Wood Dash Plaques

You can make inexpensive wood dash plaques for any event with a laser.  They are typically given out at car events such as auto crosses and 4 wheel drive runs.  By making them yourself you can save money and add a cool look to your event.  A 60W epilog co2 laser was used for making the dash plaques.  Typical dash plaque size is 3" x 1 ~ 1.5",  the files are set up for 3" x 1.5" dash plaques.


 "I made it at TechShop"
www.techshop.ws

I used wood that was already prepared, 1/4" poplar 5.5" x 24".  The poplar has a light grain that doesn't overwhelm your image, and at 1/4" it balances strength and size nicely.  I also put a light wood stain on to increase the contrast of the image.  You can use whatever color stain that works for your needs.  In mine, I used a light blue stain.

Printing the text and image separately allows for different power settings in order to achieve different effects.  I burned the text at 60% speed / 70 % power, and the outline at 60% speed / 20% power.  I also put the outline and text on one layer so that the first pass does the text and outline.  Then I printed the image and cut it out with the next pass.

With the second pass (don't move the wood between passes), the image gets burned and the dash plaques get cut to size.  Note: make sure to turn off the text layer before printing the image and cutting.  Image 30% speed, 90% power.  Cut was done at 10% speed 90% power.  When you're done cutting, you can add adhesive to the back of the dash plaque if desired.  Double sided foam sticky tape works well.