Photo Engraving on Diode
Diode photo engraving on wood, leather, slate, and dark anodized AL produces good results when image prep is right. Slower than fiber on metal, but the diode's beam quality on wood handles dither cleanly.
Best diode photo substrates
- Maple, basswood, light hardwoods: best contrast, smooth tonal range.
- Cherry: premium for skin tones in portraits.
- Veg-tanned leather: beautiful tonal photos.
- Slate: instant white-on-black; dramatic photos.
- Dark anodized aluminum: bright white-on-color marks.
- Powder-coated tumblers: limited but doable.
Image prep workflow
- Source quality: 300+ DPI at final size. Better than the engrave resolution.
- Convert to grayscale.
- Levels: drag black point + white point inward to anchor pure 0 and pure 255.
- Brightness/contrast: bump contrast +20 typical.
- Unsharp mask: radius 2-3px, amount 50-80%.
- For wood: shift midtones lighter, wood burns dark fast.
- For slate: shift midtones darker, light areas need to ablate paint completely.
Dither selection
| Substrate | Best dither |
|---|---|
| Maple, basswood | Stucki, smoothest gradients |
| Cherry | Stucki or Atkinson |
| Walnut | Atkinson, preserves limited light areas |
| Slate | Jarvis, smoothest contrast |
| Leather | Stucki, tactile gradient |
| Dark anodized AL | Jarvis |
Settings: diode photo (20W marketing diode)
| Substrate | Speed | Power | DPI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maple portrait | 3500 mm/min | 15-25% | 254 DPI (0.10mm) |
| Cherry portrait | 3000 mm/min | 22-30% | 254 DPI |
| Slate | 2500 mm/min | 35% | 318 DPI (0.08mm) |
| Leather portrait | 3000 mm/min | 15-22% | 254 DPI |
| Dark anodized AL | 2500 mm/min | 30-40% | 254 DPI |
Why diode photos look different from CO2
- Diode spot is bigger than CO2 RF metal-tube, finer detail is harder.
- Diode is slower, full-size photos take 30-90 minutes vs 15-30 on CO2.
- Beam quality variance, premium diodes (xTool S1, OneLaser) approach mid-tier CO2 photo quality.
Test on a 30×30mm corner first
Always run a small corner test of the image. Verify:
- Contrast envelope (no fully-black blobs, no fully-white voids).
- Dither pattern reads cleanly.
- Skin tones look natural.
- Total time multiplier matches the full piece.
If the test is wrong, adjust source levels OR change dither. Run another test before committing to the full piece.
Mask before engraving
Same trick as CO2: apply painter's tape (3M ScotchBlue 2090) over the engrave area BEFORE running. Smoke and ash settle on the surface during the engrave; the tape catches it. Peel after, instant clean engrave. Universally the most useful diode photo trick.