laser engraver ideas?

[lemonzap]

My team just got a laser engraver and I'm wondering what to do with it. I immediately got my phone case engraved with our logo. Do you guys have any ideas what else we could engrave? So far ipods, laptops, and christmas ornaments have come up. We also engraved the first logo on the back of some duct tape.

[Mark McLeod]

Engrave your hand tools that you might loan out at events.

[lemonzap]

we can engrave rubber handles or tools that are made of anodized aluminum(for whatever reason), but anodized aluminum is the only metal we can engrave as far as i know.

[Greg Needel]

If you want to mark other metals you can buy something called "Cermark"

It is a paint that you apply to any metal surface. Any area hit by the laser becomes permanent, anything not marked will wash off with water. It is great for marking all sorts of metals.

http://www.cermarc.com/

http://www.laserbits.com/index.php?m...&cPath=356_487

[lemonzap]

ooh shiny!

[Andy A.]

I've had good results from engraving granite floor/countertop tiles. Black polished ones come out with the best contrast. I've made a number of very nice coasters and clocks this way. It takes some experimentation to dial in settings, but worth it once you do.

There are also purpose made sign making materials all over the 'net- check out http://www.johnsonplastics.com/engraving.html . The basic idea is that there is a colored base plastic with a very thin laminate plastic that is burned away to reveal the base. There are a lot of color/texture options available. With a fixture and a software template it's really easy to start making name tags and the like with this stuff.

I miss having access to an engraver- they're a ton of fun! The more you play with it, the more ideas you'll have for how to use it.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

This might be perfect for making pit awards to hand out at events. Our when you have a good season, to make end of year awards for the team members.

[Brandon Zalinsky]

I love the idea of Christmas tree ornaments! Maybe you could make some for your sponsors and send them as a Christmas gift from the team- it would definitely be unique, and I know that many sponsors like having active contact like that with the team.

[DRH2o]

We use this http://www.rowmark.com/laser/LaserMAX/lasermax.asp to make our "buttons" to give out the the events. We cut and engrave our logo. We also make earrings the give out -- they go VERY fast. We make parts for the robot out of ABS and up to 1/4" 7ply birch. Acrylic cuts great. Lexan will catch on fire. If it is a CO2 laser don't cut PVC!! The vapor given off is Hydrochloric acid!! We have two 35 watt and one 65 watt epilogs.

[MrBasse]

We use ours as a fundraiser too, so far just from staying in the school and selling engraved aluminum water bottles to school clubs, teams, and groups like the choir we have made over $500 and I just got the laser up and running in my classroom in August. We have been using bottles for Dollar Tree that were a buck a piece, but they are seasonal and won't be back until the summer rolls around again. At a cost of two or three dollars a bottle and a sale price of $6-10, it is a great way to make some quick funds happen.

We also got a ton of blue anodized aluminum donated from a sponsor and we make our sponsor gifts with those mounted on a piece of oak we get from the schools woodshop and route a nice edge on.

The laser will only engrave in aluminum that is coated because it doesn't have the power to do anything but burn off the coating. We have tried christmas ornaments, but without a jig to hold the ornament straight it gets real tough to hold onto them with the rotary table.

[colin340]

I see fundraisers! Some tech departments and engrave people's phones and other products for a fee and use the money for furthering the program.

I've been doing a lot of work with cardboard and the program 123D make.
There's a lot of rapid prototyping that can be done with this combination especially for complex formwork

[lorem3k]

Originally Posted by Flak-Bait

I love the idea of Christmas tree ornaments! Maybe you could make some for your sponsors and send them as a Christmas gift from the team- it would definitely be unique, and I know that many sponsors like having active contact like that with the team.

Selling engraved ornaments could also be a good fundraising idea at this time of year.

Maybe you could make engraved buttons to give out at competitions. That would certainly be unique!