When I purchased the Skycut C24 a couple of years ago, I also purchased the embossing and etching tools. I don't use them often, but a current project required use of the etching tool. I was a bit wary and also glad that the acrylic blanks were fairly inexpensive, so ruining a couple wouldn't cause lots of worry.
Here's the "test" result using a the Premium Monogram Font I found at Creative Fabrica.
The steps to achieve this are pretty easy to do using SCAL and the Skycut.
I chose an old grungy mat. Not a lot of tackiness but using some redline tape provided the tack needed to keep the 3 inch blank in place during the etching process. In SCAL, I placed the image on the mat and set the X and Y to the bottom right corner at 11.00 inches. Set the image to draw. Hide the blank shape (the circle).
As with most images, you may need to use line fill to complete the etching and fill in the shapes using the line fill option in the effects dropdown menu.
Prepare the mat: I placed the tape vertically on the mat so the tape was straddling the 11 inch mark on the right side of the mat and then straddling the 8 inch mark. The strips were just a little more than 3 inches in length. These strips held quite well for several etched pieced.
Insert the etching tool into the holder. Make sure that you have the mat and the post-it note stack (10 count) to set the height of the tool. If you don't do that, the tool will drag across the blank and leave a few extra scratches that you really don't want! Remove the protective sheets from both sides of the blank and center the blank between the two strips of tape. Making sure that the blank doesn't extend beyond either 11 inch line on the mat. Press the blank to the tape and to the mat to make sure it won't slide during the etching process.
Load the mat, and make sure that you have the tool centered at the bottom right corner in portrait orientation. My Draw settings for this particular project was force 20, speed 6. Click on Cut, Click on Draw -- and let the magic begin. This etching took about 25 minutes. Remember, I slowed down the speed a bit.
Once the process has completed, remove the mat and carefully, remove the blank. Wipe away the "sand," and clean carefully.
Again, this is a test image and not the final version, I'm really happy with the outcome and plan on using the etching option for several other projects!
Have a great day... thanks for dropping by and I hope you've carved out some creative time in the very near future.
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