My first "G" project

[Andrea Weissenseel]

I just finished my first project on black granite. I ran it on 50% Speed and 65% Power with 250 DPI - I got a real nice, deep engraving. Couldn't have made without all the valuable information here :)

[Dave Russell Smith]

Nice work, looks like you know what you doing :D,Are they 12x12 tiles and did you do white infill ? what ever you did it looks good

[Andrea Weissenseel]

Thank you Dave :D

The tiles are 40x40cm each. They are not colorfilled - I have not decided yet if I will, that was the reason why I wanted the engraving deeper

Andrea

[Tim Bateson]

Very nice work. Deep is irrelevant when laser engraving granite.

[Dee Gallo]

Andrea, I'm jealous! Your first one came out so much nicer than mine. Of course, you did the smart thing and found out what to do BEFORE you tried it... I've learned THAT lesson and now I do a lot more reading and asking before I try new stuff. Isn't this place just the best?

In my opinion, you don't need any color fill. The white areas are nice and clean looking, adding white paint will ruin the crisp contrast (smooth/rough) and not add a lot of white anyway.

Keep up the good work, dee

[Andrea Weissenseel]

Thank you for the compliments


Isn't this place just the best?


Dee, I absolutely agree on that :D I'm usually also more the try&error type, but I had a hard time to get the tiles that I wanted - so due to lack of material ;)

@Tim - I'm not sure about that. I went to a mason yesterday, with my testtile - the fill color did not hold, and he told me this is because it is not deep enough. Also when you use it outside and it is raining the engraving is not visible when wet. If you go deeper you still can see it when wet.

Andrea

[Tim Bateson]

Bill Cunningham said it best in his post from a couple years ago....


I regularly do marble and Granite.. The etch is about .005 deep, and really just takes off the polished surface.. Taking off the polished surface is all you really need in a lot of cases.. Take a wander around any cemetary, and see how many polished granite or marble surfaces have been obliterated, or even weather damaged in a hundred years.. The dates on the monuments will tell you exactly how long they have lasted, and virtually all will outlast anyone who's going to be visiting the site, and probably their grandchildren too.. I'm not talking about the actual engravings, the 100 year old lasers didn't do a very good job :D so all were chisled, or sandblasted. I'm just talking about the quality of the polished finish on the stone.. If the polished finish has lasted, then so will any etching into it..

[David Sacks]

Looks great! -
Where did you purchase the granite?
Thanks
David

[Andrea Weissenseel]

David, I'm located in Germany

The tiles I used for this one are "Chinese Black" but "Nero Assoluto" is also a good one for engraving. I dont know if the names are the same in the US

Andrea

[Belinda Barfield]

Beautiful Andrea! I love the design. Did you do the design yourself?

[Dave Lock]

Hey Andrea, thats a really nice job you have done there.

I've recently been looking round for a supply of really 'black' granite and only just found some called absolute black. It apparently an Indian Granite.

Keep up the good work.

Dave.

[Belinda Barfield]

I've recently been looking round for a supply of really 'black' granite and only just found some called absolute black. It apparently an Indian Granite.

Dave.


Dave,

Here in the U.S. we primarily see two forms of Black Absolute granite, Black Absolute Z (Zimbabwe), and Black Absolute I (Indian). Some of the Indian granites are dye impregnated and can fade over time. Just a word of caution. Actually, black granite isn't granite at all, it's basalt. Just in case anyone is interested.

[Steve Clarkson]

Andrea.......I'm not talking to you anymore.......

You're too new to be doing stuff that good.

[Mike Null]

Andrea

Lovely work. I wouldn't do a colorfill either.

[Dee Gallo]

Somehow I knew Steve would react badly.

[David Fairfield]

Sieht super aus, klasse! :)

Dave

[Dave Lock]

Dave,

Here in the U.S. we primarily see two forms of Black Absolute granite, Black Absolute Z (Zimbabwe), and Black Absolute I (Indian). Some of the Indian granites are dye impregnated and can fade over time. Just a word of caution. Actually, black granite isn't granite at all, it's basalt. Just in case anyone is interested.


Hi Belinda,

Thanks for the heads up. I'll bear that one in mind.

Dave.

[Scott Erwin]

For being the first one you did and having a lot of information on how to do it this is wonderful...I dont want to see what is going to happen when you get this figured out...Germany is going to have a flood of "Engraved Granite" for sale and you will be hiring a full crew to do them...

[Andrea Weissenseel]

Thanks for all the compliments :)

@ Belinda, yes the design is my own

Come on Steve - even not if I say "pretty please, with sugar" ;)

[John W. Love]

Andrea, I too am jealous. I could pave my yard with all the scraps I had before I got it right and you do it on the first try! That simply is not fair! And don't mind Steve, he is just a big ol jealous baby! :p