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Thread: Kern laser on wood?

  1. #1

    Kern laser on wood?

    Anybody have any experience with using a large format Kern laser to engrave on wood? I'm not too familiar with Kern, and was curious of the quality of beam when working with wood.

    (already searched, couldn't find much!)

    thx

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Hayes, Virginia
    Posts
    14,760
    Jay,

    I've seen Kern lasers cutting and engraving at IWF in Atlanta several times and they do an excellent job. You should contact Kern and ask them to send you one or two of their 3D engraved samples. You will need at least a 10X loop to be able to see the detail that their lasers are capable of engraving. There are some pictures here in our archives of their 3D samples.

  3. #3
    It's excellent. They also start at about $90,000 for a 4' x 4'. I looked at one last week.
    Lasers : Trotec Speedy 300 75W, Trotec Speedy 300 80W, Galvo Fiber Laser 20W
    Printers : Mimaki UJF-6042 UV Flatbed Printer , HP Designjet L26500 61" Wide Format Latex Printer, Summa S140-T 48" Vinyl Plotter
    Router : ShopBot 48" x 96" CNC Router Rotary Engravers : (2) Xenetech XOT 16 x 25 Rotary Engravers

    Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.

  4. #4
    Premium machines Jay, have a word with Matt Turner, he has one of the large machines at his work facility (as well as knowing a lot about the science behind what they do) I would consider them as the next step past Trotech/Epilog/ULS machines but just before large industrials like Mitsubishi/Haas/Mazak/Bystronic

    cheers

    Dave
    You did what !

  5. #5
    Kern does some excellent machines for high detail large design stuff. It really depends on the options you got with it though.

  6. #6
    Hi Jay,

    Did you have any specific questions? I haven't done a whole lot of wood engraving, but I've been pretty happy with the stuff I have done. I've attached pictures of a UW seal that I did a while back (the one picture I have of it is a bit blurry—someone stole the piece or I'd take another) and a piece that another student made (he didn't have the ventilation set up right and really smoked up our shop area—I'm surprised the fire department didn't have to show up). My only real problem with it has been that I sometimes forget to defocus the laser for 2D engraving at the 300DPI on the recommended settings sheet. The beam quality is good enough that you can see the individual lines cut into the wood, even at that high of a DPI. They recommend doing the 3D engraving at 600DPI, so it isn't an issue then.

    -Matt

    (Dave - I wouldn't have thought I'd contributed enough here to earn a mention by one of the regulars. That just made my day.)

    140509_0000.jpg
    haeckel_cabinet.jpg
    Last edited by Matt Turner (physics); 10-17-2014 at 1:10 PM.
    Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics - University of Washington
    Kern 400W 4'x8' HSE with metal cutting add-on and rotary stage
    2-axis CNC mill, 2 manual mills, 3 lathes, other standard shop tools, . . . and a 7.5 MeV tandem Van de Graaff particle accelerator

  7. #7
    (Dave - I wouldn't have thought I'd contributed enough here to earn a mention by one of the regulars. That just made my day.)
    Quality of information more than makes up for post count Matt

    cheers

    Dave
    You did what !

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Turner (physics) View Post
    Hi Jay,


    (Dave - I wouldn't have thought I'd contributed enough here to earn a mention by one of the regulars. That just made my day.)
    and in his sig he casually drops in that he has a '7.5 MeV tandem Van de Graaff particle accelerator' http://www.npl.washington.edu/tandemvandegraaff

    with that he could be a Bond villain looking to take over the world
    Speedy 300 80W
    CorelDRAW x7

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Englewood, CO
    Posts
    483
    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Sheldrake View Post
    Quality of information more than makes up for post count Matt

    cheers

    Dave
    That and the fact that (besides Dave) you have one of the biggest, coolest lasers here, AND one of the coolest job descriptions!
    Matt, can you explain about the box door a little? That looks amazing, where did you get the files for that, did you make your own or buy them from Gantryco?
    (Green with envy)!
    Universal PLS 6.120D 75 watt
    MutiCam Apex CNC 4'x8' w 6 bit TC.
    EnrRoute 6 Pro 3d software.
    Vision 2550 Rotary Engraver.


  10. #10
    Here are some photos of one of the samples I got. They don't do it justice, it's very intricate and the details are razor sharp.

    IMG_0120.JPGIMG_0122.JPGIMG_0123.JPGIMG_0124.JPG
    Lasers : Trotec Speedy 300 75W, Trotec Speedy 300 80W, Galvo Fiber Laser 20W
    Printers : Mimaki UJF-6042 UV Flatbed Printer , HP Designjet L26500 61" Wide Format Latex Printer, Summa S140-T 48" Vinyl Plotter
    Router : ShopBot 48" x 96" CNC Router Rotary Engravers : (2) Xenetech XOT 16 x 25 Rotary Engravers

    Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Paul Phillips View Post
    Matt, can you explain about the box door a little? That looks amazing, where did you get the files for that, did you make your own or buy them from Gantryco?
    That was done by another student, who has a much better artistic eye than I do. I think he made the box himself. The image is an engraving by Ernst Haeckel, a very influential biologist and naturalist, from his book Kunstformen der Natur. The page images are available here: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Kunstformen_der_Natur.

    Eventually I'm going to graduate and not have access to this laser anymore . We'll see if anyone still talks to me then . . .
    Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics - University of Washington
    Kern 400W 4'x8' HSE with metal cutting add-on and rotary stage
    2-axis CNC mill, 2 manual mills, 3 lathes, other standard shop tools, . . . and a 7.5 MeV tandem Van de Graaff particle accelerator

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Location
    Seattle, WA
    Posts
    1,664
    Blog Entries
    1
    Sounds like a good excuse for becoming a perpetual student if you ask me Matt! Either that or bringing your keys into Home Depot to have dupes made so you can go do some midnight 400 watt engraving and particle accelerating!!

    Or perhaps you could get the home version of the particle accelerator? There must be an Instructables on making a DIY one for your house? Instead of being out on the streets racing hot rods with your buds you can start a new trend. Get a couple of six packs and a few pizza's from Pagliacci's and invite your homies to bring their Bosons over (Higgs of course) and race em around the perimeter of your basement! Darn the power bill!!! Full speed ahead!!!!! Slowest Boson buys the pizza!

    Personally, I would settle for a simple Van de Graaff generator in my house, maybe a humble 500kv unit, and a 5 or 6 foot tall Jacobs Ladder for mood lighting! Wouldn't that be a hoot for Halloween with Bach's Organ Toccata and Fugue in D Minor amped up in the background!! Trick or Treat!!!! Bwahahahaha!

    <grin>
    900x600 80watt EFR Tube laser from Liaocheng Ray Fine Tech LTD. Also a 900x600 2.5kw spindle CNC from Ray Fine. And my main tool, a well used and loved Jet 1642 Woodlathe with an outboard toolrest that helps me work from 36 inch diameters down to reallllllly tiny stuff.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Englewood, CO
    Posts
    483
    Matt, I have no doubt someone with your intelligence and ability will go far, you have your whole future ahead of you and it's full of opportunities! If nothing else pans out for you, you can always come learn how to make signs in Palm Springs!
    Universal PLS 6.120D 75 watt
    MutiCam Apex CNC 4'x8' w 6 bit TC.
    EnrRoute 6 Pro 3d software.
    Vision 2550 Rotary Engraver.


  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Scott Shepherd View Post
    It's excellent. They also start at about $90,000 for a 4' x 4'. I looked at one last week.
    I'm not looking at buying, way out of my price range (for now). I've been talking with Wilke Laser in Hanover, PA about doing a large format project for me. Just wanted make sure the detail quality was up to snuff, which it sounds like it is.

    J

  15. #15
    Wow ok - that thing looks amazing.

    I'll take 2 please.

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