Alan R – Page 48

Getting “Ruby” back

September 10, 2011 by Alan R Leave a Comment

Pet tags are a vital part of every animals ensemble. The well dressed pet goes nowhere without identification. In many areas, it is dictated by law that animals (cats, dogs, etc) have vaccine identification on their collars when they are not confined. If your “Ruby” gets lost, whoever finds the poor, lost, and scared critter can contact the veterinarian listed on the tag to inform them of the lost pet. So, is that the best we can do for our pets?

Better identification for pets

Laser etching is very flexible and precise. A skilled designer can utilize the entire surface of the tag to add information and decoration that “Ruby” would be proud to wear. This information can include the obvious; pet name, owner contact info, etc but can also include a notice that the pet has health problems, needing medicine daily. The extra information that a laser etcher can add can also provide valuable information, such as ID numbers and websites, that direct anyone who finds “Ruby” to pet location companies that help recover lost pets. Engraved tags using other methods are very limited in the designs they offer.

Mechanical engravers

Ruby (yes, she is a goat.... a Tennessee Fainting goat. What kind of animal did you expect)

Many people are familiar with mechanical engraving; you may have a special piece of jewelry with a special message engraved in it, you may have pet tags that are mechanically engraved or embossed. One main limitation to mechanical engravers is the lack of flexibility in the design; they can only do certain sized letters, in certain fonts, with certain spacing, etc. Often, that method is inexpensive but more often, it is the only choice. A mechanically engraved tag is better than no tag, but there are much better solutions, one of those better solutions being laser etched tags.

For all of us who enjoy our animals and want to keep them safe, we need to have identification on them at all times. The more information we provide, the better chances we have of their safe return. If you found a lost “Ruby”, wouldn’t it be easier to return the critter if you found had a tag with the pets name, owners name, contact info, PetAmberAlert Member number, etc? Would you be more willing to work harder to return the pet if it was easier to do?

Helping the visually impaired with signs

September 7, 2011 by Alan R Leave a Comment

Photo : Christophe MOUSTIER

A laser etcher is a very versatile tool, allowing a skilled designer to create useful, beautiful objects. One way of doing that is to create signs. Signs can take many forms from the plain, mass produced designs we see almost every day to the unique, custom creations that add beauty and functionality to the space they are added to. They may have many features but the most important feature of a sign is to convey information. Most often, signs convey that information visually, but for the visually impaired, that way is braille.

What is Braille?

Braille is a pattern of raised bumps or dots that help the visually impaired gather information. Using braille, people can read books, understand signs, and even write letters using braille (with the help of a braille typewriter). There have been many technological improvements, such as talking clocks, audiobooks, etc, that help visually impaired people communicate, but braille is most often used on static objects to provide directions, convey warnings, and inform the reader. There are a variety of methods to create braille writing and one of those is using a laser etcher.

Signs your way

Laser etchers are often utilized to create custom and semi-custom signs. Many of the signs are used in places and situations where communication with the visually impaired is useful if not vital (think bathrooms). The flexibility of a laser etcher means that the sign can be designed to be both visually appealing and useful to the visually impaired.

To accomplish this the designer uses the laser to burn holes through the material, often acrylic, and then small spheres of acrylic are inserted into the holes. When done properly, the acrylic spheres extend through the front of the object just the right amount, within the specifications of the braille system. By utilizing this technique, the creative laser designer can add tremendous value to a large number and variety of projects. How could the addition of braille improve a project or idea or yours?

Laser Engraving – Common Materials

September 3, 2011 by Alan R 1 Comment

Laser etching on pet tags Laser engravers are amazing machines. They take the designs from the computer and and use light to transform ordinary objects and material into unique works of art. For this transformation to take place, the laser varies the strength, frequency (number of times the laser turns on and off per second) and speed of the optics. Due to the nature of the laser, color can not be created, only shading.

You can think of a laser engraver as the pencil of a digital artist; if the artist presses hard, a dark, wide line appears, if lite pressure is used, a faint line or shading can result. Images can also be produced by stippling, or making small dots, utilizing a pencil or a laser. In the end, the pencil can only produce two dimensional images. With a laser, materials can be deeply etched and cut which opens possibilities pencils can only dream of.

The extent of the marking and cutting depends on the material and the laser being used but typically, using a CO2 laser (the most common small format laser), you can etch and cut the following materials:

Laser etched wood bookmark Etch – wood, acrylic, fabric, glass, ceramic, Delrin, leather, marble, matte board, Melamine, paper, Mylar, pressboard, rubber, wood veneer, fiberglass, painted metals, tile, plastic, cork, Corian, anodized aluminum, stainless steel, brass, titanium and bare metals (with a metal marking solution.

Cut – wood, acrylic, fabric, Delrin, leather, matte board, Melamine, paper, Mylar, pressboard, rubber, wood veneer, fiberglass, plastic, cork, and Corian

With these concepts and materials in mind, there are many options open to the digital artist. What can you think of that would be better off with the depth a laser can offer?

Laser Engraving – An introduction

August 30, 2011 by Alan R 1 Comment

Image of military person performing laser experiment Lasers have come a long way. In 1960, Theodore H. Maiman was the first to successfully operate a device called a Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation or LASER. Today, we use lasers in CD/DVD/Blu-Ray players, as pointing devices for presentations, for surgery, and a variety of other uses, including etching, cutting, and marking.

Laser engraving and marking has many applications. Some of the uses include marking surgical pins and equipment, preparing burial headstones for sandblasting, and marking decorative or personal items. Equipment can be as small as a desktop printer up to the size of a cars or larger. For small businesses, a tabletop version is the right combination of space, power, cost, and flexibility of materials that can be etched, marked, or cut.

Depending on the need and material, different type lasers are required or function better than others. Many of the tabletop machines utilize CO2 lasers with power ranges around 30 watts up to 120 watts. Machines in this power range will cut, mark, and engrave a variety of materials including acrylic, wood, plastics (no PVC due to the vapors created during the etching that will damage the machine), Corian, marble, granite, brick, clay, paper, and many other materials. Most materials can be cut and engraved in two different ways, raster and vector.

Most laser etchers will operate in two modes, raster and vector. A raster image, or bitmap, is a graphic structure where every point in the image is defined. Take for instance a photograph; no matter where you look on a photograph, there is a color, even if that color is pure white or pure black. In digital terms, a Jpeg image is a raster image that has been compressed for a smaller file size. When you enlarge a Jpeg image, depending on the encoding quality, you may see some discolorations around hard edges such as the edge of a building against a clear sky. The resulting file is very small compared to the raw data, but there is some quality issues associated with the size savings. Raster images are very important but are limited to what they can do and how they can be manipulated. Vector images, on the other hand, have some important benefits and limitations as well.

Vector graphics, in a very basic form, utilize information to generate or draw the line as opposed to data for every point. For example, a vector line will have a starting point, a line length, and a direction. It can be scaled up and down because there are no line thicknesses. With raster images, the quality of the image depends on the resolution at which it was taken. The benefit of vector graphics is the ability to resize without losing any quality and because of that benefit, many logos and graphics are vector graphics. Vector graphics are typically created in programs such as CorelDraw, Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape, and AutoCAD.

Laser etchers, depending on the design file, can etch and mark in either raster mode or vector mode. In raster mode, the laser varies the strength of the laser to etch and mark the material with the shading in the design. When etching granite or marble with a photograph, raster mode is used. In vector mode, the speed and power stays constant and the laser turns on and off as dictated by the design. If Christmas ornaments are being cut from wood, vector mode is typically used. In any design, there can be a mixture of raster and vector operations. For example, if someone wanted a picture frame with their child’s face etched in the corner and a custom sized cutout for the picture, raster mode would be used to etch the face and vector mode will be used for the custom cutout.

Lasers have found a useful place in our lives. They link us with our surgical implants, they help us do our jobs and presentations better, and they enhance our lives through decorative items. What can you think of that would be better off personalized with a laser etcher?

Party like it’s 1899

June 1, 2011 by Alan R Leave a Comment

(Photo by nuchylee)

What could you do if you had an extra 4 workdays in a week? No, no, no, not to work, what would you do with that much FREE time? That is a question posed by Dan Miller on his 48 Days blog. How many things have you been putting off because you had no time? Months ago, we canceled our satellite service. Friends and family were concerned with how the children would cope. Some felt sorry for us having to go through this. What did people do before TV? Before DVRs? Before mass-media distraction?

People back in 1899 had books to read. They met with friends and discussed issues. They had their own businesses. They learned and they did. There were distractions then as there will always be, but think of what they accomplished with what was available. What could you do? What WOULD you do if you had a million dollars and could not fail? What if…..

Think of something, great. Now we have the “what”, the next step is the “how”. Dreams are great, but if you don’t turn them into actions, the never become reality. Yes, you will make mistakes. Most likely, it will be hard. Great things in life are often difficult or seemingly impossible. What would you do if you could not fail? How would you do it? Life is too short to look back on and wish things were different. People often regret what they were unable to accomplish rather than their mistakes. If you want a different life, why not take those 32 hours a week and make it happen? What now….

We have the “what”, now are you going to use those 32 extra hours per week to take action on the “how”…. to take action on your dreams…. to take action on your future….