40W Granite setting help?

[engraveomatic]

Me and a friend recently bought a 40w LS800 from Gravograph and after buying it we havn't really received any information on what settings we should be using to engrave a photo on granite. I found a few suggestions on the forums which include 80s 34p 300dpi, 10s 100p 300 dpi, 20s 15p 300 dpi, 100s 44p 300 dpi, and 35s 45p and 200 dpi, if anyone could confirm any of these settings or suggest new ones it would be much appreciated and helpful for us to figure out if it is our cropping process that we need to improve on or our engraver settings.

Have a good holiday

[Litografa]

First of all you need Photograve software. IT'S MUST!
All other settings depend from stone. Usually:

Resolution is from 250 to 600, depends from picture you want engrave

Speed and power - we start from P70, S60 and later we did adjustments.
Look on top in file bereza.jpg - all settings are shown.

[Litografa]

Two more pictures are attached.
But if you bought Gravograph for engraving on stone - you did mistake You need hammer type engraver - if interested - let me know - I will provide more information

[dvdlock]

One of the problems with laser egraving with a CO2 laser is that each machine is different, particularly with power settings. The settings fot the best result on one machine may not be the same as another identical machines.

The best method I have found is one I picked up on either this form, or over on SMC (can't remember which just now).

This method involve running a matrix. Use a granite tile of the type you are looking for a result on, say a 12" x 12". Select a smallish picture, say 3"x3" and lay these out in a grid, one on each layer (if your driver/software allows).
Then set the speed and power for each layer. Start with the first layer image at 100% speed and 10% power. The next at 15% power, then 20% and so on.
Once the job has completed the best result will stand out for you.

PhotoGrav is very good and can be a shortcut to a good result, I use it myself, but it is not a 'Must'. Equally good results can be achieved within your photo editing software. It just take time and practice. I use Corel PhotoImpact (formally Ulead PhotoImpact). However, PhotShop and others have similar features. When I convert from a colour .jpg to a Black and White (2-bit) image, there are optiond for diffusion, dispersion etc. In PhotoShop I believe it's 'Stuki'. These give as good results as PhotoGrav.

Photograv is a good investment and is designed specifically for laser photo engraving. It has some good features. It's customisable and provides a simulation of your output based on the material you select. But as stated, it's by no means a 'Must'.

The other thing you will need to do is invert your image. Your laser only engraves the black bits so if you are engraving on Black you need it to engrave the white bits. Inverting changed what's black to white and what's white to black.

Let us know how you get on.

Regards

Dave.

[Litografa]

My advice about Photograve as MUST is based on my experience. We have over 40 customers who work with stone with LASERS. Only one is using Photoshop and special filter to prepare files for engraving. All other - Photograve. The reason is simple - laser peoples usually are vector peoples and know Corel well with zero knowledge of Photoshop. For them file preparation with Photograve is best and fast way.
Opposite situation with peoples who have hammer type engravers. 100% work with Photoshop to prepare files. Some peoples even don't know about Corel, because 100% of their works are raster.

[dvdlock]

Originally Posted by Litografa My advice about Photograve as MUST is based on my experience. We have over 40 customers who work with stone with LASERS. Only one is using Photoshop and special filter to prepare files for engraving. All other - Photograve. The reason is simple - laser peoples usually are vector peoples and know Corel well with zero knowledge of Photoshop. For them file preparation with Photograve is best and fast way. Opposite situation with peoples who have hammer type engravers. 100% work with Photoshop to prepare files. Some peoples even don't know about Corel, because 100% of their works are raster.

Hi Litografa

I don't disagree that Photograv is a great tool. As I said previously, I use it myself. I also agree that even a new user can prepare an image for engraving quickly and easily.
Many users on the forum are either private individuals or small businesses and following what is a big investment for most, another $400 investment in software can therefore be a is a hard hit.
Being aware that there are alternative ways to prepare an image for engraving means that they don't have to stop trying just because they don't have Photograv.

Regards

Dave.

[Dancho]

Hi Litografa,
First excuse me for my bad english-i am bulgarian.
I have interesting for hammer type engravers (for granite) and some information about Photograve.Can you tell me more about it?
Thank you in advice

[Litografa]

Hello, Dancho
1) Check PM
2) More information about Photograve you can find by Google. BUT keep in mind that Photograve is FOR LASER ENGRAVERS.

[Dancho]

Sorry, what mind PM?I need software to put the hammer drive in G code.Maybe I.m wrong but hammer must beat in every pixel if need.Can you explain me how it work?

[Litografa]

PM means PRIVATE MESSAGE - you have your own mail box in this forum - look on right top corner.
Yes, you are right - hammer type (or impact) plotters make image by pixels. One pixel - one beat with needle. So in this type of equipment main part is software. Software make from JPG or BMP pixel image and assign to each pixel certain strenght of impact. If power of impact will be bigger - size of dot on stone will be also bigger.