Perfect Photo Engraving ImageWithout Adjustments

I see too many people playing with image settings when engraving photos. The reality is that this isn't usually necessary, and instead, all you really need to do is understand your laser a bit better.
In this video, I will show you how I get perfect laser-engraved photos without wasting time with useless image adjustments.
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[@StuMas]

The best settings I've discovered for engraving photos on birch with a ThunderBolt 30W CO2 laser: Speed: 300 Max Power: 30 Min Power: 7 LPI: 254 (2 passes if engraving on thicker plywood)

[@SteveMakesEverything]

The LPI setting is pretty high for a CO2 laser since the beam is probably 0.2-0.3mms square. This means you are likely overlapping lines by 50% and losing some resolution. Have you tried an LPI of ~128? You can increase the power a bit if you just want the image to be darker It is common to assume that a darker image has better resolution, but it can be tricky.

[@MileyonDisney]

Thanks, Steve. That was some great information!

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Glad it was helpful!

[@tracywilliams61]

Just the info I needed. Thanks

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Any time! Thanks Tracy.😀

[@tttuberc]

Thanks for the video. I haven't been happy with my photo engraving result. Now your tips help me understand what the problem might me. Thanks so much

[@SteveMakesEverything]

You're very welcome!

[@TubeDaLube]

Thank you,great tip 👍

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ainttakenanyshit]

Your video I watched just before this was using Borax to darken the engraving. The results you can obtain can be summed up in one word - PRACTICE.... One question, does a Borax "treatment" only work on wood? How about metal? No.... Thank you for sharing your expertise for all us newbies....

[@SteveMakesEverything]

As they say, "Practice makes perfect", though the more knowledge you have going into a problem, the sooner your practice pays off. Sadly, the borax method works only on wood, and typically it works best on softer woods like pine, basswood, etc.

[@rongunter6563]

Thank you Steve... That was great!

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@norm5785]

Wonderful, thank you for sharing. Stay safe,wai, happy and healthy. From Henrico County Virginia

[@SteveMakesEverything]

I'm it was useful

[@JimmyLee0757]

Thanks for this video. It was a great help.

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Glad it helped!

[@PaulS-wg8fr]

great video thanks for the tips!

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Glad it was helpful!

[@PuppetWood]

Thanks for the information.

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Any time!

[@jasonfair5160]

great explanation! thanks!

[@SteveMakesEverything]

You're welcome!

[@okin8949]

Thanks for the useful input - there is a lot of misunderstandings around when it comes to resolution. I wanted to point out that, depending on the lasers output power and on the material you will have different dot sizes (bigger than your laser point measurements). That is because the material burns away and the burning increases the dot size. So i changed from 254 dpi to around 220 dpi when engraving plywood (just a an example), but you will have to find out whats working on your machine with an intervall test.

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Yes the spot size of the laser generally doesn’t change for most lasers, but if the power is high, the hole it burns can certainly be bigger. The AlgoLaser Delta poses some interesting challenges because the spot size actually can change as a result of a technical improvement unique to the Delta. Since the spot size can change with power, I really need to talk to them to ask what happens when using grayscale where the power varies constantly.

[@AcryliWoodDesigns]

What machine are you using to do this?

[@roellymardianto5401]

Thank you for this very great tip

[@SteveMakesEverything]

You are so welcome!

[@stephen_LaserLuster]

Another great and very educational video.

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Glad you think so!

[@nlreversespeech]

Engraving at 90 degrees to the wood grain gives significantly sharper results

[@SteveMakesEverything]

This is definitely true, though MDF doesn't have grain, and the plywood piece I used was just a scrap, so I wasn't too concerned about making something production-grade.

[@justinheffernan8304]

I love this! Thanks Steve! I've also heard that engraving across the grain (so grain is vertical) helps some too. Obviously this doesn't really apply to MDF but if you're engraving wood it could help. I haven't tried this yet so I'm just going off secondhand information.

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Engraving on vertical grain provides some improvement but it is minimal in my experience. It’s wood and you just have to live with grain 😁

[@beavercreekdesign]

Thanks Steve!

[@SteveMakesEverything]

You're welcome

[@boxpopulichannel]

best tutorial of all. I watched all 4 channels of "4 brothers", but this channel is superb.

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Thanks for supporting all of us

[@kapa1611]

thanks! 👍

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Hopefully you can put this to good use

[@chrisgallaher3899]

That works fantastic on about 10% of pictures that have correct exposure, but that leaves 90% where you will need to go in and play with contrast and gamma to get even a reasonable engraved image, as you say most people will be happy with these results, it becomes really noticeable that an image needs more work wen you are doing images on materials like tiles and that could be another (very long) video.

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Yes, bad exposure is bad exposure, but if you get the photo adjusted in a photo tool to look good on your screen, it will look good on your laser too. I wouldn't use Lightburn to adjust this, but rather a photo editing tool and get it right to your own eye first. No process for a laser is going to improve a bad photo. However, for minor improvements, you can do a couple of things. First, to brighten up an engraving, you can either reduce the lines per inch or you can speed up the laser a bit. In the worst case, you can definitely adjust the brightness and contrast.

[@chrisgallaher3899]

@@SteveMakesEverything I agree 100%

[@bradentheman1373]

i have a question i have a laser that has a power of 532mm what sort of saftey goggles do i need if you know (its a handheld 303 laser)

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Is this a high-power laser like an ND-YAG laser? This is a pretty odd wavelength for typical hobby lasers. Unless you have useable glasses with the laser, then shop on Amazon for glasses with an OD 6 rating in a band that covers that wavelength. I did a video on glasses recently, so take a look in the channel video backlog and watch that one to get a bit more information.

[@AcryliWoodDesigns]

Hi Steve, I'd love to see a video of a thumbnail image on a metal business card using the F1!

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Great suggestion! I'll add it to my list.

[@GrandmawsWorkshop]

good recommendations.. just need me a laser now. lol

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Well if you don't win the Acmer giveaway, you can take a look at the many lasers I have reviewed here😉

[@GrandmawsWorkshop]

Yea I will

[@AcryliWoodDesigns]

How long did the final result take?

[@SteveMakesEverything]

It was engraved in 8-10 minutes.

[@AcryliWoodDesigns]

What laser did you do this project with?

[@SteveMakesEverything]

This was the Xtool S1. For project videos I tend to use whatever laser is sitting on my workbench, which is a good indication that the specific laser usually doesn’t matter.