Guide to Defocused Acrylic Engraving - Glowforge - Laser

[@MakingLemonadeCreations]

Just earned yourself a new subscriber. Your tips took my engrave time from 52 minutes to 32 minutes and the quality is much better.

[@TheAtlantaMaker]

Glad it helped!

[@theguyver6397]

Wow very interesting in. I had no idea we could do that.

[@sparrowmermaid]

Thank you! The best info and presentation out there. I was about to give up! ❤

[@artistrobfuller]

So useful to know as I prep for the delivery of my first ever GF! Thank you sir! A grateful new subscriber here!

[@TheAtlantaMaker]

Welcome aboard! Glad you find the videos useful! Gearing up to release two a week, but I need to get a few in the hopper finished so that I have a few ready to release if something takes a bit longer to create/edit.

[@artistrobfuller]

@@TheAtlantaMaker Well, notifications are on so I'll look out for future releases! Working my way through the channel a bit at a time taking notes in the meantime!

[@kmm2406]

This video and file were very helpful, thank you! I am new to Glowforge and was learning all I could before cutting my first piece of acrylic. Your manual recommendations were the way to go. Thanks for taking the time and sharing, greatly appreciate it.

[@TheAtlantaMaker]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ykaramat]

Could you please show how to make acrylic fondant/coke embossers

[@fusciafenix]

Is it just me or is the file not on the website linked in the description?

[@ajgutierrez5616]

Well just solved my problems thanks 🙏

[@TheAtlantaMaker]

I problem. Glad to help!

[@MosaicSplash]

I should get my laser soon I am interested to experiment with this 🤔

[@TheAtlantaMaker]

It made a surprising difference in quality and engraving time. Glad you liked the video!

[@madddog7]

just subscribed ... looks like you are doing interesting stuff

[@TheAtlantaMaker]

I have so many ideas, and such little time. Working on banking up a few video so that I can get them to twice a week schedule. Probably Sunday and Wednesday releases. Glad you like the videos. Let me know if you have anything you'd like to see done!

[@tagteam6606]

For some reason Im not seeing the test file :o(

[@KeepCalmandCraftOn]

Is the defocus test file still available? I went to the link but the file is not available there.

[@jessicagorey5066]

Would you use the same settings, (1000/full) and defocus to .2 for 1/8th inch glass for a shadowbox frame?

[@thelittlekumquat8014]

Thank you so much for this video! I just got my Glowforge nearly 3 wks ago, and it has been such a learning curve. I was actually trying to find solutions for this earlier today, and will definitely be trying this out. Do you think the color of the acrylic matters even if its still 1/8" ?

[@TheAtlantaMaker]

Color shouldn’t make too much of a difference as long as it’s cast acrylic.

[@bearbearcompany1262]

Thank you so much for this! I just did my first engrave and was shocked how rough it looked. I have a detailed image that im trying to engrave into keychain blanks, but didnt understand why it looked so rough.

[@TheAtlantaMaker]

Glad it was helpful!

[@TheRedbankGuy]

Great info and thanks for sharing. Have you engraved on polymer magpul P-Mags? I’m looking for good detailed engraving settings. Thanks again

[@TheAtlantaMaker]

I haven't tried those at all. Sounds like the polymer may be nylon which can be a bit tricky from what I understand. Just make sure it's a laser safe polymer. I've found a few settings for 50W CO2 lasers that you might use as a starting point, but I'm not sure how that would translate into a Glowforge for settings: 3 different speeds: 400mm/s, 300, & 200 - all at 20% power. My guess is you'd need to bump up the power on a glowforge a bit since it's only 40W or 45W depending on the model.

[@TheRedbankGuy]

The Atlanta Maker I am member of few GF Fb groups and have posted for help. I saw older treads where people are engraving on the Magpul PMAGs. I see several GF settings being used and most have various results. I was looking for solid settings and advice on how to stage the mag in the GF tray. Thanks for the reply.

[@shaenacooper9362]

I can’t seem to find the test file for this

[@joshshipp3187]

I was having the same problem just now, but after reading through the text that the link in the video comments takes you to, there's a link for the direct download in the line that reads: "I designed a test file to run several different focus and LPI settings on both 1/8” and ¼” cast acrylic. You can download this file HERE if you’d like to run the same tests on your machine."

[@meritakrosi2578]

Thank you for this video. I was desperate because I couldn't understand why my engravings were so messed up. I would like to engrave 8mm acrylic to bring out letters on 5mm. Right now I'm focusing on the 8mm sheet and engraving by going over the area 5 times at high speed. The result is very bad. Would defocusing work? Is it necessary to pass several times ? Thank you for your answer :)

[@TheAtlantaMaker]

Not sure I understand the 8mm vs 5mm thing, but if it's a rough or wavy engraving, defocusing should help smooth it out.

[@cometmace]

I don't have a Glowforge. Are you advocating setting the focus point above the surface rather than on the surface?

[@TheAtlantaMaker]

Yes. Defocusing is used with any laser brand. It basically makes the beam wider. The amount of defocus varies on what effect you want. On my Chinese 100w laser I also change the focus for cuts on some materials as generally you get a better cut when the focus is at the center of the material, not the top.

[@griceldacastillo8470]

Just subscribed, but can't seem to find the link to download the test file

[@TheAtlantaMaker]

The link is indeed on the page, but the template doesn't seem to highlight the link well. Here is the direct link: theatlantamaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/DefocusFiles.zip

[@aminatamariembaye4931]

I want to make my own fondant embosser stamps, is this the right machine for it ?

[@TheAtlantaMaker]

It can easily do the engraving for the stamps, I'm just not 100% sure they would be food safe no matter which laser you used. There are some 3D printed filaments that are supposed to be food safe, so that may be an option.

[@GaleWE]

I'm trying to engrave a logo on acrylic and I am going to try defocusing. One question, is there a way to score all the edges (to keep them sharp) and then run defoucs?

[@TheAtlantaMaker]

I don’t believe the glowforge had this option. Other lasers that use lightburn have that as a option though. I suppose you could tweak the file and add a line around it to try and reproduce that affect in the glowforge UI.

[@lensherman6242]

Is there a way to cut with correct focus and then engrave with de-focus on one one job, i.e. not running two separate files?

[@TheAtlantaMaker]

Yes, each of the "layers" in the glowforge UI has it's own Material Thickness (ie: Focus Height) setting. So you can set your cut layer to do a correct focus and your engrave to be a defocused one. That's how I got it to do many different focus tests on the same run in the sample file.

[@ttcmama5434]

I did all of this and it’s causing bush flames when engraving. Why? I was so hopeful this would work

[@TheAtlantaMaker]

If you are getting big flames it's possible that your air assist fan may be dirty, although sometimes different acrylics (cast vs extruded, etc) can cause different amounts of flames.

[@crossightoverclothes]

Are we able to do this with Proofgrade material as well? I've only had my machine for a few days now so I'm not sure on all the settings. Are we able to override PG settings or does the defocus not affect the other settings that the GF pulls in with PG materials?

[@TheAtlantaMaker]

Yes, you can do this with proofgrade. The QR code just sets the default, then you can go in and adjust if necessary.

[@crossightoverclothes]

@@TheAtlantaMaker Thank you! Where can I get the test file? The link takes me to an article but I don't see a file to download.

[@TheAtlantaMaker]

The link gets lost in the text a bit, so here is the direct link to the file: theatlantamaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/DefocusFiles.zip

[@crossightoverclothes]

@@TheAtlantaMaker Thanks! So, are we supposed to leae it on 1000 SPEED and Full Power for the test file?

[@TheAtlantaMaker]

Depends on your material. But if you are using proofgrade I'd leave it set to the speed/power it picks. Just adjust the focus and the LPI.

[@albasolano4362]

this video was bad it is a joke was very usefully