Viv have you ever sat and watched the laser engrave these rings? I'm wondering how much longer it takes to remove that much material.

Thinking about this a bit, I used to build several network cables for milling and die machines, cutting machines, embroidery machines, etc etc, most all needed their graphics in a dfx format (autocad native format) would it be a safe guess that a laser engraving machine uses the same format, if so dfx is a vector format so somewhere along the line, your engraving software would need to convert into this format, all x-y axis machines need mathematical instructions, go to the freezer, get the cheese, the don't follow the dots.

Where I am going with this is maybe possible to let your software make the conversion for pixel image to whatever vector format it uses, then if you don't like the way it looks, edit it at that point. From looking at the Mason ring, all your artwork doesn't need to be edited, unless your bored.............

apparently what ever i give the engraver he easily converts to a SVG file

Problem as usual here is different skills and different technology.

I work well with my hammer , blowtorch and file, but i am useless with any form of technology.

Clients assume they can send me a postage stamp size fuzzy image for me to create a work of art from.

I have to enlarge the fuzzy mess, trace it with a pencil and tracing paper much larger, and try to give the engraver a clean white background and black lines, not my smudged and smeared greyish mess which confuses the hell out of the machine which only sees black or white, so grey becomes some engraved and some not, but at 1mm deep in the top of a signet ring thats a bl...y mess.

its a shame because i am turning 70% of orders away, because i cant afford to pay for artwork which in turn the customer expects me to do for free.

No big deal, my website is quite clear on what they need to supply in order to get that sort of exceptional quality, at the ridiculously low prices i am charging.

But if i was to charge the going rate (including artwork) i would not get those orders anyway.

That lodge ring for example (picture is a silver one) but the gold one ordered, which i just supplied, i charged the customer in total £475.00, if he went into a high street shop over here he would get quoted more like £900.00

Likewise i am doing the same ring in silver for £200 ish when bespoke (ie different lodge name and number) with no need to pay for artwork or re-design because i created the image with VSD, and the editing takes about a minute each time.

Average price for a hand engraved crest is £250.00 but by laser its 1/2 the price if the customer can provide a decent image.

Eric i believe its appx 1/2 an hour in machine time, they charge £120.00 per hour including the SVG convertion, and operators time.

if however i give them 5 identical items having identical engravings, its a whole different story, that lodge ring next year will be in stock, as a plain outer frame no text or numbers selling at about 145.00

Remember.................

"There is no mechanical problem that is so difficult that can not be solved by brute force and ignorance"

I don't know whose quote that is but I resemble it every time I work on something including technology...

Even technology needs a swift kick in the electrodes from time to time.

Hey Viv,

Photoscape makes it easy to convert an image to B&W from color and does a so-so job of enlarging the image. As you know though, enlarging any digital image is tough where maintaining the crispness of the image is concerned. Might give it a try sometime - easy to work with and free. :-)

Chris

Had a go, converts easily to svg which is useful
but i cant find how to convert to B & W is it a case of selecting correct (which) file type ?

Viv,
SVG (Scalable Vector Graphic) is a vector based format, being mathematical based it can tell a piece of equipment where to go and what to do (kinda like what your wife or girlfriend does once in a while).

As a side note, It is very similar to a Corel CDR or a DFX file and Corel can export to a SVG format if you consider that direction. The value in that is you could do any tracing and editing needed and provide a clean SVG file to the engraver.

You need to discuss with him how much time he spends making and cleaning up the conversion and how much that costs you in relation to the the total cost of your project. Then you can decide if it is cost effective for you to invest in a program so you can do the editing and just provide him with a clean SVG file that he can plug and play.
Comes down to how much time you are willing to spend, how much you can save and is your time worth it vs. just saying here it is send me the bill.

If you want to consider it I will be glad to do one for you to see how it works and how much you save by just handing him the SVG file and saying "Cut it Danno" (thats only of value if you have seen any old Hawaii 5-0 reruns) of course if you do that you will have to give me a ride on your boat.........................

Are you still having fun....................

The engraver pointed me in the direction of a free program to make the images as svg but as usual i got brain ache trying to use it

Hey coffeecup i am the only one who wants it but what about producing an SVG tool for me

I can not master programs, apart from CC ones, and it took Scott, Eric . JoAnn, Paintbrush and others, some shouting metaphorically at me, before i got to where i am now with these (3 long years)

I cant remember from one day to the next, what i did last time to get something to work, which is where CC visual format works for me (pages tool) (buttoniser) (shapes tool) etc all visible tools like my hammer blowtorch and file !!!!

Its also why sometimes i get my point accross to new CC users in forum as i reply to questions in a simplistic NON TECHNICAL way,

Just looked at the Photoscape page, if it does everything the way they say it does, not a bad piece of software considering the price...

edited to add: just saw your post, ya, Corel isn't free, that's a serious point to consider.........