Laser Blur around letters

[alexbuzek]

Hi Everyone!
Has anyone ever experienced a blur or halo when engraving into plastic? I have an Epilog Helix 24 and whenever I engrave plastics I get a halo. I have been in contact with Epilog, and so far no solution. I am using Rowmark Laser Engraving Plastic.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. My focus is correct. This only happens on plastic.

I have attached two attachments, hopefully I did it correctly.

Thanks in advance for your time!

 

[J Hill Designs]

silly question, but is the plastic made for laser engraving?

 

[alexbuzek]

silly question, but is the plastic made for laser engraving?

Yes! I am using Rowmark laser engraving plastic

 

[rossmosh]

Your pictures aren't very good but I'll give you a rundown of what normally causes this.

1. Resolution. If you're not engraving at 400dpi or higher, start.
2. Laser head is loose. Check to see if there is any wiggle when you move the laser head. There shouldn't be. If there is it could be anything from a bolt to a bearing failure.
3. Belt tension is off.
4. Actual motherboard/control board issue. I'd say this is unlikely but it's a potential issue.

If I had to guess, it's either 2 or 3.

Also, really attempt to take some decent pictures. I can barely see anything that's going on.

 

[fastmax]

looks like the bidirectional is funky, if possible see if you get the same effect in Uni-directional

 

[CanuckSigns]

check your power, you could be hitting it way to hard causing the edges to melt a bit.

or your lens is loose

 

[toomeycustoms]

Clean encoder strip if your machine has one. If your on facebook, check out the Epilog Laser Fan group, sure someone may have experienced the same issue.

 

[V-ENGRAVE]

In addition to what was suggested make sure of following:

1 - Dirty encoder strip or flip the sides for proper connection seating
2 - Cracked lens (splitting the beam)
3 - Beam alignment (hitting metal parts in the path)
4 - Tickle adjustment required
5 - Belt tension

 

[limacchina]

check lens loose and belt