QR code on clear acrylic

[Ian Bell]

I have been trying to scan a QR code on to a piece of clear acrylic, but so far without success.

The image on my screen in rdworks scans and is recognised by my phone, but when I scan it isn't recognised.

The code is created using a website and downloaded on to my pc.

I have tried:
import to corel and output to rdworks
import to corel, resample to 300 dpi, and convert to BW 1 bit
scaled and non scaled
2, 3 and 5mm thick acrylic
placing the acrylic on a black background when scanning
slow and fast scanning 100 - 250
low and slightly higher power

and probably a fair bit more.

Any suggestions.

[Pete Cyr]

Are you using cast or extruded acrylic - cast will give a better burn IRT uniformity of color

Cast extruded laser engraved acrylic.jpg

[Ian Bell]

Thanks for the reply Pete, i've tried both, however I believe the cast was the thicker material, not sure if thats relevant

[Pete Cyr]

I don’t think thickness matters.
I have never cut a qr code so my input is without experience on the subject.
Have you tried cutting the pattern on some wood or paper to test the pattern even works a qr code?

[Martin Overberg]

QR Codes do not work reliable if they are inverted/negative.
Standard is black symbol on white background.

You might try generating the QR code with black background.
http://goqr.me has options to set the colors.

[Ian Bell]

I don’t think thickness matters.
I have never cut a qr code so my input is without experience on the subject.
Have you tried cutting the pattern on some wood or paper to test the pattern even works a qr code?

Good idea Pete cheers

[Ian Bell]

QR Codes do not work reliable if they are inverted/negative.
Standard is black symbol on white background.

You might try generating the QR code with black background.
http://goqr.me has options to set the colors.

I saw somewhere on a site that someone had created the code on clear acrylic, they said it was very important to have a dense black background.

I'll give your advice a shot and see how I get on cheers

[Ian Bell]

scanned the image on to a piece of white laminated mdf, worked fine.

Inverted the image and scanned on to clear acrylic, no joy, doesn't scan. I'll have another try some day.