Etching glass in the lasercutter

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1. Prepare your drawing

The differences between lighter and darker color don't show too well on glass, so initially it's better to have a picture with just one color. You can experiment later. Dark grey is a good choice, since black makes the cutter use lots of heat and the picture ends up flaky. I prefer to put a value of 30 in all three colors, red, green and blue.

2. Check the measurements of your picture

Will it fit on your glass? The area you are going to etch on should be evenly curved in one direction and straight in the other. Measure the length and width of the area you want your picture on and scale your picture accordingly. Save the picture as a pdf with 600 dpi.

3. Preparing the lasercutter

a) Press "turn X/Y off" and "GO", push the down arrow until the bed has moved all the way down.

b) Turn up the rulers on the sides of the cutting bed and carefully lift off the bed. There are some shelves to hold the cutting beds underneath the machine, slide it onto one of them.

c) Take off the bar in the middle. Put it somewhere you will find it after you're done.

d) Turn off the lasercutter. This is important.

4. Installing the rotating part

The part used for conical objects is stored underneath the machine, usually Banana. You should find it behind the compressor. The part is rougly shaped like a T and has some small knobs underneath