The Laser Thread

PEU said:
Started with a JPT 50W fiber from Mactron and months later added an Aeon Mira 7 CO2 90W.

A good starting point for newcomers is suscribing to https://masters.lasereverything.net/ for $8/mo there you can download a ready made and tested library for fiber and co2 and also a power converter so the values are appropiate for you laser. Before the month you can decide if the community is worth the price or you are done having these files and cancel. This second option is what I did, it helped me kickstart with the basics.

I use the fiber to engrave my makers mark and different patterns on the blade, bolsters and corby bolts. The CO2 I use it mostly for sheath making, but its proving to be a super versatile machine and I'm using it more and more for other purposes.

Both lasers are using Lightburn (LB), ezcad2 or ezcrash as is populary known is a royal PITA, its great to have LB which has frequent updates and full support from developers. To use LB you need a supported board, for fiber its an ezcad2 board, ezcad3 is not supported yet, for CO2 there is a list of supported boards.

Pablo
Click to expand...
Pablo, would you mind shooting me an email? I'm having an issue w/ my 50w JPT and wanted to see if you could run the same lightburn file on yours and see if it is having the same issue. josh@rekknives.com
 
About a year ago I started researching lasers. Fiber can do one thing diode another, since I needed both I finally found one with enough power to do hardened blades. I bought a laserpecker LP5. I had it for about a month but first started messing with it a few days ago. I took me about an hour and 15 test etches to get one I was happy with for mt logo. The actual etch time for my logo in hardened and tempered stainless was 2.5 minutes. It took me longer than that to weed a vinyl stencil. I also etched an image into some leather, the leather setting will need some fine tuning but for the first try I'm happy. I can see this being a game changer for me.
https://imgur.com/i67gZKP
https://imgur.com/nmczCUu
https://imgur.com/T96qY2W
 
I'm loving my LaserPecker LP5
Yesterday I put a name in a clients handle, handle material is black walnut. Here's a video of it being done in real time. If it were easier to post pics I'd post some blades that were lasered.


 
REK Knives said:
I wanna learn how to do 3d engraving personally... But it's just a huge learning curve and I lack time 😔

Saw this on reddit... Done with a 60w mopa
View attachment 2739063
Click to expand...
This engraving method has some great applications to knifemaking I believe....custom designed nail nicks, engraved bolsters, embellishments like half rope shape on bolsters....threading on bolsters, ....with a C02 laser, custom checkering on hand scales....

I just got a Haotian 60 W JPT MOPA fiber laser and have been researching the 3d slice engraving approach in lightburn. Here is what I just made tonight. One is from an image from already premade stable diffusion AI image, converted to depth map (can't remember exactly which converter I used - I have 3 I've been going back and forth between), edited in GIMP with the original image, then into lightburn. The other is from a premade *.stl file converted to depth map *.png.

I'll be collating the info I've gathered and result of some experimentation into a blog post. but The general things to consider are

1) the end goal for working with lightburn and the 3d Slice image mode is a grey scale depth map image comprised of 256 different grey scale colors. Light burn 3d slice maps each color against a power setting where black is the max of the range you've defined, so it engraves deepest
One facebook and elsewhere there are some free depth maps that people have made into coins using lightburn. I have some saved and can email them.

2) There are two general ways to get to this end goal of a depth map in *.png format.
2a) one is to start with a *.STL file. *.STL is used by the 3d CNC routing world and is a 3D file format.
-there are several Free downloads available of STL files, and there are people to contract to make STL files, or learn the method yourself. cults3d is a great site with some free STL files. There is a -type of art form called BAS RELIEF, that is the best for converting into depth maps for lasering. I just use that as a search term.
-There are several STL-->PNG conversion sites out there that kick out a depth map ready for lightburn.

2b) use one of the many AI image generation site like stable diffusion or many variants, like midjourney, or local hosting of Comfy UI...to create an AI image. The key here is using good prompts to such as bas relief, grey scale, round coin, front facing, no shadows, etc......
-once an image is generated to your likening, the goal is to convert it to depth map
-there are several utilities out there that estimate depth maps from your AI generated image.
-these are ok, but there are some filtering steps you can do in free software such as GIMP. to get them better

-what I am missing is further enhancements in photoshop or gimp to clean up the images.

Anyway, I know the terms are a different language as are the computer programs. But just like everything knifemaking from heat treating to grinding, it's doable. My goal is to get a straightforward process flow to follow to share with others here.

PM me and we can chat. or have a call. I'd be happy to share what I've learned so far, which is just scratching the surface.


this is after cleanup with wire brush and some cratex- This one was from an already made stable diffusion AI image that was converted to depth map
28J19dK.jpg


this one was an stl image converted to depth map. The size is small because I of the space available on some scrap nickel silver
00X6gxt.jpg
 
ashwinearl said:
This engraving method has some great applications to knifemaking I believe....custom designed nail nicks, engraved bolsters, embellishments like half rope shape on bolsters....threading on bolsters, ....with a C02 laser, custom checkering on hand scales....

I just got a Haotian 60 W JPT MOPA fiber laser and have been researching the 3d slice engraving approach in lightburn. Here is what I just made tonight. One is from an image from already premade stable diffusion AI image, converted to depth map (can't remember exactly which converter I used - I have 3 I've been going back and forth between), edited in GIMP with the original image, then into lightburn. The other is from a premade *.stl file converted to depth map *.png.

I'll be collating the info I've gathered and result of some experimentation into a blog post. but The general things to consider are

1) the end goal for working with lightburn and the 3d Slice image mode is a grey scale depth map image comprised of 256 different grey scale colors. Light burn 3d slice maps each color against a power setting where black is the max of the range you've defined, so it engraves deepest
One facebook and elsewhere there are some free depth maps that people have made into coins using lightburn. I have some saved and can email them.

2) There are two general ways to get to this end goal of a depth map in *.png format.
2a) one is to start with a *.STL file. *.STL is used by the 3d CNC routing world and is a 3D file format.
-there are several Free downloads available of STL files, and there are people to contract to make STL files, or learn the method yourself. cults3d is a great site with some free STL files. There is a -type of art form called BAS RELIEF, that is the best for converting into depth maps for lasering. I just use that as a search term.
-There are several STL-->PNG conversion sites out there that kick out a depth map ready for lightburn.

2b) use one of the many AI image generation site like stable diffusion or many variants, like midjourney, or local hosting of Comfy UI...to create an AI image. The key here is using good prompts to such as bas relief, grey scale, round coin, front facing, no shadows, etc......
-once an image is generated to your likening, the goal is to convert it to depth map
-there are several utilities out there that estimate depth maps from your AI generated image.
-these are ok, but there are some filtering steps you can do in free software such as GIMP. to get them better

-what I am missing is further enhancements in photoshop or gimp to clean up the images.

Anyway, I know the terms are a different language as are the computer programs. But just like everything knifemaking from heat treating to grinding, it's doable. My goal is to get a straightforward process flow to follow to share with others here.

PM me and we can chat. or have a call. I'd be happy to share what I've learned so far, which is just scratching the surface.


this is after cleanup with wire brush and some cratex- This one was from an already made stable diffusion AI image that was converted to depth map
28J19dK.jpg


this one was an stl image converted to depth map. The size is small because I of the space available on some scrap nickel silver
00X6gxt.jpg
Click to expand...
That's amazing! I've messed with it a little bit but no where near what you've done. Yeah I'll definitely be in touch,thanks for that offer. I feel if I can replicate exactly what you did there that will give me a much greater understanding of the process.

I've found some good bas relief images and converted them using some 3d slice software but haven't gotten great definition like you where things really pop out of the background.

and that's cool you got a haitoan laser, I've got a buddy that's all he uses. They gave insane good pricing too (I picked up a 210 lens from pascal).
 
REK Knives said:
That's amazing! I've messed with it a little bit but no where near what you've done. Yeah I'll definitely be in touch,thanks for that offer. I feel if I can replicate exactly what you did there that will give me a much greater understanding of the process.

I've found some good bas relief images and converted them using some 3d slice software but haven't gotten great definition like you where things really pop out of the background.

and that's cool you got a haitoan laser, I've got a buddy that's all he uses. They gave insane good pricing too (I picked up a 210 lens from pascal).
Click to expand...
Pascal is the man for sure. It took 6 days to ship my crate from mainland China to upstate NY. I wasn't ready and was returning from travel and was expecting it in a week after I got back. I had a scratch on the little l bracket that the laser head mounts on and they sent me a replacement part.

btw, those images were done with 110 lens. I think for this type of smaller detailed engraving smaller lense is better. But that is just from reading and some minor experimentation. .

yes PM me your email, I'll send the depth maps and the exact lightburn file used to make these. and some notes on lightburn settings.
 
ashwinearl said:
Pascal is the man for sure. It took 6 days to ship my crate from mainland China to upstate NY. I wasn't ready and was returning from travel and was expecting it in a week after I got back. I had a scratch on the little l bracket that the laser head mounts on and they sent me a replacement part.

btw, those images were done with 110 lens. I think for this type of smaller detailed engraving smaller lense is better. But that is just from reading and some minor experimentation. .

yes PM me your email, I'll send the depth maps and the exact lightburn file used to make these. and some notes on lightburn settings.
Click to expand...
can't message you but my email is josh at rekknives dot com
 
ashwinearl said:
lasering in color with 60w JPT MOPA on 410 stainless liners
52OyypR.jpg


it has prisimatic look when moved slightly in the light.
Click to expand...

This is absolutely jawdroppingly gorgeous!!

Do you think it would be possible to get this effect with a xtool D1 pro with a 10w??
 
BritW said:
This is absolutely jawdroppingly gorgeous!!

Do you think it would be possible to get this effect with a xtool D1 pro with a 10w??
Click to expand...
I don't know. My laser is Fiber with the MOPA option that lets you adjust pulse width. that is the magic for getting color. I know that non-MOPA fibers can do color it just needs more tuning.

Assuming your laser is a diode. I did see this video when googling about your model:
 
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