a shape and send it back to you. Then, you can see the edge quality and cut quality for yourself to determine if it meets your standards. Click here if you’re interested in having us test your material on a Kern Laser System.
For more decoration laser cutting machineinformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.
It depends. Laser cutting speeds depend on three primary variables:
For example, let’s look at how wattage impacts CO2 laser cutting speeds.
If you’re cutting ⅛” acrylic plastic on a 150W laser, it’s going to cut 3-4 inches per second. Now, if you take that same material and cut it on a 400W laser, it’s going to cut at about 6-7 inches per second.
Engraving speeds on Kern Laser systems are anywhere from 100 inches per second to 150 inches per second. These speeds are for surface engraving, which typically uses a lower power to mark the surface of a material.
3D engraving, which involves putting depth into a material, anywhere from 3/16” to 1/4″, has speeds that vary from 20 inches per second to 45 inches per second. 3D engraving speeds depend on the intricacy of the pattern.
The laser engraves at varying depths to create a 3D effect using grayscale. Our KCAM software is able to read 256 different shades of grey, and those shades tell the laser what depth to engrave to.
For example, if you drew a three-inch square and made half of it black and the other half light gray, the laser could engrave it at around 30-40 inches per second. The black part of the square would engrave much deeper into the wood than the light gray would.
Overall, operating a laser system is safe. Like all CNC equipment, when operating an open bed (Class 4) laser system eye protection is required. Always rely on your company’s LSO (laser safety officer) to determine the correct laser safety glasses. And remember, enclosed (Class 2) laser systems — like our FiberCELL and LaserCELL — do not require safety glasses.
No. This is an infrared radiant energy that is produced when operating the laser. It’s the same energy that is used in commercial and residential appliances like microwaves. It is a well-tested, very safe way of creating heat.
We design and build all of our systems in our factory here in Wadena, Minnesota. It’s been this way since . Everything in the system is American-made.
Pipe rotary, k-vision, metal cutting, Z12 monument package, advanced safety package, fume scrubbers and PhotoGrav software.
To discuss available options, please contact us.
Yes. We have a technical support team capable of helping with any issue you have. When you call Kern Laser Systems during business hours, you will be greeted by a live receptionist. We pride ourselves on providing excellent customer service. Please check out our testimonials to hear from our customers about their experiences with tech support.
If you want to learn more, please visit our website text laser cutting machine.