Laser Etched Pumpkin
This first try at laser etching a pumpkin went surprisingly well.
Make an Image
First, I made a simple design on Inkscape...this was going to be a totally rastered image.
Pumpkin Placement
Second, because the pumpkin was too big to fit on the rotary attachment, I propped it up with some scrap pieces of wood, making sure the "flattest" part was up and the laser was focused on the majority of that surface.
Set Up the Pumpkin
Next, I set the "home" for the laser and made sure my graphic would fit in the area I had picked.
Laser Settings
Fourth, the file was saved as a .pdf and sent to the laser with the following settings: Speed:50, Power: 100, DPI: 600, Engrave direction: bottom up, Image dithering: Jarvis
Run the Laser
Last, the fan was turned on and the laser went to work. I made 4 passes and got a depth of about 1-2mm across the whole design. I need to get a fem more pumpkins (smaller ones I hope) and see if I can vector cut an image.