I’ve been following Barcelona maker Abraham Neddermann’s Dicecreator blog for a while. True to the blog’s name, he dabbles in creating his own tabletop gaming dice, machining them out of aluminum or printing on blank dice. This time he’s outdone himself, building a laser engraver out of junk parks, a couple of stepper motor control boards, and a 250mW laser that only works on black dice because other colors are too reflective! My favorite detail is the wingnut heat sink sitting on top of one of the motors. Great job, Abraham!
2 thoughts on “Homemade die engraver”
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When I ran a laser engraver, years ago, we did mostly wood plaques, but sometimes we would do acrylic. At first, we couldn’t get a decent engraving on them, because the laser would diffuse the power into the interior, instead of just on the surface. The owner of the company (a retired shop teacher, wouldn’t you know) figured out that if we smeared liquid dish washing soap on the surface we were engraving, it wouldn’t reflect, or refract, or transmit, as much. Then all we had to do was wipe off the soap.
If you coat your dies with “something” that acts as an absorbant, but can be easily cleaned off, you should be able to laser it just fine. You might try soap with some black food coloring, as a first experiment.