Wow looks great 
I've been thinking of laser engraving some stuff too, any pointers or common mistakes I should avoid?
Thanks dude!
Yeah sure man
- If you have graphics that are wide apart from each other (like on mine, you'll see the block of squares on the right, and the other block to the left) do them separately, like engrave the left side first then the right. It depends on the laser cutter, but sometimes if you have blocks of graphics which are far apart from each other, you can get weird artifacts.
- If you can do the graphics as vectors rather then rasters (this is just my personal preference, but vectors are cleaaaan)
- Try and test the settings on the material you're engraving on first!! Even if it's on a small section somewhere ie: under a rubberfoot or try and find the material on something else.
- Double check that everything is aligned!! If the laser cutter has a laser pointer attached, you can set in the position of the head and check that everything lines up at each corner.
- If doing multiple things - make a jig! If I'm engraving keycaps I laser cut a jig first (like a grid of squares) then use that for all my graphic work so I can accurately and quickly engrave multiple parts.
- You typically never have to engrave very deep, so don't overpower the engraver.
- Make sure the material is completely flat. I.E: if you're cutting plywood lay some weight on it over night and keep it in a cool, dry place - and also make sure no moisture is in it. Only do this on one side, don't flip it and do the other side.
- If what you're engraving is light, make sure it's secured!
- I always line up the part with (0,0) on the laser cutter and in my drawing program (Illustrator) I re-draw what I'm engraving to scale in the position of the sheet (in a non-print layer or in a colour not set to engrave or cut) then do all my graphics on top of that.
Let me know if you need any other advice or specific help! Laser engraving is real fun dood
