Laser cut inlays and how to use kerf offset in lightburn.
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- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
- Etsy Shop Link mbwkdesign.ets...
The possibilities with laser cut inlays are vast. From bedroom door plaques, clocks, house names and numbers, tables and furniture the list goes on and on.
In this video I will be taking you through what kerf is and how to set up your laser to get perfect inlays every time. This can be done with both CO2 lasers and Diode Lasers.
Weather you are using lasers as a full time business, a hobby or a side hustle my aim is to share the knowledge and experience that I have gained over the years to make your journey a little easier. I am always wanting to learn something new and my aim is to inspire others to do the same.
If you are struggling with any laser issues or lightburn related problems comment in any of the videos and I will do my very best to resolve them.
Thank you
Jonny
#Kerf offset
#omtech
#Wooden inlays
#door number
#Make money with a laser
#help with lasers
#Lightburn tutorial
#master laser inlays
#wood inlays
#Inlays
#Lightburn
#Laser engraving
#Co2 Laser
#How to
#xtool
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I am so glad you pointed out the just because you have figured out your KERF setting - that it doesn't mean that number will be perfect every time - that you have to also deal with the differences in wood, dryness, moisture, etc. It is really frustrating once you have it, to cut something and have the KERF be too tight or too loose!
When you are making those 19 rectangles, an easier way is to use the array button. Set the x columns to 19 and x spacing to 0. It will be much faster and more accurate than placing by hand.
Thank you very much for your insight. I will keep the array tool in mind the next time I have to create multiple of the same object.
My thoughts exactly. What Nera said. I use the array tool every time I need multiples.
Well done! To get it to fit even better you should account the kerf angle. Which means to cut the inlay mirrored to compensate for the angle of the pocket. But yours is maybe perfect enough 😂
Fantastic, thank you. I will certainly take a look into that with my next inlay project.
Nice job, I'd love to see how you do with the plywood you spoke about. Also a little trick for that sanding, if you apply painters tape to your bench and the back of the piece then some CA Glue on the piece and spray the bench tape with activator and press together. It'll hold nicely while you sand and save your fingers and just pull the tape off afterwards
Great video, I have just bought a laser mainly to help me get good inlays. It’s good to watch someone doing the exact thing. Hopefully I can succeed in time😅
That's fantastic. Great minds think alike.
nice work/ The only downside is you can always see the charred edge versus a CNC inlay that will be seamless. But that defined edge could be a feature of the design. I think if I could manage it with the inlay design, I'd use the laser to make a template and then use a router inlay bit set yo do it without burning the wood.
Thats pretty awesome, I think thats the cleanest I've seen any laser engraving. Had no idea they could be that tight without a full cnc inlay method.
Thankyou
That turned out nice new sub here. I have playing with diode laser’s for the last four years with my little 10 watt Longer Ray with a .060 mm beam width it makes very tight inlays. On that radial arm suggestion, when cutting do not pull the saw towards in the cut. This can cause a kick back! You want to push towards the back of the saw when cutting. I am 70 years old and still have 9 fingers the tip of one was not a woodworking accident. 😀🛫
That is an excellent explanation and I am going to have to make some of my own. I saw the booger line on the right top edge of the face. I knew as soon as you turned the face down, there was going to be some scratches. I know you saw it too. Oh well, we finish and we learn eh? Thanks for the great video.
Thanks, Learned something new that I can do with my Laser. I have lots of Black Walnut and a fair sized piece of Purpleheart that I can use.
Fantastic, I'm glad I could help.
Beautiful work friend. Thanks for the info.
Brilliant move to make multiple cuts to multiply your kerf to get a more accurate measurement.
I use duplicate quite a bit too. For something like this where I need several of the same thing, I would go to the Array option and make my copies that way. 0 spacing to get them all nicely lined up like you did here. You can make as many as you need that way, all in one move. If you need each object to always be like the original, there is a way to do that in the array feature so when you make a change to the original, all of the copies update too. 🙂
I have several pencil videos that I have done over the years. Fun to do. I make one for my brother with a bunch of geometry formulas on it. We do some fun problems from time to time and it is a helpful reminder for him. ;-) I can't wait to see how you do pencils. Are you going to use that big CO2 laser!? My little 5.5 was more than enough. I also used my desktop router to makes some. I built a fixture to help with consistency but only 1 at a time. I subscribed so I will see that when it comes out.
I am totally interested to see a video on painting MDF and using that as an inlay. That is a great idea. One of my next projects is going to be using powder coat material in a laser engraved piece of wood and then head it up with a heat gun. Using the laser to heat the powder coat has too many issues and is the wrong tool for that part of the job.
Well that just enhanced my life... THANKS! Subscribed
Thank you
Yes, please make the video you spoke of! Nice piece!
I have already started preparing it, so I can hopefully release it next week. If you want to know when it is out, just click the subscribe button. Thank you for your interest in the video.
Thank you! I did subscribe!
Dude, for the love of your hands, use a dang holding stick to secure your work piece!
If your stick gets cut, your fingers won't feel a thing! Seriously....
Trying to pick up fingers with no fingers just doesn't work.
Otherwise, good demonstration of LightBurn Software's capabilities.
Can you share your multi layer settings for the engrave portions? I see it’s a multi layer engrave, would love to know how you determined and set that up. Thank you!
Wooops there! Your method is invalid. You will need to refilm and upload. You missed a critical setting. The issue is that the edges of your rectangles are cut lines and they overlap. Effectively you are burning the overlapping edges twice each. That will give you a false answer as to what your kerf is. To fix this issue, you need to prevent Lightburn from engraving overlapping vector lines. Go to: Window Tab // Laser // now in the Laser Window (which you might have docked. This is the window/docked window that has the Pause, Stop, and Start buttons on it) Click the Optimization Settings Button just below the Job Origin selector // Now in the Cut Optimization Settings Window it is the last setting at the bottom, Turn on "Remove overlapping lines" That should fix your issue.
That is some decent information thankyou for your comment, hopefully people will read your comment and try your method for themselves. When I get back to the workshop on the 8th I'll run through your method and if it gives better results I will make a video to remedy that issue. I have another inlay video that my community want me to put out. Thank you again.
I was thinking the same.
I've literally just hit this issue an hour ago. Decided it was time for a beer and youtube recommends this videos with your comment that fix the problem. Spooky.
WOW! Optimization settings!!!! Great heads up !!!! I did a puzzle recently and could not find a way to stop it cutting twice BUT just ran it with this setting applied and VIOLA! Success. Thanks to @frankligas and @MakeBetterWithKnowledge. Great video!
Glad it helped!
Nice work mate.. my laser is arriving next week and I cant wait to start trying on projects like this.
Thankyou, these simple plaques are extremely fun to do and the creative possibilities are endless. What laser did you end up purchasing and have you owned or used a laser before?
I have ordered the Algolaser 22W Delta. It should arrive this week. I've never owned a laser and am only a hobby woodworker. I am planning on retiring next year and then can do a lot more of this myself
When calculating your baseline of the kerf, the error is caused by cutting the vertical lines two times by cutting touching rectangles (and because the MDF is too thick). Lightburn can delete overlapping lines, or you could've just cut vertical lines (arrayed) and two horizontal just to make the rectangles fall out.
Awesome!
Thank you
What an awesome idea :0 I never even thought of doing this with my laser subbed ;)
so just to clarify your adding to the overall dimension of the inlay part to account for the laser cut when it cuts the part out. I have been using plywood 3/4 maple plywood with 2.7mm mahogany plywood inlays i am just starting to test pieces and so far haven't had much of a gap. i am using an OMtech 2440 100-watt c02. going to try your Kerf offset idea and see if it yields any better results btw a nice Video and a great project. will be watching for more from you
My take away is to skip the mdf bit and test fit using the material you’re actually using starting at a 0.1 kerf and go from there
Certainly would be interested in seeing a mdf inlay video.
I will try to make it happen early in the new year.
Great. Video. I would be very interested in how you get on with inlaying painted woods, i wonder how it will work for the sanding?
Thank you , I am halfway through the production of my next video, but I am working on the designs at the moment for the sequel to this video, which goes through that exact process. I haven't tried it yet, so fingers crossed it works. My theory is to make a design that incorporates 3 or 4 colours, and then everything fits together like a jigsaw puzzle. Hopefully, using a very fine sandpaper on the colours will be enough to apply a clearcoat on top to get it as flat as possible. This video won't be out this week, but I hope to have it finished for the week after ( although christmas is fast approaching). If you haven't done it already, I would urge you to subscribe so you know when I release it but no pressure. Thanks again.
Thanks for the information. Can you tell me what air pressure you are using? Thank you.
You're welcome. I used 25 psi.
Great, thanks. Subscribed
Your welcome
Great video! I have a Monport 80w CO2, very similar to your to your laser. Mine came with air-assist, but I see many people use a seperate air-assist, usually a California Tools air compressor. What do you do? I’m wondering if my air isn’t really enough. Thanks!
May I ask what glue you are using, as well as what Rubio Monocoat color you used?
The glue I used was a generic ca glue. In the uk it's commonly known as mitre mate. And the rubio monocoate is the natural or pure colour. It has no pigment in it but if its used on a light wood it can yellow it slightly so I would always test it on a bit of scrap wood first to make sure it's a finish you are happy with.
Quedó precioso!
Lovely thanks, subbed 😊
Thanks for the sub!
Nice video. Ty.
How thick can you inset your inlay?
Are you using an external air pump ? Sounds like a lot of air as evidence by it blowing your bits away, way more than mine.
Love this. Thank you so much for sharing. Just subscribed. I was wondering how you determine the depth of your engrave to work with the inlay.
Thank you for your support. Your sub means a lot.
To find the desired depth for the thickness of material. I would cut a 10mm square out of your desired thickness of material, then you will have to run a 10mm square grid test with varying speeds and power settings until your materials are flush. I will make a point of covering this for you in an upcoming video.
Did you ever do this video? 🙏🏼
@@MadeBetterWithKnowledge
I’m from the uk where do you get your exotic wood from?
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ALL THAT WORK AND CALCULATING JUST TO MANUALLY GUESS AND TWEAK IT 20%. Measuring one cut would have gotten just as close.
Timestamp 6:11 Fishing? Turn down you power of your air-assist. 1,000 psi is too much.
I don't use 1000 psi
You entered the wrong Kerf Offset the first time, and your second setting was more correct. First you did .102 should have been .101