Craig Keller
New Member
To put this photo on a metal paint coated tumbler. Which software and technique would be best?
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Photo to laser on a metal Tumbler
- Thread starter Craig Keller
- Start date
Rmurray321
New Member
What kind of laser do you have, and have you done previous photo work with the laser?
Craig Keller
New Member
C02 xtool p2
Rmurray321
New Member
These are overpriced, almost to glowforge levels. Xtool is getting too caught up in their marketing right now and their prices reflect it
The omtech polar is only $3k for almost the same thing
somcalmetim
New Member
Good news and bad news...its pretty easy to do photos in lightburn...has a photo mode where you set no power for white and a max power value for black and it wil ramp the power up and down depending on shade of photo at that point...works great and good detail/shading is possible with wood and acrylic....
Buuuut...doesn't work as well on a painted tumbler...with a tumbler you just have original paint or burned off metal area so its more like black and white without the ability to get mid tones...works good with B/W logos etc...
You will also need a rotator device that will hold your tumbler and hook into your laser so it rotates the tumbler instead of moving your laser side to side...
Buuuut...doesn't work as well on a painted tumbler...with a tumbler you just have original paint or burned off metal area so its more like black and white without the ability to get mid tones...works good with B/W logos etc...
You will also need a rotator device that will hold your tumbler and hook into your laser so it rotates the tumbler instead of moving your laser side to side...
Would it be possible to do a "halftone"?
It worked for newspapers for around 100 years
MGB_LE
New Member
Newspapers consist of ADDING ink to a substration at varying dot size for halftones, where the tumbler needs to have material REMOVED. It's the opposite manufacturing process.
it does not matter if the process to make a halftone is opposite - just make a negative image. A halftone may work for you, but the actual dot resolution of the blasted away powder coating on a tumbler is pretty low (use a magnifying glass to look at the edges of a burn... then compare to the dots in a printed piece.)
early ink-jet printers had a resolution problem and used to use a frequency modulated dither rather than an amplitude modulated screen - you may try doing the same thing as the perceived resolution is much greater with frequency modulation (if this sounds like radio, the same general principals apply as to why FM is better than AM - or at least was... but that is a different squirrel chase.) for the dither, first figure out what the smallest clean dot you can burn is, then use the dot size to determine the dither.
yes, but the halftone process might still be applied, iwould think, producing the graphic
The only difference in the prints between adding dark to a light, or removing light from a dark is whether you are using a positive or a negative image to work from:
1)if you want a positive final print and are adding dark to a light, then use a positive original.
2)if you want a positive final print and are subtracting dark (like dark tumbler on a laser) then use a negative original and the printing will invert it to a positive.
3)if you want a negative pic and are adding dark to a light, then use a negative original.
4) if you wand a negative print and are subtracting dark, then use a positive original.... 4 options - 2 for additive printing and 2 for subtractive printing
use whichever one matches your clients needs.
AndreaRotela
New Member
xtool p2
Problem with co2 is the minimum power when it will laze.. Its not 0-100, it'll be something like 10-80% - so instantly your picture is off. Plus co2 lasers aren't instant, so there's alot more involved in getting a picture than just engraving.
A fiber laser is a MUCH better tool - you can even Engrave on metal with it.
Do a few tests - lightburn has some power test grids you can burn. There are a few YouTube videos on how to set rise/fall times to get the best resolution.
A fiber laser is a MUCH better tool - you can even Engrave on metal with it.
Do a few tests - lightburn has some power test grids you can burn. There are a few YouTube videos on how to set rise/fall times to get the best resolution.
CanuckSigns
Active Member
As someone who has been engraving for 30 years and has both c02 and fiber, the c02 is the correct choice for engraving yeti type tumblers, the fiber has the ability to etch into the metal which looks horrible, c02 just removes the powder coat.
it's actually a technology that has been in use for over 150 years.
The first printed halftone photograph was an image of Prince Arthur published on October 30, 1869. The New York Daily Graphic would later publish "the first reproduction of a photograph with a full tonal range in a newspaper" on March 4, 1880 (entitled "A Scene in Shantytown") with a crude halftone screen.
i have wanted to add a laser engraver to my collection of toys, but, have yet to do so