Many owners of a laser engraving machine will tell you that laser engraving wood has to be one of the best looking effects that a system can produce.
This is especially true for laser engraving a photo to wood where the grain of the material can have a significantly enhancing effect on the image itself.
All natural timbers and most engineered wooden boards can be laser engraved by a CO2 laser at the 10.6µm wavelength but some natural timbers will not mark with contrast. Therefore, when selecting timber for photo laser engraving it’s wise to consider this point to gain maximum effect.
Timbers that contain a high oil content generally vaporise with a good contrasting effect. Cherry wood and maple would be too of my favourites. These woods also tend to have quite fine grains that enhance but do not interfere too much with the image itself. Oak, for example, is not a favourite of mine because the coarse variations in the look and density of the wood can detract from the effect of the image being marked
A plotter format laser engraver is best suited where the application requires a mark made over a large area and especially where a high degree of detail is required because the Plano convex lens of the plotter produces the smallest possible focal point, which provides for the highest possible resolution.
Just note however that even when using a lens with the smallest possible focal point, the size of the pulse into wood is far larger than with other materials that vaporise, such as cast acrylic, and certainly a lot larger than materials that do not vaporise, such as laser marking anodised aluminium. This is because the pulse into wood continues to grow in size a little after the pulse has been delivered and also that in order to achieve a good, contrasting effect, most laser engraving to wood has some depth (deeper = lower resolution).
When using a plotter, in terms of resolution it is not beneficial to raster engrave with hatch spacing greater than 0.08mm (300dpi). Higher resolutions can in fact cause the dot pattern to merge and reduce the perceived resolution of the laser engraved photo. Some of the best photo etching to wood work that I have seen has actually been produced with a hatch spacing 0.10mm (250dpi).
Good system software will allow you to adjust the dot pattern of the image at the laser engraving machine itself, however, for machines that do not provide for this, such as those that work via a print driver, it’s important to match the graphical image resolution with the resolution of the machine itself (image resolution in dpi = focal point size and hatch spacing)
Laser engraving photos to wood can be quite a slow process and if this is your core business then nothing beats the speed of a galvo laser. Typically, for this process a galvo laser will be somewhere between x3 and x10 (or even faster!) than the speed of a plotter for this application. Therefore, if you plan to grow your business in this field and so long as the image is no larger than 175mm (approx 7”) consider carefully investing in a galvo laser engraving machine because a single galvo system can be an overall much lower cost investment as it can produce at the rate of a whole factory full of plotters and with far lower maintenance issues too.
Watch our systems at work
Below are just a few videos of our systems laser engraving different types of wood.
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Lotus Laser Systems Meta C 75watt CO2 laser engraving Cherry Wood
https://www.lotuslaser.com/
This application required a reasonably deep and dark mark to cherry wood.
The Meta-C laser engraving system used for this trial was configured with a 75w CO2 laser and F254mm lens. Scanning speed was set to 1m/s and a hatch of 0.08mm was used.
Using a wider hatch value would reduce the process speed but lighten and shallow the mark
Here at Lotus Laser Systems we have extensive experience in laser marking within a range of industries and applications
For more information on how we can help you please visit our website and get in touch. -
Lotus Laser Systems Meta C 75w CO2 laser engraving birch plywood
https://www.lotuslaser.com/machine/lotus-laser-systems-meta-c-laser-marking-workstation/
In this video we show how the Meta-C 75w CO2 laser engraving machine laser engraves birch plywood at high speed and with a very clean surface finish.
It should be noted that the speed can be increased if the hatch resolution is decreased but this would reduce the depth and the darkness of the engraving.
Here at Lotus Laser Systems we have extensive experience in laser marking within a range of industries and applications
For more information on how we can help you please visit our website and get in touch.
https://www.lotuslaser.com/ -
Lotus Laser Systems Meta CO2 laser engraving bamboo
https://www.lotuslaser.com/
With this video we show how fast and accurate Meta CO2 can laser engrave a bamboo board. The logo has some detail and to produce this we require a relatively small focal point (laser spot). We therefore use a lens F100, which gives a marking field approx 55mm.
Other lenses with larger work areas can be used and these will actually produce the laser engraving faster but the resulting larger focal point will lose detail.
To benefit from the potential speed of Meta when laser engraving wood we use an RF CO2 laser of minimum power 75w.
Here at Lotus Laser Systems we have extensive experience in laser marking within a range of industries and applications
For more information on how we can help you please visit our website and get in touch.
Please view our full range of machines at https://www.lotuslaser.com/all-machines/ -
Lotus Laser Systems Blu100 80w laser engraving plywood with a photo
https://www.lotuslaser.com/machine/blu100/
With this video we show just how well Blu100 can laser engrave a photo image to birch plywood.
While the design of our Blu model systems is configured specifically for cutting applications we have many customers that use them for engraving applications too.
To control the motion system and the DC laser well enough to produce such a high quality laser engraved photo result can be challenging for most machines of this type and format.
With stringent quality control during assembly of the Blu100 motion system and our grading process that ensures we use only the best quality DC laser source this video shows clearly that Blu100 can achieve an output quality that is equal to machines at x3 or x4 the price of Blu100
While this result is shown on plywood the same effect can be produced on other materials such as laser engraved acrylic, laser engraved slate and laser engraved aluminium
Here at Lotus Laser Systems we have extensive experience in laser cutting, laser engraving and laser marking within a range of industries and applications
For more information on how we can help you please visit our website and get in touch.
Please view our full range of machines at https://www.lotuslaser.com/ -
Lotus Laser Systems Meta C 75w CO2 laser engraving bamboo bottle caps
https://www.lotuslaser.com/
In this video we use Meta-C fitted with a 75w CO2 laser to engrave a bottle cap that is made of bamboo.
The result of the laser engraved bamboo is permanent. This type of laser marking can be used for reducing counterfeiting as well as improving the aesthetic, adding value to the product
This type of mark is reasonably fast. Production throughput can be improved by automating the part load/unload process.
For this trial we used a single laser lens with a 163mm F/L (110mm work area)
Here at Lotus Laser Systems we have extensive experience in laser marking within a range of industries and applications
For more information on how we can help you please visit our website and get in touch.
Please view our full range of machines at https://www.lotuslaser.com/all-machines/ -
Lotus Laser Systems Blu100 and Meta CO2 cutting and marking Bamboo badges
http://lotuslaser.com
Laser Cut bamboo Blu100 DC and Laser Mark bamboo CO2 Meta C1. In this video we used the Blu100 DC to cut 5mm thick bamboo and engraved it with our Meta C1 CO2 laser. Our Blu100 DC is 80w machine and one of the best selling models for cutting apps. Included in the package is the rod dot positioning device, nosecone, 2'' lens, lotus cut software, air assist with onboard pump, lamella cutting table and Chiller. As you can see in the video the cutting takes only a few seconds and has no charring because of the premium extraction system in the bed. The marking on bamboo and acrylic badge by Meta C1 Co2 laser is another example of superior quality. Enjoy the video.
Here at Lotus Laser Systems we have extensive experience in laser marking within a range of industries and applications
For more information on how we can help you please visit our website and get in touch.
Please view our full range of machines at http://lotuslaser.com/machines
Suggested Systems
At Lotus Laser Systems we manufacture a wide range laser, marking and engraving solutions ideally configured for laser cutting and engraving wood. Our experts would be happy to recommend which configuration best suits your application.
Below are just a few of those we suggest for this application. Please do contact us if you would like to find out more.
Our most compact and affordable CO2 laser cutter, Blu60 has been specifically designed to pass through a standard door opening (76cm).
Specifically sized to minimise material waste, the Blu100 is our best selling CO2 laser cutter. This machine covers the vast majority of typical work for a machine of this type.
Meta-C is our flagship system designed for seriously heavy commercial and industrial users. The features built into Meta-C help it deliver the best functionality and performance in its class.