Frickin' laser beams (made some Rolex coasters)

[HiBoost]

It's crazy to me how cheap certain tools have become (then again, compared to watches most things do seem like a bargain!) so I recently picked up a laser engraver to play around with. To get my feet wet I made a simple coaster set as the first project. Thought you guys might like to see it (and no, I'm not advertising, these aren't for sale, etc. etc.)

[Watchsprings]

Very nice, they will look great with a good glass of single malt!

[Gab27]

Looks great! Beautiful piece of wood.

[minute_man]

I like them A lot!

[Bluside]

Very nice.

[MrGoat]

That’s pretty rad man!! Great job!!


Sent from my Apple privacy invasion product

[Dr.Smellody]

That's really cool!

[Rebel]

Sweet.

[sleepydoc]

I still want that watch tray you made

[EagleBear]

Very cool are you planning on staining it or leaving it natural?

[HiBoost]

Thanks guys, appreciate it!

Originally Posted by sleepydoc

I still want that watch tray you made

Hey, I'm flattered you remember that!

Originally Posted by EagleBear

Very cool are you planning on staining it or leaving it natural?

It's actually been finished already with a wax/oil to bring out the grain and add moisture resistance. I generally don't ever stain things, I just pick woods that are the color I want already. To make the engraving pop more I wanted a light wood for this. The thing that's impossible for me to capture in pics is the chatoyance that this figured maple has. If you aren't familiar with that, it's a pearlescent, holographic effect that looks like the grain is actually moving as you move the piece in the light. I think any stain would just mask all that magic. But I am admittedly a bit of a wood nerd

[enjoythemusic]

Looks great, bravo!

[skipstar]

They look great

[SS Oyster]

From the title, I had not idea what to expect with this thread, but those look cool!

[Cambo]

Really nice! Although I would be into the bourbon instead of a single malt

[JRell]

Wow I want them!

[Lol-x]

They look cool, but remember you can't set up a business or sell/trade an item with a Rolex trademark without its permission.

[George58]

Originally Posted by Lol-x

They look cool, but remember you can't set up a business or sell/trade an item with a Rolex trademark without its permission.

that's what I was going to say

[HiBoost]

Originally Posted by Lol-x

They look cool, but remember you can't set up a business or sell/trade an item with a Rolex trademark without its permission.

100%. Would never attempt to sell these for several reasons. First off, they took me like 20 hours to make and nobody is going to pay $1000 for coasters lol. Second, a big part of the fun for me of making something like this is to have a one of a kind item. I'm just a crown superfan so hopefully Rolex isn't going to trouble themselves with a cease and desist for my tribute :)

[Moondoggy]

Yep, very cool.

[fmc000]

OK, another tool to add to the retirement list :-( You're not helping, really...

[1William]

I like it.

[Cigars&Watches]

Too bad they are not for sale. I would want some. I wonder how they would look in Rolex green

[HiBoost]

Originally Posted by Cigars&Watches

Too bad they are not for sale. I would want some. I wonder how they would look in Rolex green

Thanks! The black color is just from the burned wood. Green letters would look sweet on some dark brown walnut. About the only way I can imagine doing a color would be to crank the laser power so the engraving would have some depth, and then fill that void with green epoxy. But that sounds like even more work haha.

[Teksurv]

That does sound like more work, but dark wood with just the crown in color correct green epoxy sounds awesome.

Originally Posted by HiBoost

Thanks! The black color is just from the burned wood. Green letters would look sweet on some dark brown walnut. About the only way I can imagine doing a color would be to crank the laser power so the engraving would have some depth, and then fill that void with green epoxy. But that sounds like even more work haha.

[173rdabn]

Well done. A great first project.

[4 Aussies]

That's awesome!!!

[Wired]

What is the model of laser?

[fskywalker]

Originally Posted by HiBoost

It's crazy to me how cheap certain tools have become (then again, compared to watches most things do seem like a bargain!) so I recently picked up a laser engraver to play around with. To get my feet wet I made a simple coaster set as the first project. Thought you guys might like to see it (and no, I'm not advertising, these aren't for sale, etc. etc.)

Attachment 1323555

Attachment 1323556

Originally Posted by Wired

What is the model of laser?

Curious too which model you got (CO2 or fiber ) and cost


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[HiBoost]

Originally Posted by fskywalker

Curious too which model you got and how “cheap” are them now?

Mine is the Ortur LM Pro S2. It was like $420 6 months ago (finally getting around to using it now), which seems pretty cheap to me for anything CNC. I mean, it cost me nearly $200 just to get a real pair of laser safety glasses :)

I don't want to get too far off topic here, but from what I have seen, for laser engraving you can get great results with the cheap stuff. It's only if you want to do actual cutting that you need the higher powered lasers with air assist and other things. But I don't care for the charred edge look anyway, so cutting doesn't really interest me.