Comments on: Epilog Zing personal laser etching

By: laser etching

laser etching — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 06:13:46 +0000

Epilog makes excellent products; we depend on them every day! laser etching

By: bolaai123cat

bolaai123cat — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:56:51 +0000

8800616

By: Duston Harper

Duston Harper — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:09:51 +0000

Hello fellow LaserMasters!

I work at Etchstar.com and we use and love Epilog Lasers. We have
several and they always work well. Good luck to Epilog with this new
consumer-focused product! If you want to see what we've done with
Epilogs in the past, check out our sites:

Etchstar.com
Etchstar.com/blog
JournalEngraver.com
CustomMilitaryGear.com
...more coming soon...

Please contact us if you buy one of these lasers and you are
interested in becoming an Etchstar.com Partner!

Sincerely,
Duston
epilog@etchstar.com

By: S. Sheldrake

S. Sheldrake — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:43:48 +0000

In the article it’s stated the laser is ’25W’, whereas the video shows (at around 1:06) the device is markes as ’35W’.

By: toki mccown

toki mccown — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 01:59:56 +0000

i was about to buy one of these … 300 a month … not to bad

By: garrett

garrett — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:14:15 +0000

The CO2 lasers work by superheating a tiny area until it explosively vaporizes. It’s more of a cutting action than a burning action, although intense heat is part of the process. Basically the material has to be easily vaporized, and there’s an order of magnitude difference between plastic and metal as far as melting and vaporization temperatures. Interestingly, you can still etch (not cut) glass, but that’s mainly because the heat creates little stress fractures that divot the surface of the glass rather than vaporizing it.

By: peter

peter — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 12:18:16 +0000

@ garrett

how come you cant use the laser to etch away the copper layer? i would have though it could just engrave the board by the thickness of the copper layer to remove it. does it have something to do with the reflectivity of the copper surface?

By: miked

miked — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 10:36:47 +0000

@john – true, not really a hack, but laser etching is cool.

By: garrett

garrett — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 07:57:18 +0000

@firestorm_v1: You can't use a laser to cut PCBs, or etch away the copper. You can use it to etch away paint, forming a resist pattern. The other uses are valid...provided that your material is okay to use in the laser (polycarbonate or styrene is bad). There's also rubber stamps, spray stencils, small-scale woodworking, etc. Actually, today I made some of these on the laser, some holder brackets for ShiftBrites: http://flickr.com/photos/macetech/2662478061/

By: firestorm_v1

firestorm_v1 — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 04:59:46 +0000

It may not be a hack, but I could think of a lot of laser engraved stuff that could be used for hacking or used for making a hack look impressive.

Think about it, before you scream "not a hack":
- Laser cut mounting brackets for PCBs and components
- For that matter, Laser cut PCBs.
- custom engraving for cases, hardware, etc.

By: clark

clark — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 04:15:42 +0000

@ John.
but it could be a very useful tool for hacking.

By: cromag

cromag — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 03:33:22 +0000

perhaps not a hack in and of itself, but I would put this in “tools & techniques” definately within the scope of this blog

By: john.s948@mint.us.to

john.s948@mint.us.to — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 02:37:55 +0000

not a hack