Professional Engraved Acrylic Award
Instruction
Information
A client recently asked for an engraved award, so I suggested engraving on a solid, clear, block of acrylic. I always found this something of a hassle before getting the P2S, but with the CO2 laser, these types of projects are relatively fast and easy.
I used a 4 x 6 Clear Acrylic Block Award blank from Johnson Plastics Plus (link in the instructions). They cost about $20 apiece, but for your time and materials, you can probably charge about $60 for something of this quality. (😲 Wait...did I just share pricing strategies that could help others? I did! I thought that's what we did here—help each other out. 😀)
Despite the automatically generated settings below, this job is meant to run on slats, and the project file is set up accordingly.
Instruction
Step1: Prepare your file
First determine what you want to recognize and how you want to do it. Happy with the layout in my project file? Great! Just modify that with your own words. Otherwise, do your own thing.
I started by drawing a 4 x 6 rectangle that I didn't intend to use for anything but framing. I disabled its Output and Locked it so I could only use it as a size reference when designing the award.
I first inserted a laurel from the built-in border shapes. For text, I used the built-in font Alegreya SC. I used regular for most of the text and bold for the recipient's name. You may need to adjust font sizes based on the names of your organization, recipient, and award, respectively. Note for effect I added a separate text area for the “of" in “Center of Excellence.” You may or may not need or want that stylistic effect.
With everything in place, use the Horizontal Align Center function to align everything inside the rectangular frame. You'll need to Unlock the frame for this to work properly. Also adjust things vertically as you see fit.
Step2: Prepare the Material
To create this award, I used a 4 x 6 inch Clear Acrylic Block Award blank from Johnson Plastics Plus (sadly not an affiliate link—I just like their stuff). You could cut and engrave on any material, of course, but I had these in stock, and this was the effect I was after.
I've read lots about and personally experienced clouding when engraving on acrylic, and with a $20 blank, I didn't want to risk it happening on this project. So I used this dish soap trick (YouTube link) to protect the surface from the heat that causes this problem. Letting it dry, I was then ready to set up my P2S.
Step3: Set up the Laser
Despite what the “automatically filled” settings show, I have the project set to “Process on slats," and that's how I processed the job. The 1" thickness of the acrylic I used sneaks in right under the upper thickness limit for that processing mode.
Set your slats to support the acrylic block near the edges, ensuring its top surface falls under the Quick Measuring point indicator. I pre-masked my slats to help protect the back side of the acrylic from any scratches.
What are those green blocks? I've 3D-printed plastic spacers to help me align material on the slats. The ones on the top space the block down from the top, the ones on the bottom help hold it in place, and those on the left and right act as bumpers to secure it. Technically I pushed the block up to the spacer on the right, relying largely on the friction from the masking tape to help keep the block from moving laterally.
If you have a 3D printer, you can download the pattern for the spacers from MakerWorld and make some for yourself.
Step4: Prepare Your Settings
Now…do you want your engraving on the front or the back of your material? Since I'm using a transparent medium, I prefer the look of the engraving on the back. So I've used the Reflect Horizontally option to flip my design. Notice it looks backwards now. That's intentional. This isn't like tricking your M1 to focus on the back of the material using some sacrificial dark engraving sheet. With the P2 and P2S, we can engrave on the surface of clear acrylic. So if you want it on the back, you need to flip your design.
I set the material to 12mm Transparent Acrylic because that's the closest equivalent I could find in xTool's material reference. For my engraving settings, I just used the reference values. And for the frame, you want to make sure it's set to not Output. I know my material isn't 12mm thick, and you should always measure your own material, so do this now using Quick Measure.
Use the framing rectangle that mirrors the size of your award to align your design with your material using the camera. You've already measured to set your Thickness, right? Regardless, don't rely on the background image to align everything. Use the close shot camera to align everything (Select All) with the top and bottom of your material. If you adjust the material itself, don't forget to re-align with the close shot camera shots again. I find framing on the P2 a bit too “gray” for my liking—nothing seems to work quite as cleanly or easily as framing on the M1 and F1 machines.
Step5: Process and Finish
OK, let's process this bad boy! Mine took a little less than 20 minutes to complete.
With the design fully engraved, lift it carefully by the sides and rinse under water to remove the soap. It should come right off, and the result is a clean, etched effect that barely affects the depth of the surface. Dry it with a clean, cotton cloth to avoid scratches, and be careful when holding or packaging it.
Now that's a professional job worthy of an award itself. 😆
After hacking transparent surface engraving on the M1 and F1 machines, it's a pure joy to just run the job on my P2S and know that it'll work without black marking paper, engraving spray, paint, or any of those other tricks. It just works. And this is why I invested in the P2—it's a machine that can help transition you from a hobbyist to a pro if that's what you're after.
Now go make some money! 😉