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Gcode is primarily used to cut, although you can use it to engrave outlines for colouring etc. other projects and crafts.
I created a little 3D car model as below:
And generated a Gcode file for cutting: car.txt using my Inkscape extension.
I have set to max power and slowest speed for best cutting result. If your paper is too think to cut in one go, set your LaserPecker to cut multiple times.
And this is the result:
To be updated...
Throughout my article, I will use the notation of (P,D)xT to indicate the engraving configuration, where P is power, D is depth and T is times of engraving. I will omit x1 time, so (100,80)x1 becomes (100,80), meaning power:100, depth:80, once. (50,20)x2 means power:50, depth:20, 2 times. (30,50)x3 means power:30, depth:50, 3 times.
Remember, the engraving configurations for different materials in the App are only recommended values. Apart from material, colour, density and even room temperature will have some impact on the result. So I suggest you either do some test engraving before your "big job", or start with low power, shallow burns and work your way up to avoid over burning your material.
Sometimes, multiple low power shallow burns are better than one hig power deep burn. For example, I prefer using 80,50 x2 times in Gcode mode to cut PVC stickers, rather than using 100,80 to cut once. The edges are much better (less burnt).
The bottom lines is, there's no perfect setting for a class of materials. Don't get frustrated or upset when you fail to achieve what you wanted in one go. The more you play with your LaserPecker, the better you will know its capabilities and performance on different materials. Do take notes of the perfect configurations that you have tested out for specific materials which you frequently use.
Wood is one of the most easy & satisfying materials to engrave. Darker wood grain is harder to burn in, while lighter wood grain can be engraved with lower power. So, for relatively consistent result, I suggest you over-burn a little. For this dark wood of mine, I used (100,80). Again, don't just take my settings. Do some test burns by yourself and find the best setting for your material.
Tip: If the first go leaves an uneven result. Do not touch your material and do a 2nd burn over it with the same or higher setting.
I cut up packaging boxes and engrave on the inside of the cardboard. Different types and colours of cardboard will require different settings.
Fruit skins contain lots of water, so they require the maximum power and depth (100,100) to engrave. For Pro, depth 100 is very very very slow... Try it for yourself. The result is fun though!
Plastic is easy to engrave, and you can't go too wrong about it. The only trick is that, for light coloured or clear materials, which will reflect most of the light, you need to colour it black with a whiteboard marker, so the surface will absorb laser energy. The engraved part will melt and mix with the dry ink. The rest dry ink will wipe off. See below for examples.
1.1 Colour a light-yellow plastic spoon black.
1.2 Engrave over it (30,40).
1.3 Wipe off the excessive ink, and the engraved pattern stays.
2.1 Colour a clear plastic fork black.
2.2 The result with (30,30)
3 A few more examples:
- Electric shaver case (30,30)
- Makeup bottle (30,30)
- Electric toothbrush heads (30,30)
- Water bottle (20,40) Click here for a short video
- Plastic handle of a wind-up torch (20,30)
PCB is easy to engrave. Here's a comparison of L1's and Pro's result. After the not-so-successful result of L1 at the bottom of my USB power meter (forgot about the setting), I tried my Pro on the top-left for the same texts with (30,30)x2 setting, and it looks really good. Mainly due to Pro's improved resolution.
I started with (30,20) and tried a few more higher settings without leaving a mark at all. Finally I used (70,30) and it looked good.
Firstly, please use Gcode mode for cutting.
Secondly, cutting plastic or paper stickers will have more or less burnt edges. Instead of cutting with high power once, e.g. (100,100), using lower power setting to cut multiple times will reducing burning.
Here I used (60,50)x2. YMMV. Remember that colour plays a role here, too.
I have cut these for my son to play with. Instead of (100,80), I used (80,60)x2 in Gcode mode for a clean cut. Occasionally, I had to use utility knife to cut part of the shape off.
The App's Seal mode will do the inversions for you. All you need to do is to design what your stamp should look like, and engrave the image in the App's Seal mode. The part that is engraved will melt and seal up, meaning it won't absorb ink or let ink out. The unprocessed part of the photosensitive stamp will absorb ink and make a mark on paper.
Here are two styles of stamps that I made. In Chinese, these are called Yin and Yang engraving.
Stamp 1: Yin Engraving (5,75)
The design on the plastic cover with (30,30).
Stamp 2: Yang Engraving (5,75)
The design on the plastic cover with (30,30).
This is a metal insulated cup with a layer of paint finish on the outside. I used (100,100) for some really good result without the need to colour it with a black whiteboard marker.
I find the default (100,70) for cloths does not work well with microfiber cloths, maybe it's for cotton cloths. I reduced it to (100,50) and got satisfying result. See below for comparison.
My son drew his grandpa, and my dad wanted it on his gym shirt :-) So here's the process and result.
I'm not sure what exact material it was, but it's one of the common quick-dry shirt. Do not take my setting for your cloths. Always try out some settings at where it couldn't been seen first, and then do your desired engraving job.
Below was a test on son's old school uniform, 65% polyester, 35% viscose, with (100,60) setting. It took me 3 tests to find this setting:
- default (100,70), burnt through;
- (100,50), too shallow
- (100,60), just right.
The mark feels really nice and does not rub off. Remember always do your own tests on the inside of the clothes first, to find out the best setting for yours.
The laser does not come out from the centre of the window. The window is 36mm wide, the laser comes out at 12mm to the right edge if you look at it from the front.
