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Author Topic: The Laser Project.  (Read 1609221 times)

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Offline Tweakie.CNC

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Re: The Laser Project.
« Reply #670 on: September 20, 2012, 06:24:46 AM »
As always Jeff, excellent results.

I am pleased you are now using PicEngrave - John has put a lot of work into writing his software and results like this, I am sure, will make it all worthwhile.

Tweakie.
PEACE
Re: The Laser Project.
« Reply #671 on: September 20, 2012, 07:22:03 AM »
Tweakie,

At first I was concerned that it did not have as many settings as PVC does, but what I found is all those extra settings was really driving me bonkers to get each picture to come out right. With PVC I had big problems with allot of reds and blues in photos and was trying to compensate in Photo Paint to correct it. Reds would engrave to dark and blues would engrave to light. John's software does allot better job interpreting those colors to grey-scale when creating the tool-paths. The tool-path preview in PVC was harder to tell how the engraving would come out also. I really like the grey-scale preview in PicEngrave because it shows how the engraving will actually be engraved and I'm not scrapping as much wood.  ;D

The G-code files are allot smaller too because there are no retracts at the end of each pass which it only needs the feed-rate put one time at the beginning of the file. It eliminates all those G00 and G01 changes in the file which cuts down on engraving time by instantly reversing the machine axis direction. I can tell he put allot of thought and work into his software and how it generates the g-code efficiently to do lithophanes, engravings and now laser engraved shaded photos. 8) 8)

Jeff
Extensivly Re-worked/Re-designed/Modified Servo K2CNC KG-3925 and the Mini Laser Engraver
Re: The Laser Project.
« Reply #672 on: September 20, 2012, 05:12:33 PM »
Thanks Jeff and Tweakie,
But I'm just a guy making some of the tools that you true artisans use.  Your work and laser pioneering deserve all the credit.

My Best,
John Champlain
www.picengrave.com

Offline Tweakie.CNC

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Re: The Laser Project.
« Reply #673 on: September 21, 2012, 10:32:16 AM »
My new tube has just arrived from China, been plumbed in and the water circulation system run for some 2 hours (to remove all the air bubbles) now to test it out.

Tweakie.
PEACE

Offline Tweakie.CNC

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Re: The Laser Project.
« Reply #674 on: September 26, 2012, 12:02:36 PM »
The new tube works a treat.

I have to give full credit to the suppliers who made such an excellent job of the packaging that even our Royal Mail Parcelforce, at this end, did not manage to break the delicate glass tube inside.  :D

Tweakie.
PEACE

Offline Tweakie.CNC

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Re: The Laser Project.
« Reply #675 on: October 04, 2012, 03:45:31 AM »
This classic image of Ashley Olsen has been laser cut into Obechi.

This was produced using the Mach3 Impact / Laser plugin with a step-over of 0.2mm and a feed-rate of 3000mm/min. The laser beam was slightly de-focussed to cause a small increase in the spot size to create a better blending of the horizontal scan lines.

The dark areas essentially consist of carbon soot so images produced in this manner need to be sealed (perhaps using a lacquer spray) to make them more durable, if they are to be preserved.

Tweakie.

PEACE
Re: The Laser Project.
« Reply #676 on: October 04, 2012, 07:12:32 AM »
Nice work, Tweakie.

I just need to add a laser to the list of things to do.

Mike
We never have the time or money to do it right the first time, but we somehow manage to do it twice and then spend the money to get it right.

Offline Tweakie.CNC

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Re: The Laser Project.
« Reply #677 on: October 05, 2012, 12:02:44 PM »
During recent work, using the Mach3 Impact / Laser Engraving plugin when engraving photographic images into wood (similar to the one shown in the previous post) it became apparent that in order to re-produce the lighter shades the required laser output power was burning too deeply into the darker portions and loosing some of the detail present in those areas.

To offset this problem I have made a small change to the plugin’s .dll to incorporate a user selectable Greyscale Compression feature the function of which is shown in the following picture. This function essentially alters the ratio of output pulses in relation to pixel value so that a different balance is achieved over the total range of values with the density of the low value pixels increased thus allowing laser output power to be reduced and create improved detail within the high value pixel areas of the work.

I hope this change may be useful to others using the plugin and the latest version of the .dll and it’s associated .pdf document can be downloaded from here;


Engraving.dll   http://www.cooperman.talktalk.net/Engraving.dll

Engraving.pdf   http://www.cooperman.talktalk.net/Engraving.pdf

Tweakie.
PEACE

Offline Chaoticone

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Re: The Laser Project.
« Reply #678 on: October 05, 2012, 01:38:54 PM »
Thanks Tweakie!  That's awful nice of you.  :)

Brett
;D If you could see the things I have in my head, you would be laughing too. ;D

My guard dog is not what you need to worry about!

Offline Tweakie.CNC

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Re: The Laser Project.
« Reply #679 on: October 06, 2012, 07:43:59 AM »
Thanks Brett.  :)

As always, learning as I go but different types of wood produce such entirely different contrast ratio's that it is very difficult to obtain a datum upon which to base comparative tests.

I am no expert when it comes to wood so I don't know exactly what type this is but the results were not what I was expecting. So far Obechi seems to give me the best contrast ratio so perhaps I should stay with that.  ;D

Tweakie.
PEACE