Techniques Beneficial for Making Signs

There are countless ways to produce eye-catching, creative and informative signs with a Trotec laser machine. We show you some handy techniques that can be used when laser processing signs.

Easy engraving

The simplest way to make signs is through laser engraving, which is where the top layer of the material is ablated and the carrier layer is thus exposed. Below you can see a comparison between a sign made from TroGlass Reverse that has been backfilled in black and a sign that has been made from TroLase Metallic. You will also see the difference between laser engraving on solid wood in comparison to anodised aluminium.

Comparison of sign made out of troglass and trolase

Comparison of sign made from wood and anodised aluminium.

One material, multiple colours

We highly recommend using plastic plates with multiple coloured layers when laser cutting or engraving.

Engraving on wood

Wood is another fantastic material for sign-making. You can set various parameter settings in order to create different light and dark engraving effects. You can learn how to do this by checking out our greyscale matrix.

Outdoor signs

Anodised aluminium is a laserable material that can be processed quickly and precisely and used for both indoor and outdoor applications. Anodised aluminium can be processed with their the CO₂ or fiber laser source.

3D Effects

By using several different laserable materials in one signage application, a variety of values can be generated from the same graphic. This thus creates effective 3D effects that ultimately enhance the final product.

Engraving with simple applications

Setting colour accents

In order to further enhance your signs you can add colour accents by simply gluing on elements from different materials. This thereby allows you to combine several colours together in one sign and create unique 3D effects.

Parking sign made from anodised aluminium and ada signage

Laser marking metal: Annealing

Unlike laser engraving, annealing does not remove any material and there is no ablation involved. Annealing does, however, produce a colour change in the material as it is heated. Please note that thin plates of stainless steel (approx. 1mm) may warp or bulge due to the heat that is produced during annealing. Therefore, try and avoid engraving large areas when such material is used.

Multi-layered signs

To really get your creative skills flowing, why not have a go at creating a multi-layered sign and experimenting with possible 3D effects? To do so, you need to glue individual elements of different sizes together in a staggered arrangement. For multi-layered signs we recommend using material with double-sided adhesive film. Alternatively, you can also use adhesive tape which is to be applied to the material manually

DIY Laser Sample