Universal engraver reviews - How to avoid these 5 common mistakes during laser engraving
                     
Whether you’re an amateur or a successful engineer, it 
takes time and patience to learn the proper uses of 
design equipment, and gaining expertise to avoid 
mistakes and pitfalls. Often it happens that designers fail 
to understand what went wrong and wonder how they 
could improve upon their mistakes. And this holds true 
for every field and not just laser engraving.
 
Having knowledge to avoid these mistakes is similar to 
winning half of the battle. Universal engraver reviews 
few common mistakes related to laser engraving and 
explain the ways to steer away from them:
1. Ensuring that laser doesn’t burn material while engraving 
fabric: The most primary step while using laser 
engraving/cutting machine is to ensure that you avoid burning 
the fabric. This can be attained by understanding which fabric 
can withstand what temperature and the endurance of the 
fabric for the process. Fabrics such as canvas, denim and 
leather can easily endure the high power settings during 
engraving. However, delicate fabrics are trickier to use. While 
handling delicate fabrics it is utmost important to keep your 
setting and high speed and low power initially. It is only after 
testing these initial settings on a spare material, that you 
increase the power and use it on the actual material for 
desired results. By testing the spare material you must ensure 
that the fabric can withstand the engraving process.
2.   No Frosty White Engraving While Using Acrylic: This typically 
occurs when you use wrong acrylic during the engraving. 
There are two kinds of acrylic used in laser engraving and each 
one of them are used and suitable for different applications. 
First one is cast acrylic sheets or objects, they’re typically 
created by pouring liquid acrylic into moulds of different sizes 
and shapes. This acrylic when engraved produces a frosty 
white colour, making them perfect for awards and plaques. 
These acrylic can be cut with a laser without polished edges.
 
Universal engraver explains that the second type of acrylic is 
called extruded acrylic and is formed by machines into sheets. It is 
more economical than cast acrylic and reacts distinctly to cast 
acrylic while engraving. This acrylic cuts cleanly and produces zero 
white frosts.
3.  Inconsistent Glass engraving: Sometimes when a laser hits glass, it 
might fracture and not engrave properly. While the fractured glass 
may produce a frosty look, it can be chipped and rough. Although 
this completely depends on the type of glass being used for 
engraving. Nevertheless, no one wants a rough and chipped look 
on glass.
4.  Not anticipating different results while engraving Wood: 
While wood is one of the most laser-friendly materials out 
there, different kinds of wood react differently to laser 
engraving. While lighter woods such as cherry and maple 
produce good contrast when engraved, denser woods 
demand more laser power for cutting. Take care of these 
two things while engraving on wood - wood engravings 
produce smoke during the process and can get embedded 
into the wood grain. In order to avoid this, always engrave 
from bottom to top as this helps smoke steer away from 
the engraving. Also, while engraving stained wood, debris 
and smoke can be whipped off using damp cloth.
5.    Non- Maintenance of the machine: Similar to any other 
machine, or design equipment, laser engraving machine 
also requires maintenance. A clean machine will produce 
better results. Tips and steps for maintenance are usually 
included in the laser machines’ manual. If you observe a 
drop in performance, the first things to check and clean 
would be the optics. Universal engraver reviews and 
recommends that laser optics are  checked and cleaned on 
a weekly basis. Optics might need frequent cleaning if 
they’re used to engrave materials that produce residue 
such as acrylic and wood. Optics when healthy are clear 
gold in colour and when they seem cloudy or smudgy, it 
means that it is time that they’re cleaned.
The above listed mistakes and errors are highly common among 
designers, especially the beginners or novice makers. But these 
mistakes are easily avoidable, if one knows their basics. 
Universal engraver assists designers and engravers in purchasing the 
right laser machine for them and guides them in selecting materials 
and aware them about common mistakes.