Engraving on the surface of products allows you to increase their value, add uniqueness, mask defects and turn an ordinary thing into a memorable gift. The process of creating engraving patterns is to remove a layer of material from the surface of the product. The pattern is formed due to the different depths and widths of the resulting grooves.
Engraving methods
There are several ways of engraving. The most ancient and traditional one is hand made, using a variety of metal tools. He is also considered the most painstaking, laborious and time-consuming. Work moves a little faster for those craftsmen who use a hand-held power tool – a small drill with replaceable attachments. The third method – engraving on a milling machine – is far ahead of the first two in all respects, from the speed of the work to its quality, but it is not perfect either. The cutter is not able to reproduce small elements of the pattern, the accuracy of the work, although high, is not ideal, the tool has to be constantly changed, there are noticeable barrel-shaped traces at the place of the cutter passage.
A real revolution in the art of surface decoration was the appearance of programmed laser machines. Lightweight and compact, they engrave almost any material with impeccable precision and unprecedented speed and apply images of such complexity to them, which cannot be reproduced by any of the above methods. The only tool of such devices is a laser beam focused into a tiny point, which does not need to be sharpened, changed to a thicker, thinner or other shape. In a split second, such a cutter burns out the surface layer on the product, literally creating the necessary pattern before our eyes. A laser engraving machine can reproduce in detail a high-resolution photo, animal hair, intricate ornaments.
Stages of setting up a laser device
Due to the large number of advantages and a wide price range, it is the laser machine that has become the favorite for the acquisition and use among the masters of the engraving art.
One of the advantages of such devices can be called simplicity in assembly and operation, however, in order for the equipment to work as efficiently and efficiently as possible, it must first be correctly configured. First of all, this concerns a system of reflecting mirrors, which receive the particle flux from the laser tube and transmit it to the convex lens. The latter reduces the beam to the required diameter and focuses at the desired point on the surface.
Beam alignment of laser equipment
- Stick a circle made of plywood, cardboard or acrylic on the first mirror from the gas-discharge emitter and “shoot” a beam at it (the target diameter must match the reflector). Repeat the operation until the burned trace appears strictly in the center. Adjustment is achieved by changing the position of the mirror along the axes.
- In the same way, using the target and adjusting the angle of the reflector, the second mirror is adjusted.
- Most of the problems arise when aligning the third reflector located on the carriage, which receives the beam and transfers it to the lens. In this case, the laser passes vertically through the tube, so it is difficult to center its hit on the lens.
To facilitate the setup, you can proceed as follows:
- cut two circles out of acrylic and stick pieces of masking tape on them. One target must correspond to the diameter of the laser head tube (the nozzle must be removed from it). The dimensions of the second must match the hole into which the tube itself is inserted;
- remove the tube from the carriage and remove the focusing lens from it;
- take the target intended for the hole under the tube and insert it into it, and then start the laser in normal mode;
- adjust the adjusting screws of the third reflector until an exact hit of the beam in the center of the circle is achieved;
- fix the tube without a mirror to its place in the carriage, having previously pulled it out to its full length;
- repeat the operation with the beam and the mirror setting, in the same way, achieving a hole strictly in the center of the target (use the one that matches the diameter);
- remove the tube again and check the beam alignment on the first target;
- repeat the manipulations until the laser hole on both circles is exactly in the center.
Setting engraving parameters
In order not to spoil the finished product, you must first set up the engraver to work with the material from which it is made. To do this, create a rectangle of arbitrary shape in a graphics editor and send the file to the machine. By adjusting the parameters of the beam power and the speed of its passage, achieve optimal performance and save the result for current and future tasks.
