I have a laser engraver... now what?

[pickles]

I've already put it to use for my woodworking business making store displays for, believe it or not, a local microbrewery. I'm working on some labels for my brew rig's control panel. I've also made some coasters out of corian and wood. The engraving on the wood obviously burns but on corian it doesn't discolor, so I stained the logo to make it stand out. I'm gonna try etching the inside bottom of a pint glass similar to the Sam Adams glasses but maybe a hop cone instead of a circle.

So any other ideas of things to throw into this bad boy?

 

[jppostKW]

bottle caps!!!!! +1 Dillion

 

[pickles]

Bottle caps seem like a lot of work. I only keg my beer but I may have a few caps around. Is this something people are looking for?

 

[jppostKW]

yea a thread popped up recently about it And there was a guy doing it for a while and he kinda dropped out randomly i think the best bet would be to make a table that would do 60 or so caps at a time
how automated is your system?
you could barrels with brewery logos mash paddels I am getting excited just thinking about it!

also i think custom engraved glasses would be great too.

definitely have to evaluate time vs. return though.

 

[pickles]

It's entirely automated, it has a 12" x 24" capacity and also has a 4th axis for rotating cylindrical items. It's one limitation is that it is not the correct type of laser to cut through metal, those I understand get very pricy!

 

[Ohio-Ed]

It's entirely automated, it has a 12" x 24" capacity and also has a 4th axis for rotating cylindrical items. It's one limitation is that it is not the correct type of laser to cut through metal, those I understand get very pricy!

That is really cool. I looked at one of those (but not seriously) after seeing it at a trade show. I would love to have one, but no way I could justify it.

You said it won't cut metal, but will it etch metal?

 

[MRT888]

BOTTLE CAPS.

Check out this thread-

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f41/custom-crown-bottle-caps-114286/


the guy fell off the face of the earth and everyone is still itching to buy caps- you can pick up right where he left off.
I'm sure you can develop some kind of system to do them pretty quickly. It doesn't need to cut metal at all, just etch the paint off of the colored bottle caps.

 

[Swagman]

How about a picture of the machine maybe in action!!




God Bless
Swagman

 

[pickles]

No it won't etch metal. It will remove anodizing or paint down to bare metal. I know enough to be dangerous, but basically a CO2 laser just reflects off metal surfaces. I know a guy with an industrial sandblasting cabinet, a protective mask could be layered then sandblasted onto the piece. What was the person charging for crown caps?

 

[pickles]

How about a picture of the machine :

I'll get a pic next time I'm at the shop. But honestly you can't see much when it's running because of the cover over the machine. If its pics you want though, I'll get a few action shots.

 

[MRT888]

No it won't etch metal. It will remove anodizing or paint down to bare metal. I know enough to be dangerous, but basically a CO2 laser just reflects off metal surfaces. I know a guy with an industrial sandblasting cabinet, a protective mask could be layered then sandblasted onto the piece. What was the person charging for crown caps?

Check out the thread I think he had a great system and left with lots of customers wanting more. He was charging 20 cents per cap, or 10 cents if you supplied the caps to him.

And they looked pretty awesome

 

[brrman]

What kind of engraver do you have? I am looking to get one and have only recently started looking. I see all kinds of diff price points for various wattage.

You should get some leather and make custom coasters.

 

[pickles]

I've been looking at buying a laser for some time to round out my woodworking equipment and be able to offer sign making capabilities to some of my current clients. A reasonable sized new one runs about $15K. Not something I could afford, but as it turns out a retired guy who lives near me has had one for about 7 years and is tired of making Christmas ornaments to sell at craft shows. So I've been using it for a few months for sign making (the first photo is one of them, 12" sign for a beer display at a local grocery store) and am trying to figure out what else to do with it. Its a 50W CO2 laser made by Universal Laser Systems. Leather coasters is a great idea.

 

[jfkriege]

A few things to try:

Engraving computers, iPods, etc.
http://www.adafruit.com/laser/

Random gadgetry:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Awesome-LED-Edge-lit-Desktop-Nameplate/

The one that you might be most interested in with the woodworking, inlay work. The company below does all of their inlay as laser cut veneers. The finished product is stunning and reproducible.
http://www.hudsonriverinlay.com/

I would love to have a laser. I have been looking at building one for a while now, but I need to get my brew rig up and running first before I venture into CNC work.

Are you in Ohio or Indiana?

Joshua

 

[IrregularPulse]

I work in the laser marking industry. I'm curious what brand you have. Wonder if it's one of ours.

As far as etching your glass. This will depend greatly on your laser type. I took this application to our process lab guys and even with all the different types we have, they advised against is due to the tiny shards of glass you'd have on the inside of your glass left over that you'd essentially be drinking.
Edit, *saw your type and brand. Not ours. I wouldn't recommend the glass etching on something you'll be drinking from. The outside surface fine, but not for a spot for carbonation to rise from inside the glass..

 

[pickles]

jfkriege - I'm in Ohio. I plan to do some inlay work with it for sure. I have done lots of inlay work by hand on picture frames and it's tedious work.

Irregularpulse - Ive been talking with the guy I know with the blast cabinet, he's going to try to etch the inside of the glass with a mask that I'm going to cut with the laser. With the laser the glass seems to "explode" away rather than burn. It leaves the surface irregular on a near microscopic level.

I'm going to cut a 12" x 24" board with tons of holes that fit bottle caps and try to run a batch through. It really seems like a slow process. The neat thing is that the laser has a burn time counter on it that will tell me exactly how long it takes. The large sign in the first pic took 22 minutes.

 

[vinyl_key]

I wouldn't recommend the glass etching on something you'll be drinking from. The outside surface fine, but not for a spot for carbonation to rise from inside the glass..

Unless... Custom-etched nucleated beer glasses?

 

[jgln]

Engrave lasers? I don't know, just the first thing that popped into my head.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Unless... Custom-etched nucleated beer glasses?

Nucleated, that's that word I couldn't think of. You wouldn't want to do that with the CO2 laser.

I hope you get many more years from your machine, but 7 years old with a co2? any idea last time it was serviced/recharged by Universal?

 

[wildwest450]

Some friends of mine have a laser, this is what they came up with. The glasses are tough to align properly.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Does your system have options for rotary chuck attachments? This would be ideal for marking on the curve surface of a glass like that. Once you start going around the bend, your focal distance drops off and will alter the mark. depending on the power your using this may or may not be noticeable in your mark on your particular glass. The larger the diameter the better obviously.

 

[pickles]

I didn't buy it from him, so i'm not sure about maintenance but it seems well taken care of. I have a commercial woodworking shop and he's always wanted to pursue woodworking so we worked out a deal.

It does have the 4th axis that turns like a lathe. One end is adjustable up and down to account for tapered cylinderical pieces.

 

[pickles]

So here's the finished prototype of the retail kiosk for The Elevator Brewing Co.; it turned out pretty good. That's the "Elevator Operator", owner, Dick Stevens drinking their Mogabi American Wheat, pretty tasty stuff.

And this miniature mash paddle is a prototype for a promotional item they will be giving away to those that finish their mini beer tour. Deepsea (from Mashpaddles.com) made the blank paddle a few months ago. He does great work! I finally got it engraved with the artwork using this laser.

 

[jfkriege]

That looks outstanding. Great work.

Joshua

 

[camiller]

I'm just curious, what is the brand/model of the machine?

 

[pickles]

It's a Universal Laser System 1224 CO2 laser.

 

[JewBrew]

Custom bottle labels etched onto the bottles!!!!!! With permanently laser etched labels you wont have to clean them off, but cant change them. I would just etch my brewery logo onto the bottle and mark the beer type on the cap, would be great for gifts.

 

[JetSmooth]

Custom bottle labels etched onto the bottles!!!!!! With permanently laser etched labels you wont have to clean them off, but cant change them. I would just etch my brewery logo onto the bottle and mark the beer type on the cap, would be great for gifts.

This +100! They'd make great gifts.

 

[shelly_belly]

Can you turn it down low enough to print on BIC lighters? That would be cool. Uh, please have the video rolling, just in case.