I managed to cut and put together my lantern today. Unfortunately, despite testing all my raster settings with a light, most of the detail did not shine through. I also had an issue with holes in the plywood that I had to patch, which made the box look a bit messy. Overall, I think if I have the time later down the line, I would like to redo this lantern to get the detail properly working.
While working on this I discovered that it is much easier to reverse-raster larger and less detailed pieces. I think I would either have to reduce the amount of detail in my piece, or vector cut the lantern instead. Does anyone have an opinion on how I should go about redoing my piece?
I’m trying to do something similar but haven’t cut yet. Some things you could try are to increase the lines per inch of your raster, get plywood that is more consistent, or maybe just use a brighter light. Don’t know how much better these would make it, but they might be good to try.
i didnt know you could change the lines per inch. i will definitely take a look into that. unfortunately i am on a pretty tight budget and am limited mostly to supplies from the makerspace. my light is pretty damn bright too so i dont think i would be able to find a much brighter one.
In my opinion, if you are able to figure out how to laser cut both sides of the piece, adding a vector engraved outline to the outside of the box would make the design really clear, if you are fine with it showing while the light is off.
the whole idea was to have it be a blank box until turned on. i could definitely do a raster engrave or something on both sides, but it would completely change the effect of the piece.
Part of the inconsistency could be due to bend in the plywood; a lot of the pieces at the makerspace aren’t very straight. I found that taping it down helps level out the surface.