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Larry Bratton
12-21-2012, 2:05 PM
Bought some of this product and thought I would post a pic of the results. This is the product from Smoke-Wood. Not going to save a lot of time, but the results are good. You laser once. put in the powder, then laser again at low power,fast speed. Notice the green color in the logo. I bought black,green and gold. The gold works well on dark wood.
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Gary Hair
12-21-2012, 4:41 PM
I have had great success with powder coat paint, much cheaper and easier to use than what I saw on their website. I have only used black though, not sure how any other colors work. I laser the wood, sprinkle on the powder, laser again then vacuum the excess. Works great. Plus, Harbor Freight black is something like $8.00 for a 16oz jar. For the price difference, $8.00 vs $69.00, I'd experiment a bit.

Gary

Vicki Rivrud
12-21-2012, 6:10 PM
Hi Gary,
Did you seal the wood first or mask it? I've wanted to try the HF powder coat paint - - we've got few colors left from a actual powder coating job we did.

Thanks
Vicki

Gary Hair
12-21-2012, 8:19 PM
Vicki,
I don't seal or mask, that's the beauty of powdercoat, it only sticks where it is lasered. I use a variety of implements to put the powder in/on the letters, mostly a very thin paint brush that I simply dip into the powder and then hold it above the letters and tap it to make the powder fall off into the letters. After I get a pretty good fill in the letters I use a business card as a squeegee to ensure the letters are filled. Don't worry about cleanup, simply vacuum after you are all done - use a nozzle with a brush on the end.

One thing though, it took me a long time to get the settings right for the powder coat, too much power and you obliterate it, too little (or too much speed) and it doesn't melt. With your 150 watts I would start with about 5% power and about 60 inches per second.

gary

Larry Bratton
12-21-2012, 9:45 PM
I have had great success with powder coat paint, much cheaper and easier to use than what I saw on their website. I have only used black though, not sure how any other colors work. I laser the wood, sprinkle on the powder, laser again then vacuum the excess. Works great. Plus, Harbor Freight black is something like $8.00 for a 16oz jar. For the price difference, $8.00 vs $69.00, I'd experiment a bit.

Gary
Thanks for the info. I tend to go with products that are intended for use with the laser until I find cheaper and/or better. The HF powder is a lot cheaper for sure. Its like $5 per lb right now,but very few colors. I was mostly interested in the gold for another project,it seemed to be a good idea at the time. I bought 3 colors in a kit that came with some brushes, touch up pen etc for $69.00. Still pricey, but it worked and at the rate I would use it, I probably got a 5 yr supply.:)

Dee Gallo
12-21-2012, 9:54 PM
Can we assume that air assist would mess up the even coating of the powder? I need to do some experiments with this, it looks good!

Gary Hair
12-21-2012, 11:10 PM
Can we assume that air assist would mess up the even coating of the powder? I need to do some experiments with this, it looks good!

There would be nothing left of it with air assist. You don't typically need air assist on rastering anyway.

Mike Null
12-22-2012, 5:24 AM
You've convinced me to test PC again. My first attempts were failures.

Larry, that's a good example.

Jeff Belany
12-22-2012, 11:06 AM
I used the SmokeWood product for many years. The price seems like a lot but one jar will last for years. I use it mostly for darkening small type but I don't laser over it to fuse it. I just spray furniture polish (cheap brand), brush on some powder and clean the board with the same polish. Does not provide a color fill like paint does but really helps and is very easy to do.

Jeff in northern Wisconsin

Larry Bratton
12-22-2012, 1:38 PM
There would be nothing left of it with air assist. You don't typically need air assist on rastering anyway.
Yep, I turned air assist off, ran at 20p/100s. Air assist would definitely not be a good idea,

Frank Corker
12-22-2012, 6:13 PM
Larry that example you showed there looks good, I wish you'd posted a pic that we could see that was bigger than a pinhead though.

John Stevenson
12-22-2012, 7:13 PM
Anybody tried the loose powder coat on metal like alloy ?

Larry Bratton
12-22-2012, 7:58 PM
Larry that example you showed there looks good, I wish you'd posted a pic that we could see that was bigger than a pinhead though.
How about this one Frank?248671

James Rambo
12-22-2012, 8:58 PM
I have thought about this when it came up in past threads. I have purchased the powder here in the past http://www.eastwood.com/hotcoat-powder-coating/powders.html . they have many colors and shades.

Steve Clarkson
12-22-2012, 9:28 PM
Always appreciate what you have to offer Larry, but I think I'm going to take up a collection to give you a free photography class.

Frank Corker
12-23-2012, 7:41 AM
Let me know how much you need Steve. Never mind Larry I've looked on the net and found a few examples. :)

Larry Bratton
12-23-2012, 10:53 AM
Always appreciate what you have to offer Larry, but I think I'm going to take up a collection to give you a free photography class.
Oh really. Sorry it didn't meet your approval. It was about the content..,not the photo. No collection necessary.

Steve Clarkson
12-23-2012, 7:03 PM
Oh really. Sorry it didn't meet your approval. It was about the content..,not the photo. No collection necessary.

My apologies. It was a joke. Won't happen again.

Frank Corker
12-23-2012, 11:04 PM
Definitely only kidding Larry

Mike Null
12-24-2012, 7:05 AM
Larry,
Your photography is excellent by my standards. ;)

Larry Bratton
12-24-2012, 10:07 AM
Thank you Mike and Steve. I don't normally use the camera in the phone because of quality. But, it conveyed the idea.
Merry Xmas!

Chad Fitzgerald
12-26-2012, 9:43 AM
never thought of this, gonna try it. Question, do you have issues with the exhaust sucking out the powder?? what dpi works best? any htoughts on begining setting on a 40 watt laser? Materials to start with OR stay away from, wood, acrylic, metals, ???
thanks, im excited.

Tim Bateson
12-26-2012, 11:22 AM
I use the Powder Paint from Harbor Freight - about $4 a quart and will likely last for my laser career. Can be messy, but once you have the technique down, it's a cheap way to color fill wood. I usually will follow-up with a light coat of Shellac or other clear spray coating.

A project I worked on a couple years ago: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?113141-rocking-chairs/page2

Larry Bratton
12-26-2012, 5:36 PM
never thought of this, gonna try it. Question, do you have issues with the exhaust sucking out the powder?? what dpi works best? any htoughts on begining setting on a 40 watt laser? Materials to start with OR stay away from, wood, acrylic, metals, ???
thanks, im excited.
Are asking about the powder coat or LaserDarc? I didn't have any issues with the exhaust cos I turned it off for that step. My 40 watt settings were 20p/100s/300dpi. LD works on wood and supposedly acrylic. PC may be different and there are huge amount of colors,but not from Harbor Freight.

Chad Fitzgerald
12-27-2012, 7:58 AM
i was asking about powder coat. is it ok to turn the exhaust off when lasering the pc? Larry, are those settings for PC?
thanks

Larry Bratton
12-27-2012, 11:49 AM
i was asking about powder coat. is it ok to turn the exhaust off when lasering the pc? Larry, are those settings for PC?
thanks
Chad,
I was doing a small amount of engraving on that piece. I would think that at low power and fast speed the amount of fumes etc would be very small if any because your not really burning anything, your just using the heat to melt the paint. Mine worked fine without the exhaust on. No, those were the settings I used for the LaserDarc recommended by the manufacturer of the powder. If I understand the other posts, it takes a bit of experimentation to arrive at your particular settings for PC. Since the idea is about the same, give the 20p/100s a try as a starting point. You can always add a little more powder and go over it again until you are satisfied with it.

Tim Bateson
12-27-2012, 1:07 PM
i was asking about powder coat. is it ok to turn the exhaust off when lasering the pc? Larry, are those settings for PC?
thanks

Ditto - What Larry said. You want to use just enough power to melt the PC - I use 9p/100s. I've never noticed any fumes or smoke.

Another Powder Paint project - Post # 6 of: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?140683-Tried-Something-Different&highlight=%22powder%20paint%22

mike klein
01-09-2013, 8:58 AM
The powder coating works great on the JDS leather flasks. I like these flasks but could never get a nice dark engraving until using the powder coating.

Mike


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Steve Clarkson
01-09-2013, 10:01 AM
Mike......that looks nice.......what was your technique for that? For wood, it seems you engrave the wood first, then brush the powder on (or into) the engraving. You don't really get any depth when you engrave leather.....so do you just completely coat the leather and then engrave once? Is it durable?

mike klein
01-09-2013, 3:37 PM
Mike......that looks nice.......what was your technique for that? For wood, it seems you engrave the wood first, then brush the powder on (or into) the engraving. You don't really get any depth when you engrave leather.....so do you just completely coat the leather and then engrave once? Is it durable?

Actually Steve there is some depth to this leather. The JDS flasks don't use real leather so I engrave them at 75sp, 40 pwr, 400dpi on my 45w Epilog. I took a small painters brush and just brushed on the powder so it filled all the engraving and then took a straight edge to get the powder leveled off. Takes about 2 minutes per flask to engrave them twice.

Set the engraver at 100 sp, 12 pwr, 400dpi and engraved it again. Its very durable, the powder bonds to the leather very well. I did modify that graphic. Some of the lines were to thin so it was hard to get the powder down in them so I made the lines wider. I do have some other flasks here that are wrapped with real leather, and like you say, you can't get any depth to the engraving but it doesn't matter cause they engrave black anyway.

I actually like the way the powder coat engraves, it has sort of a textured semi-gloss look when you're done.

Mike

Steve Clarkson
01-09-2013, 4:51 PM
Thanks Mike....I'll give it a shot.

Rob Karreman
03-30-2017, 11:20 AM
Silly question (?), but would this be the same powder used in laser printers?

Bert Kemp
03-30-2017, 10:04 PM
I don't think its laser toner but more likely Powder Coat just a guess



Silly question (?), but would this be the same powder used in laser printers?

Makrel Johnson
04-03-2017, 8:59 AM
Hey Gary, I've tried it myself on my 40w Helix and can't get a decent flow. It either scrubs off or vaporizes. Would you consider sharing any tips?
I have tried all combos of hi/low power and speed. Maybe taking it just out of focus?

Test substrates include steel sheet and wood...

-Mak

Makrel Johnson
04-03-2017, 9:03 AM
Air assist would leave you with a machine COVERED in powder and possibly the first time the beam hits it on your lenses, your lenses are toast.
I can't imagine you'd ever get it clean if it blew around in the machine unless your exhaust is strong enough to really cause negative pressure.

I've simply jostled a jar of it in the garage and had to open all the doors and wait for the powder to settle. Then wipe EVERYTHING down... I do love it though in it's traditional use.