Being new to estimating jobs, I've made many mistakes and learned from them. A recent mistake was a considerable tesson and one I thougt I would share for others new to all this. The job was for 55 1/4" x 5 1/2" x 7" wood signs (poplar). I priced the job out at 2 x my material costs + $1.50 per minute for laser time. The signs were all the same and were a stand-up design that involved 2 peices that joined togeather in a "T".
When I engraved the prototype I set it up correctly on the laser bed to run in the quickest time. What I forgot was that the peices had to set in the laser with the grain running along the Y-axis. The difference in running time was substantial, not something that trashed the job, but certainly a bite into profit.
Another tip from experience, Poplar does not engrave uniformly dark. It does not look bad, but not nearly as nice as alder or maple.
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