Use PowerPoint and Direct Print Laser to Make an Etch Glow Light Display

For this tutorial, we are going to use an Epilog Laser (direct print) and the PowerPoint software package. These concepts will be the same across most direct print lasers, however, some of the terms may be different.

In order to make the Firemen Logo we need to engrave / cut the 6 pieces of material included in the Etch Glow Kit. The three pieces on the top row (outlined in blue) will be engraved and cut on the Clear Acrylic and the bottom row will be cut on the Black Acrylic or the Black Cardstock.

All 6 acrylic layers for cutting and etching the firemen logo light display

Making the Front – Clear Acrylic

If you don’t have access to a graphics design software such as Corel or Illustrator, you can still make and Etch Glow Light Display using our PowerPoint file.

Open the design file in PowerPoint. In this case we are using Firemen Logo (PowerPoint) which contains all vector objects.

Scroll down to the 3rd slide labeled Front – Clear Acrylic:

Screen capture of front clear acrylic design on slide 3 selected in powerpoint

Everything you need to make the Front - Clear Acrylic panel is contained in this slide.

The Front Layer has 2 components, a Gray / Black shape which is the design to be etched and a Red Line which is the cut line.

Cutlines are defined as a width of 0.25 pt.  Your laser may require a different setting so adjust as needed.

To print the Front – Clear Acrylic piece on your laser, select File / Print:

Screenshot of Powerpoint menu for file print options

Select your laser in the Printer list.

Under Settings make sure you select Print Current Slide

Notice the drawing in the preview window doesn’t fit the material size.  We’ll address that next along with other settings.

Click on Printer Preferences to configure your settings.

In this example we are using a 60 Watt Epilog Helix laser. Each direct print laser will have a different window here, but all of them follow the same basic principals. Our settings are:

  • Resolution = 300 DPI
  • Combined Job (both Raster and Vector) or Etching and Cutting
  • Raster Speed = 100%
  • Raster Power = 35%
  • Vector Speed = 20%
  • Vector Power = 100%
  • Piece Size = 6 Horizontal x 8 Vertical

Epilog laser printer settings

 Verify that you image now fits properly on the material in the preview window.

This design is 6” wide x 8” tall. Others are in the landscape mode - 8” wide x 6” tall. Be sure to check your design matches your material.

Click Print to send to your laser.

Screen capture of Print Preview of design in PowerPoint after adding the laser settings

Prepare your Clear Acrylic for Lasering

The Clear Acrylic blanks in your kit, come with a protective covering (Kraft Paper) on both sides to prevent scratching.

Before lasering, peel the cover from 1 side only.

Photo of hand peeling kraft paper from clear acrylic

 

We like to take a soft lint free cloth and gently wipe the freshly peeled side to remove any residue left from the paper covering. Light pressure only.

A tip for removing the protective coating (Kraft Paper) is to lift the paper from one corner and then use a dowel rod or round pencil to roll the paper from the rest of the sheet:

Animation of removing kraft paper from clear acrylic using a dowel rod to roll away paper

Place the first piece of prepped Clear Acrylic in your laser.

The side without the protective cover / Kraft paper will be the side that is to be engraved so place this side up in the laser:

Clear acrylic sheet with paper removed face up in the laser bed to be ready for etching

Leaving the bottom paper cover on will prevent scratching from the laser Bed.  It also helps with any flash back during cutting process that may come from the laser bed.

Our laser is set up for the top left position to be 0,0.  Your setup may differ.

Close the lid and start the print job you just sent.

Making the Middle – Clear Acrylic

Now scroll down to the Middle – Clear Acrylic slide and select it.

Screen capture of middle clear acrylic design in PowerPoint

Again, the Gray / Black Design will engrave, and the Red Line will cut.

File / Print and then follow the same steps as you did before.

Making the Back – Clear Acrylic

Now scroll down to the Back – Clear Acrylic slide and select it.

Screen capture of back acrylic layer design in PowerPoint

Again, the Gray / Black Design will engrave, and the Red Line will cut.

File / Print and then follow the same steps as you did before.

Making the Front and Back – Black Acrylic

Now scroll down to the Front and Back – Black Acrylic slide and select it.

This slide has two Red Lines or cutlines. This slide will cut both the front and back pieces out of a single piece of black acrylic.

DO NOT peel the paper from either side of the black acrylic.

Screen capture of front and back black acrylic layers in PowerPoint

File / Print and then repeat the printing steps.  Since there is nothing to etch on these pieces the laser will start in the cut mode.

Making the Legs – Black Acrylic

Do the same steps to make / print the legs.

DO NOT peel the paper from either side of the black acrylic.

 Screen capture of black acrylic legs in PowerPoint

Making the Backer - Cardstock

Do the same steps to make / print the Backer on the Cardstock material however, this time we need to make a slight adjustment to the laser setting.

  • Vector speed = 100%  (Cutting)

Screenshot of black cardstock backer in PowerPoint

This is very thin material and going too slow on it may cause excess burning so increase the speed accordingly and monitor the material during cutting.

All cut and etched components of the firemen logo kit

You should now have all the pieces you need to assemble your Etch Glow Light Display. 

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