Engraving Mirrors With a Diode Laser

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This is the firsts in a series of videos that will help you better grasp the art of engraving mirrors with a diode laser. In this video I talk about a lot of the basics. This is a launching point. You need to understand a few things before trying to engrave an image on a mirror. A lot of these techniques will transfer to engraving on wood. But you will need a grasp of the things talked about in this video before we more on.
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[@AcryliWoodDesigns]

I was not bored with you talking about the line angles. Everything you shared puts things more in perspective. Now, I have a clearer picture of what's actually happening.

[@sharonsimonson5392]

Thanks Steve! I’m looking forward to the next lesson!

[@StarBurnKelly]

Thank you! I’m very new to the laser cutting hobby and you have explained this so perfectly and simply that I finally have a grasp on it. :D

[@HoboWithWood]

Glad it was helpful!

[@jimmylee6247]

AWESOME!!!! I have been thinking about trying this. Thanks for the trial and error you go through to help us get a better grip on our hobby.

[@kensutton174]

Great video!! Lots of excellent tips and tricks!! Thats why I watch till the end!!😜

[@andrewhughes7382]

Thanks Steve. You launched the video at the right time. My project for today was to learn to do images on diffrent materials including mirrors. Some really good info and tips. Thankyou

[@HoboWithWood]

Glad it was helpful! This is the first in a series about working with mirrors. Stay tuned.

[@VeeSwan]

Thank you Steve, very informative!

[@merrillalbury8214]

A long time ago I got some beveled 4" mirrors from the dollar store for a $1 each. They were fine for my laser designs. They do not have them anymore and it is hard to find beveled mirrors and the few I found were really expensive. The Amazon ones are fine but not beveled. I engrave mine from the back with a reversed image and then spray a gold coat over the whole back.

[@HoboWithWood]

If you've worked with mirrors before, getting these recommended mirrors isn't necessary. These are a lot of mirrors really cheap. For those not familiar with working with mirrors, if they get these and have problems duplicating what I'm showing, it will be easier to determine with they aren't getting the same result. It's all about uniformity in these tests. Once they understand what they are looking for and what results will be generated from these tests, they will know better how to adjust with different results from different mirrors.

[@jimdehart4859]

Thanks Steve! Great info!

[@ryanwatts3179]

thank man 22degree pitch is good lots dont know that thrick

[@merrillalbury8214]

I will do next one on my Roly.

[@JeffBenedict]

Great video, very informative; would the 22deg setting help with images on birch and maybe bamboo? Also, do you have a link for the frames you have for the 4" mirrors?

[@HoboWithWood]

I don't think much of anything will help when engraving bamboo. Go low and slow. Low power and slow it down. No links, but thanks for asking.

[@merrillalbury8214]

22 degrees. Remember it from the live show.

[@zukjeff]

the angle of 22 degC isn't because of the way the brain interprets what it sees, it is because of the error / infill of the line when converted to non infinite steps.

[@bgsdiceden3439]

Have you ever had a problem with verticle banding repeating every 2” on your mirrors?

[@HoboWithWood]

Yes. That is a result of the way the mirror was created. That is a "cheaper" mirror. The ones that did that to me were from Dollar Tree. They appeared to be more of a mylar type of material instead of silver plate. You need a better quality mirror.

[@bgsdiceden3439]

@@HoboWithWood thank you-the mirror was from Home Depot or Lowe’s but will look for a better source. Thanks again👍😁

[@HoboWithWood]

@@bgsdiceden3439 The best success I get with large mirrors are actually Lowe's mirrors. Item# 0197427 These are 12x12 and fit in most 12" shadowboxes.

[@thomasverga469]

Thank you, What software do you use to generate the photos? I tired using a photo right into lightburn, and did not get enough contrast (on wood for an ornament).

[@HoboWithWood]

I do everything in Lightburn. The next video dropping will show how I overcome the exact problem you're describing. Stay tuned.

[@robertmarshall9970]

HI Steve. I live in Canada so that might be the problem, But I don't see a link for any mirrors. Regardless of that you have taught me a lot so far with your videos. THANKS

[@HoboWithWood]

just tried it, it works for me. hobowithwood.com/4inchmirrors If that doesn't work, try the direct link... amzn.to/3JvDlIG

[@StumblingBumblingIdiot]

I actually like these videos where you let me hold your hand and walk me through everything! Wait....that IS your hand right? I do though, it seems to make it so easy when you go to implement it on your own machine and material rather than skipping over a bunch of stuff just because peoples attention spans are about 2 seconds now a days lol

[@HoboWithWood]

Thanks. I decided a while ago. If I'm going to try and teach. That's what I'm going to do. For a lot of those out there. My videos may be too long and too elementary. It really hurts my feelings to see a 30-minute video with an average watch time of 4 minutes. But I've adopted the teaching methodology of "No Child Left Behind." That means to teach and reach them all; you have to teach the entire class as if you're talking to the slowest kids in the class. Unfortunately, the more advanced get bored and tune you out. I could have made a 15-minute video showing me engraving a mirror with great results. But no one would be able to duplicate it. I will be doing just that as a final video in this series. It will be the most watched and the one with the most questions. That'll be because those with questions didn't watch the entire series. In a matter of speaking, they turned straight to the back of the Algebra book, read the answers to the odd numbers questions, and don't understand why they don't fully comprehend Algebra. Again, thanks. And you can let go now. 🙃

[@AcryliWoodDesigns]

Hey there, just so you know, the dice blanks link is not working.

[@HoboWithWood]

Thanks. Fixed.

[@ellagregory818]

If we have a different laser we can't use the same settings either right ? Mine is only a 5w

[@HoboWithWood]

You will not be able to use the same speed and power settings on your 5W. But the next video will demonstrate how to use the material test and exactly what you're looking for and how to adjust the image in Lightburn. By the end of this series, you should be able to produce a nice or better image with the 5W, it will just take you longer. Stay tuned.

[@djs7515]

Do you make the photo a negative in lightburn and also you use Grey scale ?

[@HoboWithWood]

I do when working with mirrors. I will be going over that and how I adjust the images in the next video.

[@davekimbler2308]

40 mm/s is slow ! Would cross hatch help for clearer images ? At 22 then cross hatch would be at 66 degrees ( taking even longer ) to complete .

[@HoboWithWood]

Mirrors take a while. Here's a link to a mirror I did that took 14 hours. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqLTdGqGhdWXfZI.

[@AcryliWoodDesigns]

What material is the mirror mounted onto?

[@HoboWithWood]

I've mounted them to pine blanks. Put them in shadow boxes. And made frames for them from scratch,

[@pflscw]

Steve, I tried to order the mirrors from the website that you gave, and I keep getting a reply that says, "no such website". Am I doing something wrong? Also are the 4-inch mirrors that they sell on Amazon any good for this. Thank you, Pete

[@HoboWithWood]

just tried it, it works for me. hobowithwood.com/4inchmirrors If that doesn't work, try the direct link... amzn.to/3JvDlIG

[@lylebrown6132]

im real new to these test and my laser is not a 10 watt its a 5.5 still waiting on a slow boat from china on the computer i had to re-order. anyway, is it the first one in that line at 40% or the last one at 15% the one you want? i found your channel through the live show you do with Rich.

[@HoboWithWood]

Welcome to the world of laserology. Unfortunately I have no idea which "one" you are referring to. If you provide with a time stamp in the video, I'll be happy to look and see. But I can't watch the 20 minute video trying to guess what you are referring to. Don't get me wrong. I am happy to help and answer your questions. But you have to be specific.

[@DavesCave]

I thought the highest point was the fine focus and each step down was for cutting. Just checking

[@HoboWithWood]

If you are referring to how I used the step gauge to show what I meant when I "Pre-focused" the laser, you are correct. I will be clarifying that in the next video. I plan to show you different mirrors with different results. The only difference between them is the focus point. I knew someone who understood the step gauge would call me out. Just didn't know who. All will be cleared up in the next video. Stay tuned.

[@DavesCave]

@@HoboWithWood I look forward to the next videa

[@robertmarshall9970]

Hi Steve. You never do say if you are burning glass up or down.

[@HoboWithWood]

I don't understand your question. But if your are referring to prefocusing or subfocusing. I do explain the difference, in detail. What I usually do and what worked for me on this project. If you are referring to mirror face up or face down, you always engrave the back side of the mirror. That is why you reverse your image and you need to select negative image in your cut settings.

[@robertmarshall9970]

@@HoboWithWood Thanks Steve

[@KevinBurnett-sf5tb]

Garbage in garbage out. Proceeds to use garbage mirrors and recommends that you also use the same garbage mirrors

[@HoboWithWood]

I may be taking your comment wrong, but it comes across as a smart aleck comment. I believe I mentioned these are cheap mirrors. And when you are trying to learn by using different techniques, you don't want to spend a ton of money wasting one after another as you progress. These mirrors were meant to be used like scratch paper. Something can be be easily thrown away. I've got several mirror videos. One that was about a 16-hour burn on a 10W diode. Created a backlit shadowbox. Hi-def image recreated perfectly. People were constantly emailing me about their inability to recreate the same results. It was because they were using cheap mirrors. In this series, I stressed using the same cheap mirrors I was using here so they could see similar results. Once you began to see how different techniques influence your results, then take what you learned and move up to better quality mirrors. Since you seem to know so much, you should know this video wasn't for you. When someone is learning to sculpt, they usually start with clay, not the best marble you can get from Italy. I went to check out your content, but it doesn't exist. If you were being a jerk. Please start making your videos so us lesser individuals can learn from someone like yourself. IF you weren't being a jerk, my apologies.