Touch of Wood Custom Laser Engraving
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Laser Engraving & Cutting From Single Pieces to Small Production Runs
Family Owned & Operated Since February 2000
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How to Order
This section offers information on how to place an order, how prepare your order for laser engraving and laser cutting and any other information that would seem to be helpful to our customers. Shipping Charts are provided with the Order Form available as a PDF form on our web site.
Please read the following information carefully. If you need further information offer two forms on our web site;
Click Here for our General Question Form.
Click Herer for our Quote Request Form.
How to Place an Order with Touch Of Wood
How to Order from Our Catalog
Click Here for our Order Form and Shipping worksheet.
Fill in the information for the items or items you wish to order. Include detailed instructions for any custom engraving that is to be done on the item either at the bottom of the form or on the back or a separate piece of paper.
It's important to include details such as the location to be engraved, the text to be engraved, font to be used and size if appropriate. Graphics should be provided either on a CD-ROM as a file with a resolution of 250 DPI (dots per inch), as an E-mail attachment or printed on clean white glossy paper for scanning.
To summarize; You know exactly what you want done; I need you to convey the information to me so I may produce the results you need. More information is always better!
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General Information for Ordering
Materials to be engraved must be accompanied by clear, detailed instructions for engraving (see preparing your order).
Send your prepared and carefully packed order to:
Touch Of Wood
662 Center ST.
Manchester, CT 06040
I also accept drop off and pickup at our store located at the above address.
You may place the order via E-mail, phone or mail. There is a PDF order form on our web site you can print out and mail or use as a guide in placing your order. There are forms to figure out the shipping and handling fee with the order form.
Click Here for our Order Form.
I have a $10.00 minimum per order, shipping and handling are additional.
I accept the following for payment; Visa, Master Card, Discover, Checks and Money orders. Please make checks or Money orders payable to Touch Of Wood.
If you wish to use a credit card you may call me at (860) 643-9190, I am always in the shop the following hours;
Friday 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM (All Times Eastern Daylight Savings Time)
Saturday 10:00 AM - 12 noon
Sunday 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Monday 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM
If you can not call between the above hours, you may call my cell phone (860) 841-4266. If I am unavailable when you call, please leave me a voice message and I will return your call as soon as possible.
Cell Phone- (860) 841-4266
Voice\Fax- (860) 643-9190
E-mail; touchofwood@touchofwood.com
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Materials for Laser Engraving and Laser Cutting
Touch Of Wood now offers Laser Engraving of the following materials; Wood, Acrylic, Anodized Aluminum, Coated Metals, Composites, Cork, Glass, Fiberglass, Laminated Plastics, Leather, Marble, Nylon, Melamine, Plastics, Polyester, Stone, Veneer and Vinyl. In general we can engrave any substance that can be safely burned or melted. (PVC can NOT be Laser engraved)
We can engrave your items or items purchased from our Laser Engraving Service. Contact us for details.
Materials for Laser Cutting; Wood, Acrylic, Composites, Cork, Fiberglass, Laminated Plastics, Leather, Nylon, Melamine, Plastics, Polyester, Veneer and Vinyl. We can not cut any plastics containing PVC. Cast and extruded plastics cut and engrave well, thermal set plastics do not cut or laser engrave well.
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Preparing Pens, Pen Boxes or Other Small Custom Orders
In order to provide you with the best result, please follow these instructions for your engraving order. Accurate and complete instructions are necessary to us so we may process your order.
Pens, Pencils and Other Similar Desk Accessories
1. If possible, do not assemble your pens, pencils or other items to be engraved. We can engrave partially or fully assembled pieces but much more care is required by us so as not to damage your item in the engraving process. (Weight becomes an issue as well as larger quantities add to the shipping costs quickly). Send each turned, polished and finished barrel in a separate bag (zip lock bags work well) with a note indicating the text and font style for that barrel and whether it is the upper or lower barrel. Stick a piece of tape, (masking tape works well), to the pen barrel at the location to be engraved. Mark a number on the tape that matches a number on the instructions for that piece and draw an arrow that points from left to right, (the same direction we read), for the proper orientation over the area to be engraved.
2. If applicable, draw a diagram indicating the placement of the engraving. Examples would be for a box or an assembled pen or pencil. We really are lousy at guessing, so help us out!
3. Specify whether you want a block or script style font style. Requests for a specific font will be honored if at all possible. Indicate if you want the engraving done for color filling. Engraving for color filling is deeper than engraving that isn't going to be filled.
4. When sending artwork to be scanned, remember that a good, clean, oversized original will give the best results. We can scan images up to 8 1/2" x 11". For signatures, please send originals in black ink on clean white paper (no photocopies). Signatures will be sized for the best visual result unless otherwise specified.
5. Please include a daytime phone number and an E-mail address so that we may reach you if we have any questions.
6. Include any additional instructions; there can never be too much information!
The cost for engraving pens, pencils, boxes and similar items is scaled to the quantity in the order.
$10 Minimum order.
1 to 9 lines, $2.25 per line of text.
10 to 99 lines, $2.00 per line of text.
100 lines & above, $1.75 per line of text. shipping & Handling is additional.
Complex or highly detailed images turn into meaningless blobs when reduced to the size necessary to fit on a pen barrel, keep this in mind when designing your logo or graphics.
Most logos on pens, pencils and boxes may be engraved at the same price rates as our text fees. The image must be oversized on clean, glossy paper (no faxes), or on an PC compatible 3 1/2" floppy disk or CD-ROM ( bmp, gif, jpg, tiff- (no MAC files please).
E-mail any questions you have to; touchofwood@touchofwood.com
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Basic Guidelines and Specifications
We can Laser Engrave your text, graphics, artwork, clip art, computer files and photographs, about any file or printed piece that will fit in a standard flat bed scanner can be laser engraved.
I have an engraving area of 12" X 24". The largest piece I can fit inside my machine is 17" X 29", with the 12" X 24" area centered on the plaque. The maximum height that will fit under my laser head is 8" thick.
I can not engrave or cut any type of metal or composite material containing metal, leaded glass is an example of a material that contains a metal that would prevent or laser from engraving. I can laser engrave through coatings on metals or laser engrave anodized aluminum.
Some of the materials I can engrave and cut are; Coated metals (engrave only), composite materials (laminates, fiberboard and plywood as an example), fiber glass, glass (engrave only), leather, marble (engrave only), mat board, melamine, nylon, plastics (excluding PVC plastics), stone (engrave only), veneer, vinyl, wood and more.
Please contact us for information on materials not listed here.
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Image files need to be 250 dpi resolution.
Paper prints must be a color or Black & White photograph, sharply focused with good contrast, ( a good picture), printed on clean, glossy paper. We can not scan from textured stock, the scanned image will show the surface texture, unless this is the affect you desire.
Photographs to be scanned must be clean, undamaged on glossy paper. Fingerprints, stains, tears and smudges will be picked up when we scan the image.
We recommend at least a 3 1/2" x 5" glossy picture for a 5" x 7" laser engraved photograph, 4" x 6" glossy photograph for an 8" x 10" and an 8" X 10" for an 11" X 14" engraved photograph. Please contact us for laser engraved photographs larger than 11" X 14". The ideal glossy photograph for laser engraving a photo plaque is 8" x 10". A poor picture or picture that is to be greatly enlarged will not produce the best quality laser engraved photograph.
Please instruct us as to the important area of the photograph to be laser engraved, we may need to crop the image to size for laser engraving.
Images that need to be digitally enhanced will be billed at the rate of $50 per hour for graphics charges
I can use either a color, Black & White or digital image. A digital image file needs to have a resolution of 250 DPI. The file will be too large to E-mail, please either send the file on a CD or a print on glossy paper that I can than scan in. The actual engraved image will be the same as a Black & White photo when laser engraved. The final file we will us for laser engraving a photograph is an 8 bit bitmap. The way it work is this; White will be the surface of the image, black will engrave the deepest with 256 steps for the shades between white and black.
If the photo is mainly dark tones, then the image will mostly burned in and will make it harder to see the image. You want enough light tones in the image so main subject stands out against the background.
A very busy image, like somebody standing among a grove of pine trees, would make it hard to pick out the subject because of all the background detail in the trees, the subject gets kind of blended in to the background.
Light on light or dark on dark do not usually work well either, you need contrast between the main subject and the background. For a person, the photo should be well exposed, front lit and in sharp focus. Side lighting produces a shadow on one side of the face and looks like a mask when laser engraved. The subject should be front lit with even lighting and not in shade so the subject stands out from the background.
To Summarize: The photograph needs to be well exposed, sharply focused, with good contrast between the subject and the background. The subject should be front lit with even lighting and not in shade so the subject stands out from the background.
If you are supplying the wood for Laser Engraving; The wood needs to have the surface sealed prior to laser engraving or cutting. The laser process produces a smoky residue that will stain the wood if the surface is not sealed. You may apply your finish coats once you receive the engraved pieces. Any thing that will seal the wood will work, wax, lacquer, stain or paint are all acceptable. Cherry, maple and red alder all have very uniform harnesses and produce nice laser engraved photographs. You may LIGHTLY sand the surface and then apply your final finish coats which will also seal the engraving.
Some species laser engrave more uniformly than other species. Wood has a grain pattern that affects the engraving quality of the wood. In Oak and Pine, as an example, there are hard and soft areas in the wood. The laser has a set level of power when engraving and will go deeper in to the softer grain than the harder grain. This is similar to your walking across hard ground and then in to softer ground, you sink deeper in to the soft ground. In Oak and Pine you will see ridges in the engraved areas where the harder grain bands are. Some people don’t mind the appearance, others find the look objectionable.
E-mail any questions you have to; touchofwood@touchofwood.com
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Signatures must be provided on glossy paper in black ink and twice the size to be laser engraved.
E-mail any questions you have to; touchofwood@touchofwood.com
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See the section “Basic Guidelines and Specifications” above for basic information.
As there are millions of ideas and projects out there, it is impossible to quote most special order laser engraving without project detailed information . As an example;
(Customer) How much would it cost to have a poem laser engraved? (We actually receive such requests)
(Us) Okay, what material do you want to use and are you supplying the material?
How big is the piece?
How many lines of text and how big are the letters?
What type of font do you want to use and how deep do you want the engraving to be?
Is there a special layout?
All this information and sometimes even more detail are required before we can provide pricing information. We are always happy to provide a free quote but ask that you be willing to work with us as we are willing to work with you.
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Laser engraving and laser cutting are two different processes.
For laser cutting I need a vector file. Cut lines must be Red and a line thickness of .0001” to be recognized as a cut line.. The graphics program Corel Draw, in the Corel Graphics Suite or a CAD DWG file may be used to produce the templates. Use RED lines for anything to be cut or for your layout marks for things like hole center locations and black for areas to be engraved. Use another color such as green, orange or blue, as an example, for anything that is not to be cut or engraved, such as dimensions or other information on the drawing. Include the actual outside dimensions of the piece(s) to be cut so I know exactly what size the piece(s) are to be as files do not always open or cut to the correct size. I test files prior to cutting the actual material for a job.
I may be able to scan in your templates and produce the necessary file, but this may be less accurate than an actual drawing file. Graphics fees may apply.
The cost for cutting is based on the time required to do the job. The time required depends on the material used; wood, plastic, paper products, leather and thicker or thinner material, all of which affect the time required for the piece(s). Also, larger or more detailed pieces take longer than smaller or simple pieces. With this in mind, it's impossible to create such a price sheet. What I do is use the customers’ actual pattern and create a quote for that pattern and the material being used for that job. Shipping and handling are additional.
Touch Of Wood now offers laser cutting of the following materials; Wood, Acrylic, Composites, Cork, Laminated Plastics, Leather, Nylon, Melamine, Plastics, Polyester, Veneer and Vinyl. PVC can NOT be Laser cut.
Please contact with questions on materials not listed above.
I can cut from paper thin to 1/4" soft woods, like white pine. Harder woods around 1/8", such as Cherry. A wood like ebony is not only very hard but also oily, it tends to catch fire before I am able to cut through, I've tried 1/8" thick with no luck. I've cut modelers plywood to around 1/8" thick, the quality of the material really matters and affects the quality of the cut. Sometimes the plywood cuts good, other times it doesn't always cut completely through in areas.
I can cut Plexiglass and similar plastics up to ¼” thick. I can not cut any PVC type plastics. I only accept plastics I can identify as not being a PVC type of plastic.
Cast and extruded plastics cut and engrave well, thermal plastics do not cut or engrave well. The laser’s heat affects thermal set plastics in a adverse way and they do not cut or engrave cleanly.
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Changing or Canceling an Order
Cancellations will not be accepted unless received in writing or by fax and confirmed by Touch Of Wood. Charges will apply for any materials used and work completed prior to notification.
The customer agrees to hold Touch Of Wood harmless for any damages, costs and expenses when they arise under all laws as consequence of customer-provided Trademark, Service Mark, Copy mark or other materials undertaken by this agreement A release will be provided in these instances.
Touch Of Wood reserves the right to refuse any engraving order for any reason without explanation.