Issue 2: Laser Engraving with Corliss
Featuring Corliss Woodworks | Owned and Operated by Logan Corliss
Introduction: The most common question asked, “how did you make that.” We intend to start putting some of these questions to rest with this new blog series, “The Patriot Nation Gazette.” Today we are highlighting laser engraving! Logan has graciously agreed to contribute to this blog and our hope is this will serve as a great resource for other makers to see different styles, machines, programs, feed rates, bits, and materials that combine to make a great physical product! Each issue of the gazette will feature a specific file and highlight a maker and their process. We hope you enjoy this issue!
About Corliss Woodworks
My name is Logan and I own Corliss Woodworks in Brattleboro, VT. I started woodworking in late 2017 out of a trailer in Upstate NY after spending 4 years in the Army. In 2019 I moved back home to VT where I worked out of a 12x16 shed and bought my first cnc machine, the X-Carve which opened a whole new world of possibilities. I've since upgraded my CNC to a CNC4Newbie NewCarve 4545 and this has been a total gamechanger for me having the larger work area and much quicker production times. I do pretty much anything the customer wants from custom engravings and flags to Kitchen tables and Islands, Coffee tables, TV Stands, you name it. 2020 was an interesting time for everyone and after being let go from my day job, I decided to go full time and leased a 1600sqft commercial building in October of 2020 and officially opened Corliss Woodworks. I have the pleasure of going there everyday and doing what I love. Thank you to everyone who has helped along the way and to the huge support from the maker community for all the help they provide.
Project Settings
Program: Lightburn
Machine: CNC4Newbie - 4545 Kit, 80mm Spindle Mount, 269oz Stepper Motors, NewCarve 1045/4545 Wiring Kit, with a Demon Controller
Laser Attachment & Settings: 4.2w JTech Laser from JTech Photonics running at 70ipm at 100% power.
Toolpath Settings: I change my lines per inch from the default 230 to 130 or so because it cuts time in half without making a huge difference in result. I use flood fill because it drastically reduces rapid movements and in the end it gets the engraving done in a fraction of the time.
Time to Engrave: 1 hour and 50 minutes