CNC Laser Engraving A 50th Anniversary Log
CNC laser engraving a 50th Anniversary custom cut log isn’t something I’ve shown on CNCROi.com‘s blog before, we do a lot of “extras” in addition to designing so here’s a glimpse into how this came into being and why we are SO DIFFERENT in our approach to even the simplest of things.
We have a variety of logs in the shop but for each project of this type we take-on, we always grab the absolute best that we have in stock. Although we could seal these in advance, I prefer to show the client what we have in its raw form before we do any work on it.
This means it can have cracks or imperfections, something we don’t want to have showing in the final piece so those are rejected or sorted out naturally as time passes.
We first add several layers of sealant onto the log before any laser work even begins, the reason is, we want to make sure that the surface is completely sealed from smoke and resin that is about to be extracted using our industrial wide-format CNC laser. Of course, CNCROi.com also takes the extra precaution of masking the entire surface as well.
Is it necessary to mask an entire log before laser engraving especially after it’s been sealed? Nope, but we do it anyways because we want the finished product to look AWESOME. We spent a good amount of time getting this log, cutting it and sealing it, the least we can do is make sure that doesn’t all go to waste because some awful resin got stuck on the bark or worse, the surface, during production.
All these extra steps that we take BEFORE production help make production more efficient as well as there is little to no clean-up after everything is done. So, we did the work ahead of time to have little to do after… and the results speak for themselves. This 50th anniversary laser engraved log looks fantastic!
The design was also approved ahead of time by our client, it was custom done as we discussed and they signed-off on the proof. So, the client had a picture of the log we were about to CNC laser engrave and a digital proof before any work was done. No surprises when the two were put together!
An extra step we can “get away with” thanks to the precision of our Austrian CNC laser, going over each letter AGAIN with an outline cutting path. Our laser is in PERFECT ALIGNMENT, which means we can pass over the same area a thousand times and always hit our mark. You don’t see this done by most shops out there, especially trophy shops, because their Chinese laser is so out of alignment, you’d end-up with blurred double-lined text. They can’t engrave straight, much less go over the same area twice and hit their mark.
The CNC laser engraving of the 50th Anniversary Log looks perfect, the engraving is nice and deep (no point going too deep as it makes it harder to read) and the engraving is consistent as well. Other than the natural ridges and rings in the log, you don’t see waves or inconsistencies in the 50th Anniversary Log.
Looking at the finished piece, you can clearly see that using a wicked overkill industrial laser does an amazing job on very simple work. The outline we did also made it pop dramatically, and all the prep work from log selection to sealing and masking pay off for our client.
This 50th Anniversary Log is now something they will cherish for generations, and we are extremely proud to have been given the opportunity to make their family memento.
Regardless of the angle you look at this, it just sticks out and is very easy to read with fantastic contrast. We could have cut corners on this quite easily, but the results wouldn’t have been worthy to leave our shop. Whether we are working on large industrial projects or smaller ones such as these, the same attention to detail is taken from start to finish.
For this 50th Anniversary Log, we used our 110W CO2 laser source, our laser has both a CO2 and fiber, in this case, the fiber wasn’t needed as it has no effect on wood but if this would have been made out of stainless steel, you can bet this would look just as awesome!
This is our more rustic version of a laser engraved log, we wanted ours to look old and worn but that isn’t the look you want for a 50th anniversary log, hence the difference in font and log character. As mentioned in the video, there is a lot more thought put into our production than just stick a log in, engrave and ship.
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