First Granite tile ok I lied it was my second

[Dave Russell Smith]

Just finished this tile after Frank did a correction from the first attempt, Its my Grandfather a WW1 veteran. Its a Black Granite 12" x 12" tile :o

[Steve Clarkson]

My hatred for you is growing Dave...........

OK, maybe it's envy.

In any event, that's a GREAT first (or even second) attempt.

Did you color fill?

[Dave Russell Smith]

My hatred for you is growing Dave...........

OK, maybe it's envy.

In any event, that's a GREAT first (or even second) attempt.

Did you color fill?

As they say straight of the press no touch ups, next a piece of slate :eek:

[Mike DeRegnaucourt]

Great job Dave!

I like the second one better since it appears to have the background removed. Very nice work!

[Jacob Hebert]

INCREDIBLE job on that tile. :eek: I must learn the ways of granite from you, Sensei. *bow* :D

[Dave Russell Smith]

INCREDIBLE job on that tile. :eek: I must learn the ways of granite from you, Sensei. *bow* :D

I have to bow to my master GURU Frank he has taught me well :D

[Dave Russell Smith]

Great job Dave!

I like the second one better since it appears to have the background removed. Very nice work!

Both the same tile one taken without the flash outdoors, the other inside with flash :rolleyes:

[Anthony Welch]

Ditto everyones remarks and great job. It's amazing the collaboration from this forum and the job gets done.


Anthony

[Jacob Hebert]

I have to bow to my master GURU Frank he has taught me well :D

Frank is truly a guru to us all! *bows to Frank* :D

[Sheryl Haley]

Just finished this tile after Frank did a correction from the first attempt, Its my Grandfather a WW1 veteran. Its a Black Granite 12" x 12" tile :o

Fantastic Job !!!,
I'm hoping to do some of my family photos and Civil War letters on black granite. I just hope that they turn out as nice as yours. Again Great Job !!!
Sheryl Haley

[Frank Corker]

Fantastic tile Dave! (He listens well)

[Margaret Turco]

Well, I'm so impressed with your tile Dave. That came out great!

I have a question for those of you who do these; how do you display them? If somebody gave me one of these I don't think I'd know what to do with it.

[John W. Love]

We haven't made them yet, but we are planning on making hinged brackets to display ours on...was thinking we'd use acrylic and that's why we haven't actually made them yet...I'm not sure on the settings to use. I will probably try it tomorrow :)

[Larne Wright]

Try some black marble from Lasersketch.com it really works much better because it has a much tighter backround and less speckle then black granite the contrast is much better - Then Back fill with Opaque white printers ink - You will be shocked at the clarity.

Slate is awesome as well, seal it first with miracle sealants stone enhancer available at most home depots. You get a great contrast with black and even the green works good to

Good Luck
Lw

[Frank Corker]

I just did one myself today. I still don't hold with colour filling granite though. Personal choice I know, but the way I see it is that if I wanted a picture that looked identical to a black and white photograph I would give them a black and white photograph. Simple.

[Scott Shepherd]

Another self portrait Frank? :D Couldn't be, the dog is way too handsome ;)

[Devon Jones]

a while ago frank sent me some settings for what he thought my machine should be set at and what do print the images at i had to wait a while for my boss to go buy me some granite............ and still didnt buy what i asked for........... but this is the first three runs.......... if anyone has any thing they think i should do to ajust please tell me....... or what one looks better of the first three

the first image is 300dpi, print standard, 12x12 granite, speed 100, power 25

the second one is 300dpi, print floyd, 12x12 granite, speed 100, power 30

the third one is 300dpi, print stucki, 12x12 granite, speed 100, power 27

[Dan Hintz]

the first or third look pretty good (I didn't go over them with a fine-tooth comb), but the second one is definitely of lower quality than the others two... not enough detail in the shadows.

[John W. Love]

Well, I attempted to make some brackets today...and almost caught my laser on fire :eek: I was paint filling some granite pieces while I waited for the laser to cut the acrylic, happened to think "hmmmm I should check and see if it looks like it's cutting this time" (it didn't cut through the first time I ran it) go look through the glass and to my dismay I see the acrylic and the cardboard I set it on to prevent scratching the bottom with my cutting table is on fire! I open the door and start blowing on it...and it's not going out :eek: So I reach in and grab the other side of it thinking at least if I can't put it out I can save the laser! Thankfully when I started waving it in the air it finally went out...we don't have a fire extinguisher. I'm not sure what I did wrong lol. I used the settings in my manual and the pieces didn't cut on the first run. The book says I can cut up to 3/8" acrylic and to use 1.5% speed and 100% power at 1400 ppi. They all cut on the second run but I caught the acrylic on fire...and there was some whitening on a couple of the pieces, not sure what that's all about. I'll probably go ahead and assemble these even tho they aren't up to standard to sell with the whitening... will post a pic when I get it done. Also anyone have suggestion on better settings for cutting the acrylic? It's 1/4" thick. Thanks!

~Alicia

[Frank Corker]

Devon I would say that despite your settings, I think your image is the problem. The brightness that you are showing on those images has too much contrast. Stucki and all the other one's bar normal just seem to enhance the contrast even more. I would also say, looking at that image, that it is not 300 dpi.

[Steve Clarkson]

Alicia!!!! Let's be careful out there!

Glad it didn't catch the whole place on fire......now go out TONIGHT and get a fire extinguisher!!!

Oh.....and for 1/4" on my Epilog my settings are 6 speed/100 power/ 5,000 freq.

[John W. Love]

Ha, I got home and she told me about the "experience" I promptly pointed out the fire extinguisher so we are good now. I hope :eek:

[Dan Hintz]

Alicia... I don't think you want to set a high-heat material (acrylic) on a flammable substrate (cardboard)... it's a bad combination. They'll feed off of each other.

[Anthony Welch]

John I think it was the card board that caused the flame. Especially if it was corrugated. Seems as though the little tubes in corrugated cardboard would give the flame a route to go and not be affected by the dust extractor nor the air assist. That way a bigger area to burn and more chance of a fire.

When I do acrylic, I take the paper off of the back and set it on some acrylic plugs, that someone here shared, to go into the little honeycombs to lift the acrylic off of the bed.

Leaving the paper on will result in a flame, but not a fire. As the two things I mentioned will blow it out. But where it does flame it scortches the acrylic and is a booger to polish off.

Anthony

[John W. Love]

I don't think Alicia realized how the cardboard would ignite and cause the two to feed off of each other. Her main concern was not scratching the acryllic and just didnt think about the cardboard that was underneath it. Some of life's best lessons are those that are learned the hard way lol. Fortunately this lesson was not an expensive one! :)

~ John

[Scott Erwin]

The good thing all is well, no one got hurt, and the building is still standing. Maybe a little smelly from nasty smoke, but all in all good enough to keep going.

Lesson learned... keep fire extenguisher closer...oh not thats not it....what was the lesson again....

ut oh, I smell something burning....

Whew...only dinner....