An engraved checkering pattern on a gun stock makes a great customized gift for any gun or shooting enthusiast.
Here we'll walk you through the steps of creating this engraved gun stock.
Materials:
1 Stevens 311 Type 2 12GA Stock from Boyds' Gun Stock Industries, Inc. Stevens 311 Type 2.
Standard Bubble Level
Clay or Play-doh®
Manual Focus Gauge
Click image to see a large version of the final engraving.
Files: Right click the file below and choose "Save target as." Open the file in CorelDraw 8 or later. sc_gun_stock.cdr
Start by securing your clay or Play-doh to the engraving table in the upper left corner as pictured to the left. This will help secure the irregularly shaped gun stock to the table during the engraving.
Next, set the gun stock on the clay with the top edge parallel to the top ruler. Then push down lightly to stick the gun stock into place.
With the gun stock in place, open the sc_gun_stock.cdr CorelDRAW file and print it to the laser in vector only mode. The file is setup with a hairline outline so that you can use the Red Dot Pointer as a positioning/tracing tool.
With the glass lid open so the laser is turned off, push the Go button. While the Red Dot Pointer is tracing the shape of the engraving file on the stock, check to see that it is in the correct position. If the positioning doesn't appear properly placed, reposition the stock and run the trace line again until it is where you want to engrave your image.
Now that the gun stock is positioned correctly, place your bubble level on the stock, as pictured to the left. Then based on the location of the bubble in the level, push down on either the right or left side of the gun stock to until the stock is level.
Remove the level.
Position the laser optics 1.5" from the left and 1.5" from the bottom corner of the gun (the red dot in the picture to the right represent the focusing position). Using the manual focus gauge bring the gun stock up or down into focus.
In CorelDRAW send the file to the laser in raster mode using the speed and power settings that correspond with the system you're using. We used a 45-watt Mini 24 and the following settings:
Raster Type: 3D
Speed: 30
Power: 100
Note: Be sure to send the file to the laser system in 3D Raster Mode.
We ran the engraving job 3 times with the above settings to achieve the depth and detail shown in the photographs below. After you've run the job 3 times, or to the depth you prefer, the gun stock engraving is finished!
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