As I mentioned in a previous post, I got into laser engraving while I was busy with a pet casket business I was operating a number of years ago. Many customers were asking me for unique cremation urns for their departed pets. They were comfortable displaying them on a shelf or mantle rather than burying them in the pet cemetery. My family had a few urns holding the remains of some of our pets with a small picture of them tucked into a frame affixed to the urn. With laser engraving technology I could scan a photo onto my computer, manipulate the image in the software programs geared for the technology and engrave the image right on to the front panel of my urns. Like any graveyard headstone I also included the years of birth and death of the family pets. As an added extra, a poem or thoughtful saying was engraved on the top of the urn.
After researching and watching a few demonstrations, I selected the Epilog CO2 laser machine. Since I didn't want to remortgage my home, I settled on a small one; the table bed was 12" x 24" with a depth of 8". A 35 watt machine was fine for what I planned to do with it. I played with it for a few weeks to see what capabilities it had which opened many doors for increasing sales with the business. By word of mouth, the business went from cremation urns to holiday ornaments, jigsaw puzzles, family heirloom gift products, plaques, corporate and personal achievement awards. We hit the craft show circuit taking orders from customers lined up at our table looking at the samples on display. We engraved on all sorts of substrates; marble, wood, painted brass, aluminum and acrylic to name a few. This thing even cut paper! Great for arts and crafts.
To further promote the business I set up a Facebook page loaded with pictures and details to get the word out. This eventually led to a website hosted on the internet which garnered even more customers around the country. Take a look at www.woodbincreations.com. The technology has advanced with bigger and better engraving machines but to this day, I'm satisfied with the original equipment I invested in originally. I still have repeat customers calling for more items and I'm continually establishing a new customer base. I'm forever on the website revamping pages and soon I will be rotating photographs of my projects as new ideas are always coming in.
Before researching the laser technology, I had always been interested in the world of CNC machinery which stands for Computer Numerical Control. Back then CNC machines were primarily geared for fabricating industrial parts and mechanical engraving. A lot of numbers were punched into the programs to produce the desired outcome. It's become much easier with the ever advancing software programs available to engravers. When I personally did sign making, I would break out the router and pantograph spending hours tracing templates carving words into wood. A CNC machine would cut that production time down to minutes. Laser engraving, for me, proved to be more cost effective.
Sign making became a snap with the laser technology. Mechanical engraving was noisy and left a mess as it did it's job. Laser engraving actually burns an image, word or design into the substrate. My engraver is equipped with servo motors which run on an XY axis. When rastering an image, the machine works like a dot matrix printer moving back and forth and up and down. The outcome is crisp and clean with little residue and mess. Cutting is fast and crisp down to the most intricate of details. It's all about the computer set up. A favorite saying among engravers is "crap in, crap out." Take the time to fine tune images in the software, ensure line widths are set to accurate tolerances and there's nothing that can't be produced utilizing the technology. The only advantage mechanical engravers have over laser engraving is the ability to engrave or etch into metals. Laser engravers use a different technique called laser marking. Metals can be coated with products such as Ceremark and when run through the process, the image is permanently burned onto the metal. If you ever look at the markings on a drill bit or a tap and die set, you'll see how this process works.
So I'll sign off here since I have some engraving to take care of now. Until next time, please visit my site at www.woodbincreations.com and take a look around at some examples I've produced with this technology. And be sure to sign my guest book and let me know what you think and even better...if you're interested in ordering anything, just leave a note and I will contact you as soon as possible to work out your details!
