Painted surface to laser engrave through

[craig.westlake]

Hi all, my first post and I am self learning so be kind 😁

I am modeling a switch panel which has three layers of acrylic.  The Top Layer is the layer that will be laser engraved to have text.  My plan is to pain the top surface of this layer and then engrave through that to leave the desired presentation of the underlying base material. 

My Question is, what approach would you take to create the painted surface such when I engrave into it (extrude down I am thinking) the base material is shown.

I am thinking I may have to create another very thin component (paint layer) and then join its bottom face to top face of top layer.   My thinking is that then as I extrude down through that layer the Top Layer appearance will be exposed. That said, everytime I look there is much easier ways in this awsome product.

I hope my question makes sense.

Thanks

[jhackney1972 · Accepted solution]

I am not sure you can control a laser to cut the depth for this precision but here is the way I set it up.  I created a model with three layers of paint, each one being 0.25mm thick.  I then set the laser to cut just the first layer which I show you in the Simulation.  By the way, I used a Romans "SHX" single line font.   I do not know what font you desire but I would recommend a single line font for laser cutting.  The model is attached which includes the Manufacturing environment setup for you to follow.

[craig.westlake]

Thanks John.  Very Helpful.

For rendering I woked out that I can apply an appearance to a face only - this gave me a good rendered model. 

That said, I am going to use your approach and give it a try when engraving.