Money Box | Trotec Laser DIY sample

Our acrylic money box is a great way to showcase laser engraved images. We have used a car design in our sample however you can choose any design you like to create a unique display piece.
You can view the full range of Trotec materials online by visiting our engraving supplies webshop.

Preparation

Required material

3 mm TroGlass Colour Gloss black: 1/4 sheet (available at Trotec)
Material to cover the engraving table (paper is good for this)

Laser cutting machine used

Speedy 400 flexx
120 Watt CO₂/50 Watt fiber laser with 2.85" flexx lens

Any Speedy flexx Series laser machine can be used to create this sample.

Important information

Use the acrylic laser cutting grid table to create this sample
Leave the protective foil on the material during cutting. It protects the acrylic from scratches. You must remove the foil right before laser marking.

Tip:

You can produce plain cash boxes for stock and personalise them for your customers upon request.

dreamcar-templates.zip

ZIP

Download now

ZIP

Download now

Step by step

Step 1

Step 1: Import /create design template

Begin by importing our design template into your chosen graphic program. We have optimised the design meaning you can produce two cash boxes out of one quarter sheet of TroGlass, without material waste. You can also create your own design template by visiting www.makeabox.io, entering the required dimensions, material thickness, kerf, etc. and downloading the finished file. Correctly defined kerf allows you to assemble the parts without using glue. (we used a kerf of 0.2 mm)

Print settings

Process mode	Resolution	Cut line
Standard	500 dpi	none

Halftone	Others
Black & White	enhanced geometries inner geometries first

Step 2

Step 2: Laser process

For the best results we recommend using the acrylic laser cutting grid table as it avoids back reflections on the material. Position your acrylic sheet onto your laser bed and cover the rest of the table to maximise the exhaust power. Cut the design out of TroGlass.

Laser Parameters:

Color	Process	Power (%)	Speed (%)	ppi/Hz
red	Cut CO2	30	0.2	5000

Passes	Air Assist	Z-Offset	Advanced
1	on	-	-

Tips:

For our boxes we used the standard laser parameters from JobControl which are optimised for quality as we want to mark on the cutting edges as well.
You can download material parameters for JobControl from www.troteclaser.co.uk
You can produce plain money boxes and personalise them per customer requests

Step 3

Step 3: Preparation all-round photo marking

Open the template you will use for laser marking. It shows the four sides of the money box. Import the desired image and position it into the centre of the page. Please make sure that your chosen image is big enough to cover all four sides of the box. Make 3 duplicates of the image and position them all into the centre of the page. Once you are happy with the images position each of the images into one of the four power clip containers (with transparent outline - see video). A single image appears but it has been split into four seperate images. Now send all four designs to the laser. Make sure that you use the exact dimensions and the graphic is positioned in the middle of the box.

Print settings:

Process mode	Resolution	Cut line
Photo	500dpi	none

Halftone	Others
Stucki	Invert

Important:

All black parts of the image are laser marked and appear white afterwards. This is why the image needs to be inverted before marking.

Step 4

Step 4: Laser marking with a fiber laser

Position the assembled money box onto your laser table. Start marking with the right (narrow) side (no. 1), followed by the left (narrow) side (no. 3). Next mark the front (no. 2) and finally the back (no. 4). Please don't forget to focus before marking the front (no. 2). You can mark the pieces in order 1-4, however you will have to focus the laser again after marking each part.

Laser Parameters:

Colour	Process	Power (%)	Speed (%)	ppi/Hz
black	engrave FLP	40	55	75000

Passes	Air Assist	Z-Offset	Advanced
1	on	-	High Quality

Step 5

Step 5: Post-processing

Clean the glass holder with some water and dish-soap after processing.

Inspiration

Dark acrylic engraved with a fiber laser allows you to achieve particularly good results.
If you want to mark four individual images instead of the all-round graphic, you can mark the image directly on the material before cutting.
Another option is to UV-print the material. Our JobControl Vision software will help you cut out the printed sheets with the highest precision. Please take into consideration that the cutting edges will appear black (resp. in the colour of the acrylic used)