engraving candles

[Don Necaise]

Hello everyone

Has anyone laser engraved wax candles and color filled that can share a few tips. I am in the process of trying this and need some tips.


Thanks in advance

[James Stokes]

It generally does not work with a laser but have heard if you freeze the candles first you can engrave them. Have not tried freezing them myself but have tried them unfrozen and the wax simply melted in place and stayed in the engraving so you could not tell anything had been done.

[onur cakir]

It generally does not work with a laser but have heard if you freeze the candles first you can engrave them. Have not tried freezing them myself but have tried them unfrozen and the wax simply melted in place and stayed in the engraving so you could not tell anything had been done.

didnt worked for me too, melted candle filled the engraved parts.

[Nancy Laird]

Since lasering is a burning process, it logically follows that burning a candle will not result in good engraving. Freezing may work, but I doubt it.

[Janet Liddiard]

I also wanted to engrave candles, and had seen one done in a retail store. I tried a number of different power/speed settings. Some just melted the wax and others were okay, but didn't show enough contrast. I haven't yet tried color fill. I'll be interested to hear other people's suggestions.

[nancy barry]

I agree with Nancy L. that laser engraving a candle may not work. I would be concerened about a fire as the flash point for most candle wax is in the 200* range. I think the temp of the laser beam is a lot hotter than this. I used to be a chandler and had a wax fire ONCE! NEVER AGAIN! SCARY! and almost impossible to control. So, do be CAREFUL and make sure you have the correct fire extinguisher at hand should it be necessary.

I think the engraving could be done with a rotary cutter/cnc type machine. The one I saw definitely had a grove that could have been color-filled. Regular hobby paint might work in the groove only. It just peels off if used to paint a large area. Also might try rubb-n-buff type product as this is wax base.

good luck,
nancyB

[Tim Bateson]

I spent the last hour trying - frozen and non-frozen. Speed 30% - 100% / Power 2%-100%. With & without air assist.

It cannot be done with a laser! It melts and re-hardens way too fast.

[Frank Corker]

...are you guys bored or something? Here is a really good tip, practice on butter and save loads on candle wax

[Rodne Gold]

Frozen choc bars engrave ok

[Rodne Gold]

The idea with candles is to make moulds that "add on" wax designs can be cast into and these gizmos are stuck to the candle. Its also quite easy to make big moulds for the candle itself to be cast into and one can perhaps do designs on the wall of the mould (obviously making sure they release)

There are waxes that engrave better than candle wax which is very soft , and that is jewellery and dental wax. But the laser doesnt work well on these either

CnC engravers will do the job tho and the way to colour fill is to use a mask on the wax you are engraving and fill the engraved portions with coloured waxes , using a cloth dipped in boiling water to remove excess , then strip off the marking.
If using a CnC bit for engraving wax , you need one with a VERY large back clearance so the wax swarf can easily be cleared. A 1/4 round D/V bit is prefered over the traditional 1/2 round D/V bit used for engraving.

[Finn Espen Gundersen]

Reviving this old thread to make you all aware of this youtube video posted in May: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtjsJYntlUA
On the webpage they say they are among the very few doing this with lasers. Which seems reasonable since many thought it couldn't be done.
It is apparent from the video that they are set for cut (i.e. not raster), but of course they may use an assist gas or have the candle covered in some way before lasering. Although the original candle sticker seems visible on the bottom. It would be fun to make this work. Any ideas?

[Glen Monaghan]

It appears that the difference is others were trying to engrave a plain candle, while this looks like a dark wax candle covered with a thin layer of light colored was, and the laser is vaporizing away the light colored wax to create the design, same idea as with typical plastic name tags where a thin top layer is vaporized to reveal a different colored core layer.

[Joe Hillmann]

Looking at the website attached to that video, that company has a yag and I would guess that is what they are using to engrave the candles (although that may be a galvo CO2). If you can't get candles to engrave I would suggest to try using a masking and spray paint.

[Joe Hillmann]

I just tried engraving on some candles with a yag and had no luck. I tried a yellow, a red and a brown candle thinking color may make a difference. The laser didn't touch the yellow or red no matter how high I had the power and the brown melted before it engraved.

[Dennis Watson]

Look closely, its a Walmart candle. But interesting in how he is doing it. Looks great.