10 quick tips for laser engraving photos on wood

[@chrismwhitlow]

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Finally somebody who will just simply tell how it's done instead of jabbering on about any and all things that aren't necessary. Your tips in this video really made the difference with the project I'm working on.

[@justinlaser]

Awesome glad it could be of help!

[@TylerAvakian]

This is awesome to find. I have a xTool D1 Pro 20w and just started doing some photo engraving work on Baltic Birch. The pictures come out SO different from photo to photo even with the same settings. Going to try and dial it in with some of your settings. Thank you!

[@SerenaSkyy]

Thank you for the straight to the point and detailed explanations! I love it. You'll be my go-to from now on! ✌️

[@dgoddard]

I've been trying to get better at doing images and I've watched a lot of vids on it. They all cover the same basic stuff. You gave excellent information without being absolutely annoying. Thanks! Subbed.

[@justinlaser]

lol thank you

[@loribrooks6736]

I've watched so many videos on how to laser engrave images and they all confused me or weren't helpful. This video is EXACTLY what I needed .. thank you so much! I'm off to run some test engravings now... Appreciate your videos!

[@legacymonument206]

I agree with everything he says. My best results though were with a 2" lens, very slow at high DPI. I know it sounds counterintuitive, but dot overlap can be your friend. I spent many hours experimenting and had great results at 700 DPi@75 mm sec 9% power on a 60 watt

[@unicornadrian1358]

Love this video! I have been stumped by a photo engraving project for ages. Plenty to try from this video. I do a lot of traditional woodworking and one surface prep I have been using lately is burnishing. On our insanely hard Aussie timbers, it comes up better that sanding and polishing. it might help for laser photoengraving. I am trying it now using the back of a polished stainless steel teaspoon to burnish and compress the surface grain of some baltic birch ply.

[@hbpgames7592]

For adding air assist I highly recommend California Air Tools compressors. I have been using their 8-gallon version its super quiet doesn't annoy me with loud machine noise and definitely keeps up with both my C02 laser and diodes at the same time.

[@Harinair72]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

[@CorneliusCreations]

Great video bro!

[@justinlaser]

Thanks man. I bought a dremel carving setup a while back after seeing your videos. Need to get going on that for the new year haha.

[@AlsterJW]

Excellent and informative - have been looking for this kind of general knowledge for a bit! Thanks!

[@LarryDMitchell]

Great set of tips. I stumbled across your channel and now you've got a new subscriber. Going to have to do some binging tomorrow.

[@justinlaser]

Thank you! Much appreciated!

[@cordescreations536]

Thank you for the video just what I was looking for so I subscribed to your channel. Hope you have more like this.

[@nnlomeli]

Great video!!! Thank you so much. I learned a lot.

[@dawsonrabb4607]

Awesome job on your video and channel. Thank you for these great tips! Please talk about how to avoid banding!!!

[@JoeMakes]

Bro, you are awesome! SO many solid pieces of info here and your other videos. Glad I subbed. Now stop making my content look so bad 😂

[@sethmcneill5283]

Great info. Most popular woods that don’t work well for engraving is mahogany, cherry, and walnut. Usually too dark and inconsistent wood colors and patterns.

[@sethmcneill5283]

Also love the magnet tips

[@justinlaser]

Thanks! I havent tried mahogany yet seems daunting.

[@nickpantuso1062]

Great tips! Really helped me take the photo pieces from good to great!

[@olafb.2929]

Good tips! Will not be long until I will them a try 😀

[@justinlaser]

Good luck! 👊

[@Dancopymus]

Hi Justin, thanks for the valuable tips. What a perfect photo, this one shown at 0:48! If you did it, what settings did you use? My laser is xTool D1 Pro (10w). Thanks

[@JessicaKnight-m9i]

Could you please do one for engraving on acrylic?

[@ALXSHARPEN]

Another Fantastic video Justin I am really enjoying my Xtool S1 thanks to your videos it's my second laser. My first was the Laser Pecker 4. I am a little confused on one settings on my S1the "Score Option" my LP 4 has no such setting and I have not found anything in the manual that tells me when you use score or should use it. I did a test on my logo on a piece of bass wood and it came out pretty cool but I have no actual idea when or why or on what I should use SCORE, as opposed to engrave. When I think score I think of something done to make a check pull out of a checkbook easy, but I am guessing it has a different purpose in the laser world. If you have a video on this or can do one would be awesome or just a response to this would be great. I was also wondering if you have any thoughts on slate and treating it. I made some charcuterie boards that came out great but wanted to treat them with something to make them food safe and not show oil marks from food but everything really takes away from the engraving. I am running a test on Tung Oil, Linseed oil, Danish oil, Mineral Oil, and Camellia oil, to see if any work better than the other and was wondering if you have done any? For coaster I don't really care that they be food safe and have found that Ultra Clear Matte from Rust-oleum works or Folke Art Varnish but both are not food safe so for cheese boards its not a good option and even some of the above like Tung oil could be bad for those with nut allergies if you have any recommendations for slate would love to hear them.

[@Humble-Engine]

Suggestions on what you use to clean up any burn areas? (Photo/non photo projects). Thanks

[@justinlaser]

If wood, light sanding should do it.

[@seaningledew]

I use denatured alcohol if it's really bad. Cleans it right up, but can also lighten your burns if you're not careful.

[@kathybeee1055]

Thank you so much. I have a photo of my two dogs I wanted to engrave. One is a mostly black dog and the is the typical JRT white with tan. You have explained a lot of information regarding the image I have struggled to find. I am off to master this photo engraving. Thank you from Australia.

[@justinlaser]

Good luck! Lots of trial and error I wish wood was more consistent.

[@MystieK_]

straight to the point. Thumbs up and thank you

[@MichaelGeriGB]

Another great video. Could you create a video on engraving images on slate?

[@justinlaser]

Thanks! Yes I will most likely do slate next for this series.

[@Arcottocra]

Brilliant! Many, many thanks.

[@basilloizou1942]

Thanks for a great tutorial

[@justinlaser]

Thanks for watching!

[@johannesschubert403]

Thanks. You saved my day!

[@justinlaser]

Glad it helped!

[@seaningledew]

Thank you so much for this video. I saw "10 quick tips" and then I saw 6 minutes and change, and I thought that's too long for 10 quick tips. But I figured I'd watch the first few seconds. Then, rather than going off on some dumb introduction tangent, the first words out of your mouth were "Tip number one", and I was like OK, I will definitely watch this entire video. Thank you so much, all the info was fantastic. Would your recommendations on slow and low apply to a CO2 laser machine as well?

[@justinlaser]

Thanks! Yes it will work with co2 as well. The co2 cant go as low in power as a diode laser so you will have to play with the settings.

[@reidjensen569]

Nice video with a lot of information! I’m curious, how would you create different layers to engrave at different speeds and power on a photograph similar to the one of the man that you showed at the end?

[@BITStudioUSA]

Did you use a diode laser? xTool D1 Pro? What is the difference with CO2 laser? in terms of engraving photos?

[@justinlaser]

Yes I used the D1 Pro here. Many differences mainly laser wavelength. Diodes often have a smaller laser beam which can give a great result for highly detailed photos. CO2 usually packs more power but doesnt do as well with delicate details.

[@gregsandidge5649]

Great video. As you pointed out, engraving wood is counterintuitive. I've discovered that closed-cell semi-hard and hardwoods give the best results.

[@justinlaser]

Love working with the hardwoods!

[@damionabder]

Great advice. Thanks a lot for this.

[@bigsubful]

Hello, when you talked about speed and power, at which laser power did you refer? During video you said 100mm/s, but did you mean 100mm/min?

[@justinlaser]

100mm/sec. The D1 Pro goes off mm/sec so I use that for reference.

[@haleybel]

Hi, I’ve e usually used a programme and got great photoengraving but this current lazer ts20 pro. Uses Lightburn and my photo is striped. Horizontal lines. Can you recommend the settings please? I wondered if my scan settings as in the bi Directional setting too wide? I’m well disappointed 🥺I spent some time on Coral altering light etc.

[@paragonn22]

Thank you so much for this!!!!!

[@azizqassim3883]

Thank you very much for this video. it is very helpful

[@danielc6034]

Hi. Have you got gamma backwards? You say if it's too dark, increase the gamma to lighten but sliding the gamma to the right makes it darker? Having issues try to dial in details. Thanks!

[@Skyler-q9j]

I'm having problems with my xtool I'm trying to do a portrait the hair is super white but has a dark shirt on

[@robertarmstrong2323]

Thank you so much for this

[@jessiahd.6143]

I'm wanting to start a small business laser engraving photos and doing mild cutting. I'm torn between the Xtool P2 and the Thunder Laser USA Bolt. What laser would you recommend?

[@justinlaser]

Thunder Bolt looks nice I havent seen too many reviews on it yet though. I might learn towards the Bolt if its everything its cracked up to be.

[@Bakerfamilyvideos]

Thanks

[@caneloANDRETTi]

Looks like you use GIMP to edit the pictures, is this correct?

[@justinlaser]

I use Photoshop but you can probably replicate in GIMP.

[@Delta-qz3mb]

Can you cut acrylic or engrave well with this?

[@justinlaser]

The D1 Pro? Not really. Dark acrylic (like black) you can cut but clear acrylic you cannot. Need a co2 laser for that.

[@tonyrendon4015]

I have light burn, how do you get into the gamma settings? I've never seen that before!

[@justinlaser]

Its in the top menu somewhere in the dropdown it says Image adjustment. You can slide it around there.

[@robertarmstrong2323]

Mine are coming out dotty more than smooth especially on skin

[@jrard92]

How much time did it take to finish the two photo jobs?

[@justinlaser]

About an hour

[@BelandVic]

and this is a diode laser? @@justinlaser

[@mazzugara]

What size lens are you using?

[@justinlaser]

Whatever came stock with the xTool D1 pro 20w. .08 x .1mm beam size.

[@Walid_Kharseh]

Doesnt air assist when engraving leave a bad kind of burnt mark. Its only supposed to be used whn cutting i heard?

[@justinlaser]

Its vital for cutting thick materials but I still use it for engraving to keep it clean while processing. I havent come across any issues yet.

[@Walid_Kharseh]

@@justinlaser Ok, thanks!

[@ReelSpider]

For low resin woods, spray with a solution of borax. Dry before engraving. I can't give you the science behind it, but borax is also a good flux for melting gold pcb fingers. It turns to glass when melted, it darkens the black area when laser engraving.

[@justinlaser]

I do borax from time to time I hate how delicate you have to be with handling it though.

[@ReelSpider]

@@justinlaser Not sure what you mean, borax is safe, so long as you don't eat it. I'm not suggesting using Boric acid.

[@freebird1963]

So dpi should NOT equal the dpi of the image ?

[@justinlaser]

The engraving DPI you set in Lightburn (or other software) should match the image DPI, yes. However, the original DPI your photo is set at (i.e. 96, 72, 300, etc) can be changed while editing. So for this photo the original I downloaded was at 96DPI and I upscaled it to be in the 200's. That is also the number I set in Lightburn.

[@kakamees]

I DONT LIKE THIS 💣💥☝🦷