Stop Using Borax on Laser Engravings! Try This Instead!

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In this video I check out a method demonstrated by Computer Creationz to get darker engravings without applying any chemicals to the wood. For my video I tested if this method would work on a diode laser and I also tested this method with image engravings. I was shocked at the results!
Original Computer Creations video here: • Laser Engrave Darker d...
Previous videos I released on Borax:
Borax Laser Engravings that Don't Smear - • Borax Laser Engravings...
Why I'm not using Borax on Laser Engravings - • Why I'm Not Using Bora...
If you buy something through my links below I may get a small share of the sale.
Tools and supplies used in this video:
Ortur Laser Master Pro 2 Laser Engraver: amzn.to/3eiEOp7
Ortur Laser Master Pro 2 Enclosure: amzn.to/3zhYqSf
Ortur Laser Head Focus Controller: amzn.to/3MgycUZ
Borax: amzn.to/3fJEccs (shown but not used)
OD 6 Laser Safety Glasses - amzn.to/3VcHEN9
Stylish Black Duck Tape: amzn.to/3Eu3ohn
Disclaimer: The content presented in this video is for entertainment purposes only. The information provided is not intended to substitute or replace professional advice, and viewers should not rely solely on the information presented in this video. Viewers should always do their own research and consult with professionals in the appropriate fields before making any decisions based on the information presented. The creator of this video does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information presented in this video.
#making #laserengraver #noborax #laser #diodelaser

Опубликовано:

26 сен 2024

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Комментарии : 86

@ajbahe Год назад

I just ordered my first engraver! Thanks for sharing your knowledge! And I like your cinematography!

@LetsMakeAThing Год назад

Thank you! Enjoy your new laser!

@discoteq2 8 месяцев назад

Great advise thanks. What I found on my diode is to cover the area with normal masking tape. This darkens the area with normal focus as well

@LetsMakeAThing 8 месяцев назад

Thanks for sharing!

@rauchfamily4 Год назад

As a lawyer representing big Borax I must object to your continuous disparagement of the fine tradition of Borax lazer making darkerness. This campaign of saving makers from having to run to the grocery to *gasp* buy borax like we do our own laundry cannot stand. (oh, and thanks for this tip...brilliant!)

@LetsMakeAThing Год назад

Objection your honor! Who actually goes to a store to buy anything these days? 🤣 Glad you found this useful!

@jeffhatcher6585 8 месяцев назад

I’ve not had such a scientific approach as you, and had a pretty basic 5w output diode to start with, and have put the diode closer for darker / deeper outcomes from the start. Never thought it was anything unusual

@theodoreguilmart3876 11 месяцев назад

Instead of using borax, I’ve started to backfill engravings with FEP powder coat and then heat seal it with a heat gun. It works great and can give you color options. FEP powder coat paints are also food grade safe so be needles to worry.

@LetsMakeAThing 11 месяцев назад

That's an awesome idea! Thanks for sharing!

@boruchlen 9 месяцев назад

If I may ask, where do you buy FEP powder coating paints in small sizes?

@BobbyJ529 4 месяца назад

that only works with monotone images, innit?

@fretworkpeddler 4 месяца назад

@@boruchlen I just ordered 4 ounces from Amazon.

@boruchlen 4 месяца назад

@fretworkpeddler great to know! Thank you for your reply.

@ChadsCustomCreations Год назад

Very cool thank you for sharing your results and giving out more laser knowledge

@LetsMakeAThing Год назад

Thank you! Glad you found it useful!

@albertvdm Год назад

I get better results when I move the focus closer to the wood. Discovered it by accident because I did not tighten the module properly.

@LetsMakeAThing Год назад

I will have to give that a try! Thanks for sharing!

@prakkari 8 месяцев назад

Simply use salt water. It’s all about getting crystals in there that preserve the heat and burn longer, thus giving darker results.

@LetsMakeAThing Год назад

This video was a lot of fun to make. I was really surprised that this method works for diode lasers. Well, mostly works. If you have any ideas for more testing with this method leave me a comment!

@flyingmonkeys9774 Год назад

This method should work fine with vector images like an SVG file. I'm waiting for my Xtool D1 Pro 10W to arrive so learning as much as I can beforehand. I am familiar with Fiber Lasers though.

@RescueDog01 Год назад

Why don't you try to slow down?

@LetsMakeAThing Год назад

The point of the video was a method that gave a darker engraving without slowing down or changing power. I probably would get a better effect on the image if I had slowed down but I didn't feel that way in the spirit of this video. I will definitely try again in the future using a slower speed.

@RescueDog01 Год назад

I do laser engraving as a profession. I have a CO2 laser and a fiber laser. With wood, I go up to 12mm out of focus. However, then the speed has to be reduced significantly. Since the power is brought to a larger spot. Of course, you could also increase the power. But reducing the speed is often better. Since you want to transfer the out of focus trick to the diode laser, it would be logical to reduce the speed here as well.

@LetsMakeAThing Год назад

Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

@bonwestlake3928 6 месяцев назад

I care! Great job! Thank you and I’ve subscribed. Beginner, excited!

@LetsMakeAThing 6 месяцев назад

Thank you!

@SarbarMultimedia Год назад

Your caution about laser light is correct but in this case totally wrong. Laser beams by their very nature are coherent beams of light and do not have the ability to jump out at you. They travel in straight lines. Unless you can get your eye (or your finger) into line with the laser beam, which I think is pretty impossible with an 8mm gap, then your eyes will not be damaged by the laser beam itself. However, the reason you would want to wear eye protection is for two completey different resons that people don't speak about. First, when the laser beam strikes your material the exothermic reactions that results when the beam heats the material generates a bright light that is has dangerous high levels of UVB and UVC radiation. UVC in particular can damage human tissue of any sort (especially eyes). Ordinary polycarbonate clear safety glasses (not glass) will absorb UVC and protect your eyes. BUT there is a second risk to your sight.....light intensity. Would you look at the sun for more than half a second or watch arc welding? So in that case you need a reasonably strong tint to the polycarbonate to attenuate the intensity. Understand and respect a laser beam, do not fear it.

@LetsMakeAThing Год назад

Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge! When I was talking about running without the guard and wearing glasses it was due to long term exposure to the laser intensity over time. I didn't take the time to explain in the video it was due to the light intensity as the video was focused on the dark engraving process and I felt that a simple "don't try this at home" was sufficient.

@SarbarMultimedia Год назад

@@LetsMakeAThing Thanks for understanding that no criticism was intended or implied.. Sharing facts about laser safety is essential because too many of my corespondents have already spent anything for $20 to almost $100 on "laser" safety goggles before they ask questions With virtually all CO2 lasers, close the lid and you dont need any safety glasses . Sadly the same is not true for the unguarded diode lasers but good sunglasses will provide adequate protection. I know it can be hypmnotic to watch your laser but dont for more than a few seconds at a time.

@LetsMakeAThing Год назад

@@SarbarMultimedia Don't worry, I never watch my laser unguarded. All the shots in my videos are done wearing protective glasses and letting the camera film the action. You do bring up a good point though and I will probably mention this in a future video about not staring at the laser. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge, I really appreciate it!

@Embracetherandom 10 месяцев назад

Great videos! Thank you for sharing.

@LetsMakeAThing 10 месяцев назад

Thank you! Glad you find them useful!

@boruchlen 9 месяцев назад

Great video! If we don't test, we'll never know!

@LetsMakeAThing 9 месяцев назад

Thank you so much! You're absolutely right - testing and exploring new ideas is crucial for discovery and growth!

@boruchlen 9 месяцев назад

@LetsMakeAThing if I'm not mistaken, when Thomas Edison worked on the light bulb, he was asked if he felt like a failure for the first 1000 failures. He replied, "I didn't fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps."

@GokouZWAR Год назад

So basically using borax mixture is probably more accurate and better for darker engravings over defocusing the laser. I mean it seems like having to spend a lot of time figuring out what the proper focus would have to be to get dark engravings it would just be easier to use a borax solution.

@LetsMakeAThing Год назад

It took me about an hour to run all the tests to find the sweet spot for the engraving. Time well spent in my opinion, because I'm no longer using any chemicals on my engravings. Also, I don't have to worry about sealing the piece to make sure the soot from the Borax doesn't rub off because that's all you're doing with Borax is making darker soot that can easily rub off if you don't seal it in. For many people in Europe it's harder to get Borax and for them, defocusing is a better alternative.

@PacesIII Год назад

@@LetsMakeAThing That hour spent testing wouldn't fly in a production environment. The borax solution is very weak, but could be substituted with other very weak household base ingredients by the intuitive. Borax is only potential dangerous in high concentrations,, whereby it CAN cause a burning sensation on your skin, more severe in the eyes (duh), and you don't want to ingest it. The 10% solution used for engraving is rather innocuous. Has anyone tried baking soda or a salt solution? Everything is comprised of chemicals and borax is one of the least toxic of the household array, although it is still toxic on some levels, depending on how it is used, so alway wear gloves. The point is, there are always alternatives. Vinegar or lemon juice might be a way to go.

@haxensalat Год назад

@@LetsMakeAThing I don't understand the Borax situatiion in the EU, especially in Germany. On Wikipedia it says: it's forbidden to sell to private end users. On the other hand it's allowed to used as a food additive (E 285). You can buy it online everywhere. I don't know whats wrong or right. The only thing I know is that there's no problem to buy it in Europe (Germany).

@roguechocolateer8235 6 месяцев назад

@PacesIII actually R&D is well worth it in the long run. I cut my teeth on a cnc machine years before the average person knew what one was. The time spent testing like this put me way ahead of my competitors running 150k machines with my 7 k setup.

@TheApocalypticDreams Год назад

What about halftones? Could you not keep the power high and have it work roughly the same as with solids?

@LetsMakeAThing Год назад

That's a great idea, will have to give that a try!

@YuvakTuladhar Месяц назад

De focusing technique makes it darker but you loose the depth and tactile feel it creates. For that reason I like to stick to properly focused method with or without borax!

@rchrdjms62 Год назад

Information: Laser engraving is etching or indenting the surface, correct? Laser engraving foil- Does it cut into the surface and attach the foil within the endention or does it only attach the foil on the surface?

@LetsMakeAThing Год назад

The laser only engraves the surface it doesn't attach anything. Basically, it removes material from whatever you're engraving by burning it away. In my other video, where I do foil inlay, I glued the foil in by hand. The laser was only used to remove material. Hope this helps!

@computerdepot3373 7 месяцев назад

The whole point of using Borax is that you only need 20% of the power that you would normally use to get the same results. No distortion. Diode lasers work great with Borax. Stick to Borax and save on electricity.

@TheFalconJetDriver Год назад

I use a small fan to blow the smoke away I find that the type of wood makes the biggest difference. 😀🛫

@LetsMakeAThing Год назад

Even with air assist and an enclosure with a 4 inch duct extraction fan I still get soot with Borax. I don't even mess with Borax anymore because this method works so much better. I am curious though, what wood seems to work best for you?

@darleenmiller8427 16 дней назад

yes what wood works best for you?

@vincentlopez8506 Год назад

Hi ! Instead of your method, here a suggestion to increase your distance : put a 1mm thick material on top of the thing you want to engrave, before you do the first focusing, then remove this 1mm thick material and tadaaaaa you are 1 mm further ! It seems way easier to me like this, but i may have missed something, please tell me (and excuse me for my bad english language, i'm from another country) And thx for this video, great advice, that helps me a lot !

@LetsMakeAThing Год назад

Thanks for the tip! I was using the calipers in this video just to get measurements for the test. I don't use them to focus my laser. I use the method you suggested with a material that I know the thickness of. I have a different laser now that doesn't have the focus know so I use blocks that I know the thickness of to focus. I just released a new video related to defocusing your laser where I use the method you suggested. You can check it out here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-GQ0VTQZMc9M.html

@LuisCasstle 8 месяцев назад

A tapered gauge or gauge blocks would work.

@sandyb.a8046 Год назад

I agree with 30mm.. more deep darker and no residue on laser head

@LetsMakeAThing Год назад

Thanks for the comment!

@3DJapan Год назад

I've been defocusing for a long time now. I think I heard about it on RU-vid like a year ago.

@LetsMakeAThing Год назад

It's a great technique!

@SUNnFUNRadio Год назад

Newbie question: Wouldn't you get a darker burn if you just slowed the speed or upped the power?

@LetsMakeAThing Год назад

Great question! When you slow down or increase the power you increase the amount of material being removed from the piece. So in many cases you'll end up with a deeper engraving that still isn't dark. At some point you will start over burning the material and it will get darker, but so will the surrounding areas which is not desirable.

@DwightStebner Год назад

With my Z axis adjuster, 1/4 turn is about 1mm

@LetsMakeAThing Год назад

Thanks for the info! I should measure mine and see if it's about the same.

@RyJones Год назад

I get different colors on stainless by defocusing my fiber laser

@LetsMakeAThing Год назад

Oh that is awesome! Sadly I don't have access to a fiber laser, but hopefully one day I'll get the chance to mess around with one! Thanks for the comment!

@RyJones Год назад

@@LetsMakeAThing sure thing. Are you near Seattle?

@LetsMakeAThing Год назад

Sadly no, I'm on the East Coast.

@RyJones Год назад

My email is easy to find - shoot me a mailing address and I’ll send you a sample grid

@ob1coyote Год назад

Rather than using calipers I would just use the laser focusing arm, and place shims under it.

@LetsMakeAThing Год назад

I used the calipers to determine the optimal focus distance and then made a spacer to use as you suggested. I don't think I showed it in the video though.

@gordangraham Год назад

Cross hatching will darken as well.

@LetsMakeAThing Год назад

Yes, cross hatching will darken as it's essentially doing two passes, the second pass perpendicular to first. The issue with cross hatching is that it essentially doubles the engraving time because the laser is making two passes over the same area.

@stratosg9899 Год назад

The image is darker but the depth of engraving is shallower

@LetsMakeAThing Год назад

Thanks for the comment! For me, if I'm making an engraving for appearance sake, I'm more concerned about how dark it is versus how deep it is and I didn't even think about this. I might make a future video testing how much de-focusing the laser affects depth of engrave.

@imagineengine Год назад

I would thick that defocusing the laser would make for a not so detailed engraving.

@LetsMakeAThing Год назад

I've been doing engravings using this method for months now and haven't noticed any loss of detail. In my next video I do several detailed engravings with a defocused laser and they all came out great. Of course I'm biased, so check out the new video next week and let me know if you think there is loss of detail.

@imagineengine Год назад

@@LetsMakeAThing will do

@keksfabrik Год назад

As defocusing lasers results in bigger dots, you will destroy your resolution. As with CO2 Lasers a lot more as the dot is naturally bigger at that wavelength. Photo engraving on a CO2 Laser is theoretically best at 254 LPI, as the beam is 0.1mm (if perfect, but thats rare even with very expensive machines). With my old Red&Black KH7050 i ran about 200 LPI with the latest method of Russ Sadler (Concise RDWorks Learning Lab Series, Session 25-27 and later). If i defocus my laser by only 0.5mm i will lose a lot of my resolution. Of course, the image will be darker, but it will lose a lot of detail too if i dont correct the LPI to lower than 200. If you only do bigger text or bold graphics, thats a small problem, but if you want photos, you need the sharpest and smallest laser dot you can get.

@LetsMakeAThing Год назад

Excellent point! Thanks for sharing!

@scottnever8732 Год назад

I thought a laser was parallel so no widening?

@LetsMakeAThing Год назад

Lasers spread just like all light sources, however, lasers don't spread as dramatically as a regular light source such as a spot light.

@hache_raw Год назад

First, I'd like to say that I'm learning laser engraving/cutting right now, that's why I'm curious, don't get me wrong... (also I'm not english) Maybe I'm wrong, but... aren't you just making the dot bigger. If you don't change settings, then the laser scanning lines are overlapping... That's why it's darker. You could just increase LPI and the result should be similar... Some users are getting the same result lowering the laser instead and that could prove my point since the laser beam is like >< where the optiomal focus is the center (small dot) and it becomes larger if not in focus (either raising the laser or lowering it) Since you talk about this (more or less) in 6:30 it looks like you already know it... Then, what's the advantage of defocusing the laser instead of changing LPI and power?

@LetsMakeAThing Год назад

It's a good question. In terms of speed changing LPI makes it run slower. The more lines per inch the longer it takes. This method gets a darker burn without increasing the engraving time.