Chaves for a good friend
My good friend sent me a few knives a while back for testing out some new milling engraving tools (tiny tools). I was able to get one knife finished up quick but the Chaves needed something more. More detail, more uniqueness, better design, something I haven’t seen before. I sat on it. Not literally! The knife sat on the shelf for months. I would look at it a few times a week and make notes on any ideas I would have. I just wasn’t happy with flat 2D designs. I came up with some cool patterns in CAD but they weren’t speaking to me.
At the same time I had upgraded the software for my laser to Lightburn. It’s a much more updated and powerful software designed specifically for the kind of stuff I am doing. With any new piece of software or equipment it took some time to learn, test and get comfortable with it. To the credit of those over at Lightburn, it’s pretty easy to learn(Coming from EZCad2). You have to become familiar with your laser’s power and resolution as well as material characteristics all while navigating new software and design capabilities. There were a few late nights in the shop again…
Lucky for me I was in the middle of the Slider project and was mostly set up for making coins of the same size. I made a bunch of blanks and had Brass and Titanium coin blanks to now do more testing on. It’s always tough for me to translate what’s on screen to what it actually looks like IRL. I mean that the design when I’m putting it together in illustrator or Affinity or what ever vector maker I’m using, it’s always very different what I see on the screen versus what it actually turns out like. Probably due to the sizing, colors, or just being digital. It took some time to understand and be able to design around this. I feel I have a good understanding now and can build on it.
Coins are now really getting interesting! The amount of detail and depth I can achieve is crazy. I’m really only scratching at the surface. Please sign up for the Coins Channel over on Instagram for more in-depth content regarding coins specifically. I’ll be updating it as I learn.
Here’s a pile of skulls design on the Chaves. For those looking for the recipe:
900 speed
60% power (50w fiber laser)
80Hrz frequency
150 passes at a 30 degree shift
0.02 resolution
