Laser to make wood bend?

[Joe Pelonio]

The art institute furniture design student came in with another odd request. She brought me a piece of 1/8" wood 8"x24" with a veneer glued onto it, and wants me to score the back every .175" so it will bend. I'm running it now with rastor set at speed 20 power 100 on my 45 watt, and it looks like a 20 minute job. I suppose I could try vector and experiment to go just deep enough. Anyone else tried this before, and have settings for it? I'm not sure if this is going deep enough until it finishes and I try to bend it.

(edit) OK, that didn't work. Not nearly deep enough. Trying vector at 50 speed 30 power now.

(edit) That did it nicely.

[Michael Wells]

Glad we could help Joe!!! Hehehe

[Joe Pelonio]

Glad we could help Joe!!! Hehehe

Yeh, I forgot to say Thanks a lot. Actually someone might help. The
wood was somewhat warped. She says that it was fine when she glued on the veneer, but then it warped when it dried. It was basswood. I told her next time to either veneer the back too or else just use the same glue and put paper or something on the back. That's a guess based on my experience with painting wood signs. Am I all wet or was that good advice?

[Lee DeRaud]

Yeh, I forgot to say Thanks a lot. Actually someone might help. The
wood was somewhat warped. She says that it was fine when she glued on the veneer, but then it warped when it dried. It was basswood. I told her next time to either veneer the back too or else just use the same glue and put paper or something on the back. That's a guess based on my experience with painting wood signs. Am I all wet or was that good advice?

Good as it needs to be, I'd guess. You lucked out on that substrate: most woods wouldn't vector consistently enough in depth for that to work.