Engraved birthday calendar

Find out here, how you can turn a IKEA pin board "Väggis" and aluminum tags into a birthday calendar.

In this tutorial we will show you how to create a unique birthday calendar by combining an IKEA "Vaggis" noticeboard with various Trotec materials, including our brand new range of aluminium tags. You can discover our materials on our engraving supplies webshop.

Preparation

Required materials

IKEA pin board "Väggis"
1/4 sheet TroGlass frosted: Green with double-sided adhesive tape
1 sheet of wood veneer birch, 600 x 300 mm
Suitable material to cover the laser bed such as paper
Hot glue gun
Aluminium tags

Laser machine used

Speedy 360, 80 Watt with a 2" lens
Vacuum table
Acrylic cutting grid
Aluminum cutting grid table for the wood cuts

The birthday calendar can produced with any machine from the Speedy family.

Tips

Use the laser acrylic cutting grid for TroGlass and the aluminium cutting grid for wood processing to achieve the best results.
Use a material such as paper to cover the rest of the engraving table, as this will maximise exhaust efficiency.

Birthday Calendar Cork

ZIP

Download now

ZIP

Download now

Step by step

Step 1

Step 1: The graphic for the cork board

The first step is to either create your own design for the calendar or use our design template. When sending it to the laser use the following parameters:

Print settings

Process mode	Resolution	Cut line
Standard	500 dpi	none

Halftone	Others
color	-

Step 2

Step 2: Laser engraving the pin board

Load the cork board onto the vacuum table and use the settings below to process the material.

Tip:

With cork boards there is a possibility that the material will not be perfectly flat. To ensure accurate processing test the focus on several positions of the cork board. If there are deviations use an average value for the focus.

Laser Parameters:

Color	Process	Power (%)	Speed (%)	ppi/Hz
black	engrave CO₂	22	70	500
red	engrave CO₂	50	70	500

Passes	Air Assist	Z-Offset	Advanced
1	on	-	High quality
1	on	-	High quality

Step 3

Step 3: TroGlass letters

For an eye catching design we used TroGlass to create the letters for the header. You can use our “birthday calendar” graphic or choose your own phrase. Send it to your laser with the following parameters:

Print settings

Process mode	Resolution	Cut line
Cut Job	1000 dpi	none

Halftone	Others
color	enhanced geometries, inner geometries first

Step 4

Step 4: Laser cutting TroGlass

Begin laser cutting the letters from TroGlass (with double-sided adhesive tape applied). When cutting use the vacuum table. Once the laser cutting process is finished put a strip of paper tape onto the letters to keep them in position.

Tip:

In our example we have used the TroGlass parameters optimised for quality in JobControl

Laser Parameters

Color	Process	Power (%)	Speed (%)	ppi/Hz
red	Cut CO₂	50	0,2	5000

Passes	Air Assist	Z-Offset	Advanced
1	on	-	-

Step 5

Step 5: Wood covering for letters

For a better visibility of the TroGlass letters, we glue it on a base plate from wood veneer. Therefore, send the second graphics to the laser using the following parameters:

Process mode	Resolution	Cut line
Cut Job	1000 dpi	none

Halftone	Others
color	enhanced geometries inner geometries first

Step 6

Step 6: Laser process wood baseplate

Remove the vacuum table and replace it with the aluminium cutting grid table. Load the veneered wood into your laser cutter and begin laser cutting using the below parameters. Once you have finished processing you can clean the workpiece using a damp cloth if required.

Laser Parameters

Color	Process	Power (%)	Speed (%)	ppi/Hz
red	Cut CO₂	100	0,8	1000

Passes	Air Assist	Z-Offset	Advanced
1	on	-	High quality

Step 7

Step 7: Assembly

The final step is to assemble your calendar. Glue your TroGlass letters onto the veneered wood backing. To make sure they are aligned test the positioning and mark the corners. Once you are satisfied glue the letters onto the pin board. When dry your calendar is now ready to use.

Inspiration

Use our brand new range of aluminium tags to complete the calendar. Available in a variety of styles and colours our diverse range allows you to meet the varied needs of customers.
To engrave multiple tags at once you can use a custom jig or template. Follow our creating templates tutorial
You can also directly laser engrave the frame of the board to add more detailed designs.

Speedy series
The ideal laser engraver and cutter for personalisation.

Discover laser engravers and cutters

Questions about applications or settings?
We're happy to advise you from A for Air assist to Z for z-offset.