Engraved birthday calendar

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

Preparation

You Will Need
  • IKEA pin board - "Väggis"
  • 1/4 sheet TroGlass 'Frosted Greed' with double-sided adhesive tape
  • 1 sheet of Wood Veneer Birch, 600 x 300 mm
  • Material for covering the working table
  • A hot glue gun
Machine used
  • Speedy 360, 80 Watt
  • 2" lens
  • Vacuum Table
  • Acrylic Cutting Grid
  • Aluminium Cutting Grid Table for the wood cuts

(You can create this birthday calendar with any laser machine from the Speedy range)

Important
  • For best results, use the Acrylic Cutting Grid for the TroGlass and the Aluminium Cutting Grid for the wood.
  • Cover the remaining surface area of the engraving table to maximise exhaust productivity and create an effective vacuum.
Birthday Calendar Cork

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Step by step

Step 1

Step 1: Graphic for cork engraving

You can design your own birthday calendar or simply download our design template. Send it to your laser machine using the following parameters:

Print settings

Process mode Resolution Cut line
Standard 500 dpi none
Halftone Others
color -
Step 2

Step 2: Engraving the pin board

Place the pin-board on the vacuum table inside your Trotec laser machine and enter the following settings.

Tip:

It's possible that the board will not be completely flat. Be sure to check the focus on a few different places of the pin-board. If deviations are present, 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

We combined two materials to create the headline of the frame for an eye-catching feature. To do this, send the graphic "birthday calendar" to your laser machine using 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: Decoration

Place the acrylic cutting table on top of the vacuum table and cut the letters out of the TroGlass. Then, stick a strip of masking tape on the letters to hold them in place.

Tip:

We used the optimised parameters from TroGlass found 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

To enhance the visibility of the TroGlass letters, we glued them to a base plate of Wood Veneer. To do this as well, send these graphics to the laser machine 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 attach the aluminium cutting table instead. Place the veneered wood into your Trotec laser machine. Cut out the job and clean it off with a damp cloth. 

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
assemble-birthday-calendar
Step 7

Step 7: Assembly

Finally, glue the green TroGlass letters onto the veneered birch wood. Position the letters on the pin-board frame and mark the left and right edges. Glue the letters to the frame and let it dry completely. 

birthday-calendar-inspirations

Inspiration

  • To complete the calendar, use the aluminum tags from the Trotec product range. This offers you maximum flexibility in fulfilling your customers' needs.
  • To engrave multiple tags in one step, a template can be helpful. The instruction is available online: Creating templates 
  • In addition you can add some engravings directly on the wooden frame of the pin board.

Speedy series
The ideal laser engraver and cutter for personalisation.

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

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