Either the laptop wasn’t level, or the tube is going bad.

Gary

It’s pretty obvious whose it is now if it’s ever stolen, which happens all to often these days.

and what is 100% in agreement with Shane on this. I have 1.5 years experience running an Epilogue laser engraver. there are settings, Speed and power, that are used with a variety of Substrates. A second maybe even a third run may have corrected the the problem, but I doubt it.

I also have to wonder if the top of the laptop was completely flat. The results on even a slightly curved surface will give you engraving at various depths.

Now, I don’t want everyone to get the Idea that I’m blaming OP. Personally I would have told Op no, simply because I didn’t want to be the one responsible for ruining a 1000.00 + laptop. If pressed OP should have been warned that the results can’t and won’t be guaranteed.

Folks there is only so much you can do with a laser engraver. We even hemmed and hawed at doing glass because the results were unpredictable and that substrate was on the list. Unlike laptops… I don’t remember ever seeing laptops on the list.

I noticed you linked to my engraving :) I was commenting on the consumerist post about this and then noticed my flickr stats jump up for some reason…now I know why!

Anyway, it must be said after the first pass, half of my design pretty invisible. The guys that did it didn’t move the macbook and basically just went back and did a second pass over that half. They would have done more to fix the one thin line that sort of got messed up, but it might have affected the rest so it stayed. Not sure what happened in your case (I’m no expert at this) but I’m sorry to hear about it :( I sort of dig the results but I guess it would have been better without the streaking.

Have you considered getting the case replaced and redone? The black macbook isn’t that new, but if you’re planning on using it a lot it’s a consideration..

Lastly, once you engrave, you can’t live without it. I just ordered a new MBP for myself and I’m already asking around for quotes for engraving that ;)

In some cases you actually want the spot to be out of focus since it gives a slightly blurrier engraving (which can be useful on materials that are melting rather than ablating.) But having it be non-uniform is a real killer.

If you’re feeling super crazy brave you could try using a mild solvent to smooth out the grooves, but really, that’s just crazy!

This sort of approach may be part of the reason why other people seem to have not had problems, perhaps sonne’s system isn’t set up for large areas, but other systems are, maybe even with lasers that can shift to do multiple origins? Just guessing here…

The beam has less area to travel in one corner than the other, hence you will get a slightly more powerful beam and deeper engraving on one side than the other. BUT – it is usually so slight that you would never, ever notice. I’ve done full 24×18 pieces that show no difference at all. The only time I have heard of an engraving showing that much difference is when the tube is going out.

Laser engraving is all about guessing. You have a speed setting and a power setting. To get a good engraving, you need to take into account the material you are engraving on, the speed of the head, and the power of the beam. When you match everything up with the correct settings, you get a successful engrave.

Here is my best guess on what happened. He has too low of a power setting (or he’s running it too fast), so you werent getting a deep enough engraving to totally engrave off the anodizing. That is why you get that quasi-engraved look in the one corner. Second issue – I’d bet his laser tube is going bad, hence there is a noticeable difference in power that opposite corner. This could also be the contributing factor in why the rest of the engraving didnt go deep enough.

LASTLY -
If you are very, very careful and have a very, very good attention to detail, he can successfully line it back up for a second engraving. This should resolve the not-deep-enough issue, and get you a consistent white engraving across the entire design. If he would like some tips on how to do that, have him email me.

My aluminum Macbook and I, are very jealous right now :)