Help on photo engraving

[Uros Sovilj]

First happy new year to all Creekers hoping you enjoy your holidays.

I have some question on foto engraving on wood.


I have a customer that want to engrave old photo on cherry wood. He sent me scanned picture in different resolutions. He wants it in size 16x14 inches.
I run gold method in Photo shop and look good for engraving to me but like said I am no expert so all help is needed.

I have two questions.
1. Due to big size and on fact I never did photo this size I don't have a clue how long will take for machine to do this, so don't have a clue what to charge for job. Any suggestions are welcome.

2. Technical. Should i put coat on wood before or after engraving on that big piece? Finish on which base do you recommend ( water, acrylic..)?

I will try settings on small test piece but don't believe I can calculate time from test results because of accelerating of axis.
Thanks for help

[Andrew Mammoliti]

At 300 dpi going to take at least 30-50 min depends on your machine. If your suppling the wood min. 100.00 dollars.

[Allen Isakson]

Iv'e got a 60 watt chinese laser myself. It would take me 50 min for a photo that size.

[Scott Shepherd]

Or about 11 minutes on our Trotec..... there's a photo on the Trotec reporting for duty thread that shows a tile done in 8 or 9 minutes.

[Dan Hintz]

Or about 11 minutes on our Trotec..... there's a photo on the Trotec reporting for duty thread that shows a tile done in 8 or 9 minutes.

Show off

[Bruce Dorworth]

Man. I would really love to see a video of a machine running fast enough to engrave that size photo in 11mins.

I agree with Dan, SHOW OFF! but you da man.

Bruce

[Scott Shepherd]

Sorry about that Dan and Bruce I only mentioned it because we are seeing a flood of new laser owners on here, and the common thread seems to be that all lasers output is the same, when it's not. At 50 minutes do this this photo, you'd take almost 5 times longer than me to engrave it. If you charged 1/2 of what I do, I'd still have beat you on the time and the price. So it's possible that a more expensive machine can give you a competitive advantage, rather than just being wasted money, as some may suggest.

[Uros Sovilj]

Thanks for all replys

I am interested in your expirience with your machine. I then do rough math where I stand due to power and type of machine you have in signature. It's the same for speed and power settings.
For preparation, wood, engraving and finishing 100$ seems a good price for me so I will go with it.
Thanks again

[Allen Isakson]

I dont believe that buying the more expensive machine is a waste of money, just out of reach for many people. 11 min for a photo that size is nice but a laser like computer is only as good as the operator. I get tired of people dogging this machine or that machine. A machines output to me is not the speed but the quality. If you have nothing but photos to do all day every day, then yes speed is the way to go. Speed without the quality = 0 in my book.
It would be nice if people stuck to answering a thread based on what is being asked instead of opinion. In this thread they want to know how long it woud take to base a fare price on the peace. I replied because my machine was simuler.

[Scott Shepherd]

Speed without the quality = 0 in my book.

I seriously doubt you'll have to sacrifice quality for speed with the Trotec. You can have one without losing the other.

People make comments like mine because this is the written word, not the spoken word, and people may be reading this 1 year from now. Would you rather read a thread that has information only showing one side of it, it would you like for future readers that are considering various things, to see a variety of options?

Maybe someone out there is thinking about starting a home based business and they are into photography. Maybe they want to engrave nothing but photos. They would read this, think "50 minutes" and then make their decision based on 1 piece of data. However, by putting up other information, it would allow them to see other options. They make think "11-12 minutes instead of 50, let's at least look at that option", and then they can make a well informed decision based on their own needs and budget. They may have to go with the 50 minute option, or they may not, but at least they had more information to make a better educated decision.

Having only one side to anything can be very damaging in the long run for those reading this site tomorrow or years from now.

It's not about a "my machine is better than your machine" standpoint, it's about showing the way ALL these machines work so people can do what's right for them. I'd welcome you, or anyone else, to post all your time/quality comparisons on any of my threads about our Universal or our Trotec. I think it would be very useful to have several threads showing real files with real run times, and real photos of the finished pieces. I think that would be a great thing on this forum and very helpful to anyone looking to buy a laser.

[Rodne Gold]

There is a VERY accurate time estimator and preview section in laserworks v5.x - not sure if your laser uses the RDLC320 board and LCD panel that support this section? It's the "preview" section in the software.
It simulates motion from 1/10th to 10x real time on screen and estimates total running time , its accurate to within 5-10%.

I would use a mask like masking tape when engraving this to avoic smoke damage , alternatively you can coat the wood with some smoke resistant varrnish/urethane and then engrave.

I would do the engraving at no MORE than 250dpi (dpi is your Y axis stepover vcalled "interval" in laserworks - 0.1mm is default = 250 dpi) or maybe less , like 200 dpi (increased Y interval) if using the stock 40/50mm lens

You cant really get super high resolution on wood cos of "dot gain" in that the dots the laser engraves bleed a bit in terms of they damage the area around the firing too so going for something like 600dpi is a waste.

If you engraved wood correctly , you would see almost no contrast as the laser vaporises stuff and doesnt burn it , for wood , you want some "burn" for that branded type look so often its a good strategy to give it a bit more power or less speed for a deeper darker engraving.

At any rate , this is the best learning experience you can have , actually DOING a job , even if you make 0 dollah on this one , its gonna teach you a lot. Next time , you better off to estimate thruput time , more confident in proceedure and so on , then you can charge what it's worth to you and the customer.....

PPL you also got to realise that what might sound cheap in $ terms to USA based participants can be quite a good chunk of money in places like South Africa or Eastern Europe due to big inequities in exchange rate.. Often 1/2 of what is "acceptable" in US re pricing is a very handsome amount in these countries.
Same with mainstream lasers , we DONT pay US prices , often we pay 50% more in $'s and thats a big chunkochange especially with poor exchange rates - so often a uberfast premium machine is way beyond affordable. Apart from that , being foreign and far from US/europe , warrantee claims and spares and repairs can be a very tardy and expensive.

[Uros Sovilj]

All side of wives are welcome to my threads specially ones from Rodne.

Seems that I don't have preview option. Have already skype tech support in Shenhui for details on my mainboard options but due to time difference I will get answer tomorrow.
It will be grate lesson with this job so I want to get it and I did for 80$ in the end.
Thanks for guidelines on settings Rodne.

[Uros Sovilj]

Hi
Got my Preview function working. For 100 mm/s and 35% power, DPI 254 i get estimated time 23 min. Seems too fast for me and immage in preview looks like rubish so will try it first on some scrap wood.
I will try this in morning with machine and determine right settings and post the resoults on preview/realtime.
Regards