Lasering Pebbles for fun

[matthew knott]

Someone asked if we could laser engrave stones picked up from a beach to use as wedding favours (place names at the table), i thought it would probably fall, but i was quite impressed with the result, its in deep, at least .05 of an inch, and only took 35 seconds. What do you think?
264739

[Gary Hair]

But what would Bam-Bam think?

[Glen Monaghan]

It is HIGHLY dependent on the individual stone how it will turn out. The first time I tried one, I got a deep brown surface mark on a russet colored stone and really liked it, but none of the other similar looking stones collected same place/time produced a such a dark, contrasting mark. Some stones mark darker than the surface, some lighter, and some almost no contrast what so ever (your example has little contrast so it's fortunate that it engraved so deep). Some beach stones will actually engrave such as your example, and others yield 0 depth.

I eventually went to a landscaping materials place and got samples of many different stones to try. They had a bluish "Mexican beach pebble" stone, ranging from 2-6 inches across and some with nice, smooth, flat shapes (similar to your example but silky smooth texture), that generally (although certainly not always!) yielded a nice white surface mark but no perceptible depth of engraving.

-Glen

[AL Ursich]

I have seen them here as tourist items..... "All I got from the vacation was this silly ROCK" Or something to that effect...

Sand Blasted I believe.

Good Product idea... Wedding Favours...

AL

[Dan Hintz]

Looks nice, Matt. Whenever it comes to unknown material, though, I'll mask and laser through... that way I can always hit it with some paint if it needs it.

[Mark Smith61]

I tried to laser a flat river rock and couldn't get anything to work on it. What kind of laser did you use to do this?

[matthew knott]

Hi Mark, i used a YAG laser, about 40 watts, Ive done 200 today, all with different names, only had about 5 that didn't look good, and i'm pretty good at spotting the rocks that won't work now. They look really good, and not bad for something that is effectively free.

[Mark Smith61]

A YAG explains it. I was trying to use my CO2 laser and it didn't do well.

[Mike Dempsey]

I've done sea coal picked up off the beach with my 25w co2 laser. It turned a light grey which showed up against the black ok

[john banks]

I've done a few. Some appeared to melt and turned black, some look like the engraved areas turned to glass. Some marked white, some didn't mark at all.

[George Carlson]

My 60W CO2 works fine on bull rock we have in our landscape. Wetting the surface helps a bit.

[stan kern]

i found certain stones lasered really well but it was a fluke as i have only found a few since then
it was one that was grey blue left a white trace.

[Chuck Stone]

A YAG explains it. I was trying to use my CO2 laser and it didn't do well.

I have a dying CO2 tube and I can mark some, so I know it isn't that.
Some stone types will mark well, some will get depth. Some will scorch.
For instance, I can run the same file on white marble or green marble.
(verde antique) and the white will leave a powder on the surface. The
green will 'melt'.
But the CO2 will always cut through masking so you can blast..

[Bill Cunningham]

Pet stores and craft shops sell bags of stone they call 'river rocks' they are actually tumbled smooth marble. They come in brown and black, black works best. because their marble you can hit them hard with the laser and they turn white where marked. You don't get depth, but you do get perm. white.. The one below is abt. 1 inch dia.

[Chuck Stone]

I marked some of those "iRock" and they sold fast.
You never know ..