Jun. 16, 2025
First, remember that not all glass is created equal. While you may think you need more expensive glass to get a great engraving, that’s not always the case. Many of our customers use glassware from restaurant suppliers or dollar-discount stores, both of which engrave beautifully.
We’ve also developed the following tips that help ensure a nice, frosty engraved finish:
Generally speaking, this material is cut with a laser more than it’s engraved. For engraving, we’d suggest starting with the recommended wood engraving settings in our manual. Plywood can be tricky and inconsistent in terms of cutting, due to the various layers of glue found within it. Balsa seems to cut very nicely and many of our customers use this medium to build various types of models.
This is going to depend on your machine and wattage, but we’d start with the recommended settings for “leather” in Epilog’s user manual. When in doubt, start with a relatively high speed and low power. If you don’t move the item being engraved, it is easy to add a little more power or reduce the speed and run the job again until you get the look you want.
Scrap materials are great not only for creating new projects, but also for use as practice pieces for more challenging engravings, such as photographs. We’ve seen customers make all kinds of things from scrap, such as small acrylic edge-lit signage, ornaments, name tags, and lots more!
Yes! Epilog’s current product lineup can be used with Mac Operating Systems. Our Pulse app lets you connect the laser to your device in one of three ways: Wi-Fi, Ethernet, or USB. Once you connect your device you can open a web browser window, type in the IP address of the laser, and hit enter. The app loads automatically, and you can then import various files and send them to the laser for processing. If you have a legacy system, we recommend using Parallels or Bootcamp to power the lasers from their systems, or simply purchase an adequate PC and dedicate that machine only to the laser.
The biggest piece of maintenance advice is to keep your system clean, especially the optics. Clean optics help ensure that your laser produces the most precise engraving and cutting results. Other maintenance activities will depend on the model of your machine and are included in your owner’s manual. You can also find maintenance videos in our online training site and knowledge base.
This is where scrap materials come in very handy for testing speed and power settings, experimenting with different resolutions, etc. Many of our users go to the big home improvement stores for inexpensive wood and tile (ceramic, marble, etc.) to test and play around with. Thrift stores are also great places to find lots of different low-cost substrates to experiment with. Additionally, “dollar store” retailers often have glassware (pint glasses, wine glasses, beer mugs, etc.) that engrave beautifully.
Many people underestimate the size and importance of the engraving industry. In fact, the market for engraving services throughout the United States is worth more than $1 billion every single year!
However, the engraving industry is on the cusp of a technological revolution. The advent of laser engraving now allows for much more efficient engraving at lower costs. Soon engraving machines will be commonplace, similar to home printing machines.
But what is a laser engraver, exactly? And what can laser engraving machines do? Read on to learn all about these powerful tools and the advantages that they can provide!
A laser engraver is a powerful tool that enables the user to engrave images, graphics, and or text onto a long list of common materials. They work fast and precisely to create high-quality engravings with minimum help from the user.
As technology continues to progress, laser engravers are getting more affordable and higher quality in the products that they create. More and more people are considering getting their own laser engraver for their home business or hobby. But there are a number of things that you should consider before purchasing any laser engraving machine.
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It’s really quite simple. Lasers engraving systems can engrave or cut materials cleanly, accurately, and quickly with very little set-up time. The results are also easily repeatable for just a few pieces as they are for larger production volumes. So, whether you are a hobbyist, small business, or a fabrication company and you need the above-mentioned qualities, a laser may be right for you. There are many different lasers of varying sizes and feature sets to choose from within a broad range of price points. You can find laser engraving systems for a few thousand to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Affordability is a relative thing, but rest assured that you will probably be able to find something that suits your budget.
Another of the great things about laser engravers is that they do most of the work themselves. That means that they are extremely simple to use. In other words, practically anyone can learn to use them.
Once the design is fed into the system, the laser will automatically engrave the desired image, text, and or graphic onto the work material. That means that you do not need especially steady hands or any other skills to make a laser engraver work for you. You will need a basic understanding of how to use your computer and possibly the graphic design software to create the design you wish to print, but you do not need to be an expert in these areas, you just need to know enough to get the design to your engraver.
Laser engravers can be extremely powerful. At the same time, they have an incredible amount of control over the energy that they output to create extremely precise engravings. The end result is that you can use laser engravers both on robust materials as well as sensitive materials depending on what type of laser you have.
Fiber Laser engraving is popular for metal. You might use this on jewelry, name tags, or other gifts made of metal.
Co2 Lasers are used mainly for plastic, leather, glass, wood, and other softer materials. At the far opposite end of the spectrum, you can also use a laser engraver on paper. This technique can make for unique and striking designs for invitations, art, and other paper products.
Additionally, you can use laser engraving on glass. Traditionally, engraving has been reserved for other materials because the process would inevitably shatter fragile glass. However, laser engraving allows you to create precise images on the glass as well as on other materials.
Additionally, you can create precision engravings in plastic and rubber material. The lasers in modern laser engraving machines are so precise that they can engrave images into plastic. On the other hand, you should also know which materials you should not use a laser engraver on. For example, you should not use laser engravers on PVC plastic. This special kind of plastic can create dangerous fumes when treated with a laser. These particular fumes are corrosive and can damage the laser system itself even when used with fume extraction.
If you are going to engrave smaller items, then a small laser engraver should be sufficient, these are sometimes called the desktop model and used by hobbyists and craftsmen. However, if you are thinking of starting a business, then you should probably get a larger, more durable laser engraver. The power of your laser determines how fast and deep you can cut, so keep this in mind when purchasing one.
However, even if you have the occasional large item to engrave, you can always use a professional service for that. For that reason, you might want to buy a small laser engraver and then use a professional service if you have only occasional larger jobs to do.
This is something that you should probably figure out before you actually order your laser engraver. If you don’t have the right kind of place for it, then you should find a way to create one before you actually buy an engraving machine.
Of course, you will need enough space for your laser engraver. It will also be helpful if you have some extra space around where you can keep materials and have a place to put things on, such as a workbench for packing items. However, it is even more important that you have the right kind of ventilation. Laser engravers can create fumes throughout the engraving process. It is important that these fumes are constantly whisked away while you are working. Unless your engraving machine is outside and has plenty of fresh air, which is highly unusual, then you will need to either install a fume extracting vent or order a filtering fume extraction system, which is our recommended route to solve this problem. The right laser fume extractor can let you place your laser engraver almost anywhere you need it.
We hope that you were able to take away something helpful from this brief article on what a laser engraver is and what exactly it can do for you. Although it can take some time to accustom yourself to new technological tools, success often goes to those who are quickest to take advantage of changes in the technological landscape.
Are you interested in learning more about Non-metal laser engraving and cutting machine(ar,bg,ru)? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!
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