Can we do engrave gradients with the laser cutter?

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Rafael

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Sep 18, 2023, 6:43:13 PM9/18/23
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Hey guys, I'm looking for using the laser cutter to engrave and cut a piece of acrylic, and was wondering:

Can I do an engraving that has a gradient effect?

Let me explain, if I understand correctly, among other things, the laser intensity carves the acrylic deeper if it's higher, and almost unnoticeable if low, can we use that to create for example, a circle (or any figure) that has half of it visibly engraved and half of it not, and the effect of gradient between visible and not, by graduating the laser intensity?


Appreciate your help.


Eric Ose

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Sep 18, 2023, 7:02:42 PM9/18/23
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No option to have a varying power output within one engrave. There are image dithering algorithms built into Lightburn if you want to engrave something, but I'm not sure if that's what you will want based on how you asked the questions.

Eric Ose
Robot Ambassador
Sometimes cool things just happen, but usually you have to plan them.


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Aaron Hicks

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Sep 18, 2023, 10:39:38 PM9/18/23
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If there's no other way, I suppose you could get the desired effect with multiple passes of varying intensity.

On Mon, Sep 18, 2023 at 3:43 PM Rafael <rafael...@gmail.com> wrote:

Rafael

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Sep 23, 2023, 9:08:59 PM9/23/23
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Sorry for the delay, I checked the article, very useful and could be used to get something like I was looking for, but definitely very complicated for my comfort level right now, I'll change plans and do a regular acrylic engraving and cut

Thank you!



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Rafael Karosuo
Ing. Computación

Rafael

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Sep 23, 2023, 9:16:28 PM9/23/23
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Hey Aaron, didn´t see your message..
Well that actually makes a lot of sense, which makes this idea feasible again.
All boils down to testing.

Thank you!!

Rafael

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Jan 30, 2024, 1:44:07 AM1/30/24
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Hey guys, which version of lightburn are we using?

I finally have the design I want to try out, an idea on my machine, so I can bring as much work pre-done to HSL.

I'm checking that apparently I could split the imported vector into sections with 'boolean split' so I will assign each section to a different layer and set different power settings to each layer, creating this fade effect (hopefully)

Thanks!

Rafael

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Jan 30, 2024, 2:39:55 AM1/30/24
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Also, is hobby lobby acrylic acceptable? I checked the FAQ on the laser cutter and didn´t see it listed as supplier, is there a specific reason for it?

Eric Ose

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Jan 30, 2024, 10:58:13 AM1/30/24
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We have LightBurn 1.2.01

Any vendor of acrylic is fine. PMMA is a really common product and while there are many variations they are all acceptable.

Eric Ose
Robot Ambassador
Sometimes cool things just happen, but usually you have to plan them.

Rafael

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Jan 30, 2024, 12:27:10 PM1/30/24
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