List of Solid Surface materials

[Brian Robison]

Any one know of all the brands and how they engrave?
Of course we know Corian, but what about the others?

[Belinda Barfield]

Any one know of all the brands and how they engrave?
Of course we know Corian, but what about the others?

Can't advise on how they engrave, as I typically work with Corian. Off the top of my head:

Staron
Avonite
Gibraltar
Topstone
Himacs

[Tim Bateson]

Nice new pic Belinda. :D

[Belinda Barfield]

Nice new pic Belinda. :D

LOL . . . Thanks Tim. Actually an old pic from 2007. I like hats and rarely have an excuse to wear one. The photo is from a friend's Derby Party.

[Larry Bratton]

I have used LG HiMacs and it engraves well. HiMacs and Corian are both solid acrylic and are virtually the same as far as composition.

[Scott Shepherd]

I've spoken with someone who used one of the other brands and it produced a lot of sparks and I may recall it actually pitted his lens. I could be wrong on that, but I do recall he wasn't excited about trying it again, so be careful out there!

[Michael Kowalczyk]

Hey Scott,
Ask him what he actually used. Acrylic and/or Polyester blend solid surface should never spark or reflect back to the lens but if he was using something like Silestone or one of the many quartz based knock offs, that could possibly happen. It would be good for this to be clarified or many laser's here will be scared off from trying some of the other solid surface material listed.

[Belinda Barfield]

I agree with Michael. I can't think of anything in any of the solid surface materials that would cause sparking.

Many people confuse quartz surfacing, or engineered stone, with solid sufracing. Two very different animals. I've lasered Silestone, Cambria, and Zodiaq - no sparks. The issue with lasering quartz surfacing is that frequently an entire quartz crystal shatters (known as a blow out in the stone industry). The heat transfer/absorption rate is different between the quartz and the resin binder. The result is a rough or uneven engraving.

[Scott Shepherd]

I don't know what it was, I'll ask him next time I see him. It was a Corian looking material. Seems like the word Star might have been in it. I'm not sure if he knows what it was or not. I think someone gave him some drops and there were different varieties in the batch. I can't remember the details, it was more than a year ago when I spoke to him about it, but I'll ask next time I see him.

[Tony Lenkic]

One matertial that produces lots of sparks is IKONMETAL.
There was some discutions in the past on the product. Use search function to find out.

[Kenneth Hertzog]

I've done gibralter with no problems
currently have about 10 pieces on the shelf to engrave
ken

[Keith Outten]

Here is what I know about the sparking subject.

When I engrave Corian with my 35 watt engraver I never see sparks. When I raster engrave or vector cut Corian with the Xenetech 60 watt engraver there are sparks. I have never seen any damage to the lens of the Xenetech, the distance from the surface of the Corian to the lens is such that the sparks aren't close enough to reach the lens plus the dust collection helps to force the sparks toward the discharge vent. I have laser engraved literally thousands of Corian door signs on the Xenetech machine, it often runs eight hours per day for weeks when I am making signs for large projects.

This is a guess but I suppose it depends on the focal length of the lens used, this affects how close the lens is to the surface.
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