Glass - Epilog Fusion M2 32 Manual

SECTION 14: MATERIAL ENGRAVING TECHNIQUES
• Note: Use caution when trying to engrave brass coated pens. Many pens have a very hard epoxy paint that is
completely unacceptable for CO2 laser engraving. You should only use pens that you have experimented with or that
are specifically designed for CO2 laser engraving. Be aware that there are many pens that can be laser engraved with
a fiber laser but these pens are usually not compatible with the CO2 laser that you are using.
• Some paints are "almost" CO2 laser engraveable. If you engrave through the paint and there is a slight shadow
remaining, try to clean the engraved area with alcohol or lacquer thinner. Depending on the paint, there is a good
chance that the shadow will disappear and an excellent engraving result achieved.
• Use caution when trying to engrave blue painted brass. Blue paints contain very aggressive pigments that penetrate
the metal surface and it can be extremely difficult to remove all of the blue color, but again, try alcohol or lacquer
thinner to remove the shadow.

Glass

When a laser strikes glass it fractures the surface but it will not engrave deeply or remove material. The fracturing of the
glass surface will produce a frosted appearance but can cause roughness and chipping depending on the type of glass
being engraved. While the frosted appearance is desired, the roughness and chipping are not. Below we explain how to
eliminate the roughness and produce a very smooth frosted finish.
The composition and quality of glass varies widely and you cannot always predict the effect that you will achieve. It is
always best to experiment with an unfamiliar glass source. Generally speaking, flat glass tends to have a very consistent
hardness throughout, and the engraved areas do not tend to have lighter and darker areas. Bottles on the other hand, tend
to have soft and hard spots that will cause the engraved area to appear lightly frosted in one area and heavily frosted in
another. Engraving at medium speed and high power will somewhat compensate for this, as will two or more engraving
passes.
While the laser beam itself is very hot, the heat does not build up easily and it should not prevent you from engraving
onto full bottles of wine, champagne or other filled glass bottles. Laser engraving filled bottles is a very popular method of
creating custom presentations for special occasions. The laser will not damage the liquid inside the bottle, and as long as
you are not completely engraving away a large section of bottle you have very little chance of breaking the bottle.
Glass Engraving Techniques
To produce a smooth frosted finish, here are some tips:
• 300 DPI: Using a lower resolution, around 300 DPI, produces a better result on glass as you separate the dots you
are engraving.
• 80% Grayscale: Change the black in your graphic to 80% black to improve the engraving quality.
• Jarvis Dithering: Running with a Jarvis dithering pattern in the driver (you'll find this under the raster speed and
power settings) will also help provide a smoother finish.
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