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Sending Your First Job to the Laser

How to Send Your First Job to the Laser.

Introduction
It’s time to send your first job to the laser. We’ll walk through a step-by-step tutorial on taking your file from design to engraving. We’ll be covering the software you can use to design your file, how to set up your page and position your graphic, how to send the file to the Laser Dashboard, choosing your settings, and sending the job to the laser.

Choose Your Design Software

Epilog’s laser systems work through the Epilog Laser Software Suite, built on an open-architecture design so you can create your artwork files in many different graphic software packages, including CorelDraw, Illustrator, Photoshop, AutoCAD, and many more.Choose the software that you’re most comfortable with, so you don’t need to spend valuable time learning a new program.

Sending a Job

In your design software, start by choosing your page size. There are two popular options for page size: either setting it to the size of the piece you are working with, or to the size of the engraving table. Either method will allow you to easily position your artwork.

Graphic for groomsman gift

Here we have a groomsman gift we’re going to engrave on a coated metal flask. If we set this up to the size of the object we’re engraving, 3.75” x 3.75”, we can easily position this graphic to the center of the image.

Aligning the graphic

If we set the page size to the size of the engraving bed, we can easily fill up the entire table with multiple flasks. We can duplicate the image across the page for the number we need. And edit each design to customize them.

Add multiple graphics for multiple flasks

Since we’re engraving one flask today, we’ll change the page size back to the size of a single item. Once we’re happy with our design, we’re ready to send it to the laser.

Print the file, just as you would to a paper printer.

Print the file, just as you would a paper printer

In the Printer drop-down menu you’ll find the Epilog Engraver that was added when you installed the Epilog Software Suite.

Select Print.

Laser Dashboard Settings

The job will appear in the Laser Dashboard, Epilog’s interface between the design and the laser where you’ll set up all of your settings. Here we can position our graphic using either the top left corner of the engraving bed, or using the camera for positioning.

For the material settings, you can use our common materials list to get started. Click the Folder with a down arrow icon to open the materials list.

Use common material list

You’ll find multiple materials listed here that you can use as a jumping off place for fine tuning your own material settings. Since this is a coated metal, we’ll choose the anodized aluminum 500 DPI engraving settings.

Choose anodized aluminum preset

Click the Import button to use these settings. We can easily adjust these settings as needed.

Fine tune settings

And print the file to the laser.

Run the Job

At the laser, select your job and press the Start button.

Select the job at the laser
Hit Print

Use these step-by-step tips to start creating your own beautiful and profitable projects!

Final product

  • ID:
    TA-22
  • Date:
    09/26/2024