Laser Engraving Tips - Engraving Cuttings Boards - Defocus, LPI, Slop Error, and More!

Hey Maker. Remember that time you forgot to adjust your LPI so defocusing didn't work and then you even got a slop error?
Haha, just kidding! That's me, throwing some laser lingo your way ;)
Let's take some time today to understand the top four things you want to keep in mind when you're engraving a project. You ready? Let's go! ;)

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DISCLAIMER: This is not a sponsored video (although, sponsors would be cool because I have 3 littles and a family to support and care for). But again, it's not sponsored. I include affiliate links in my description box. This is an easy way for me to continue to create helpful content and share how I create finished products to sell to my customers. I will only ever give my honest opinions, scouts honor! Thanks so much for your support. I love you guys!

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[greggdrennan]

Hi Emily,

As a cutting board maker I will say that more oil (food safe mineral oil or cutting board/salad bowl specific oil product) is actually better for the board. Once you have applied enough oil for it to penetrate into the wood vs just a surface coat it helps keep water and bacteria from entering the wood pores and helps keep the wood from drying out which prevents cracking and splitting.

When oiling a board use enough that some stays on top of the wood. Wait a few hours or even overnight and if the oil has soaked in, give the board another coat. Make sure to do both sides and all four edges. Eventually the board will have soaked all the oil it can take and you can remove any that remains. To help protect your board further many board makers use a mixture of bees wax and mineral oil, often referred to as "board butter" for the final silky smooth finish.

As with any cutting board, the board should never be put in the dish washer or allowed to soak in water. And every month or two a new coat of oil and board butter should be reapplied.

Thanks for your great videos and for sharing your knowledge...hopefully my sharing a little of my knowledge on cutting boards will be helpful to you and your other viewers.

[faronmastin]

Just getting started engraving and learned a couple of things on the video. The LPI and X & Y slop you are the only one that I have heard that from. Thanks.

[moucnicka]

Greetings from the Czech Republic. I just ❤️love❤️ watching your videos. Thanks for lots of useful hints and tips.

[DavesCave]

Finally stumbled across you. I’ve heard Rick and others talk about you

Good presentation

[minniefourie]

I live in The Netherlands and just love your channel♥️

[tankgirllovesroos]

Thank you so so so much. The way that you explained everything was chef's kiss good. ❤️❤️❤️

[sabrinabradley]

Hi, Ms. Mom! Thank you so much for sharing your time and knowledge! We have been following you and you have given us the encouragement to purchase! We used your link, and we are excepting delivery sometime in late March, early April. Your tutorials are so helpful and inspiring! May you continue to spread your joy and blessing the crafting community with your wonderful, infectious uplifting spirit! Thank you, SaBrina and Walter.

[dianeschmid]

AWESOME video! You answered so many questions for me and you're an excellent teacher! Thank you.

[amiran]

Thank you so much! Your videos are so useful and your smile is contagious!

[ilivelivemusic]

Super instructive and easy to follow. Thanks!

[dianealstadgarrison]

Your videos are excellent . !!!! i have watched alot on most are on setting up etc but you get to the heart of it.. You are clear and easy to see what you are doing on your computer.. excellent

[waynegutschmidt]

A new subscriber tonight. Hello from Australia

[liwhite]

I love to learn on your channel. Thank you!

[robxsiq]

1) Line interval: I think your scanning offset adjustments might be way off (going by the plastic comparison pic). Can you let me know what you're are set at currently? (found in device settings)
2) if you find you are wildly out of focus and already boned the board right from the start...just let it continue on...yeah, its ruined, but heck, it might be a great outcome wildly out of focus and semi-salvage the job...worst case scenario, you will have an even screw up :)
3) spot on with the less is more for engraving (but make sure to have at least some air coming out of course).
4) Mask it with tape for easier cleanup
Your videos are fantastic. honestly, you need to be training people some advanced stuff as a side gig. Also, great wood. hard to find decent wood around town.

[proudcanadianeh]

best channel out there!!! Thank you so much! Do you / can you mask your boards before engraving or not necessary?

[ruftime]

Great tips! Yes, needs time to get up to to slow down....and not crash😂 This is the one downside of my large 1300x900 machine, but worth the slower engraving speed to be able to fit 4x8’ stock😎
In Lightburn you can automatically apply defocus ( z axis) to any layer/color. I’m slowly building my cut library, so I don’t have to remember everything😎

[dwightbauer]

Cloudray sells a value that lets you decide exactly how much air you want to allow when you are engraving ( even if the air is turn off in the software) and you would normally turn off the air thru lightburn when engraving but still need a little air to keep the lens from getting fouled, also a lot of people just cut the air hose next to the laser lens and add a cheap $ 2 air value there to control the air going to the head. When I Engrave at around 500 lines per inch, I don't defocus my lens and I do not have the small lines you do. (also If I am just engraving and not cutting I use a dual lens engraving head ) a lot of times I will just windex a piece to make the lasered text more uniform and then I will sand that afterwards to keep the letters dark and still get rid of the smoke ring around the text. That just goes to show you how there are many different approaches to get a good result when lasering. Please understand that I am just sharing how I do it and I am not trying to say anything negative. I enjoyed your video a lot. thank you.

[cliffart]

I appreciate your enthusiasm and tips. You mentioned "sealing" your cutting boards- what do you seal them with- you have to be careful if they are actually used for cutting. The oil should be enough and you can soak them in oil, wipe off the excess, and let it soak in to prevent cracking and warping later.
what font are you using? I have a million fonts but love the one you seem to like for some of my projects. right now I use a CNC router to v-carve or straight carve stacked letters so no gluing unless I want to change wood types. I have a 60watt laser coming to add more capability.

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[dondec]

So informative... and fun to watch. TY !

[geegeebetancourt]

I love all of your videos so MUCH! Thank you.