Engraving Br----s with a Fiber Laser

[Tim Bateson]

The CO2 was way too slow for a project I have coming up, so I decided to test the 50 watt Fiber on one of these. I was very impressed with the results. Had to run the Fiber at a VERY slow speed, but compared to a CO2 at that same speed it's still lighting fast. Just 3 minutes for this one. I think it would have done even better had it been properly cleaned.

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[John Lifer]

I did a few stones, and a piece of slate that the co2 wouldn't touch. Fiber actually did decent. Thanks for posting. Is that normal paver?

[Kev Williams]

I've never had a reason to engrave rock or stone, other than a couple of black granite pieces a few years ago, the results of which were ho-hum. Never thought about trying the fiber...

[Tim Bateson]

I did a few stones, and a piece of slate that the co2 wouldn't touch. Fiber actually did decent. Thanks for posting. Is that normal paver?

It's out of a building that was torn down. They are going to be engraved & installed on a memorial at that site. BTW, most pavers are made of cement, they don't engrave worth a crap. You need real clay to get that black glassy look.

[John Lifer]

Yeah, your right, wrong term, cement won't do with any laser well.

[Jeff Watkins]

Nice job Tim! Would you mind sharing your 50w fiber settings? I tried a clay with my new 30w and it came out great with that nice glassy look. Then... I wasn't thinking and grabbed a standard red block to make a sign for my in-laws. While it vitrified design, by the time it was all done it reminded me of one of those color blindness charts with the numbers on the middle. The in-laws couldn't read it. Lol. I think the clay I ran was around 100mm/s 90p 20khz 150ns. The concrete I had to drop to 50mm/s 90p 20khz 250ns to get true verification.

[Don Corbeil]

You need real clay to get that black glassy look.

That looks good Tim. Nice depth. I recently finished a large job for our local hospital, where they had about 300 old clay bricks salvaged from the historic hospital (now demolished) that was built in 1890. They had me engrave donor names on all of them for a new memorial garden path.
Was fortunate to find that I could get that black glassy look with my 80W CO2. I really wasn't sure what I'd get until I put one of them under the laser. Worked out well, actually had some depth to it.

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[Dave Sheldrake]

Fibre works well on rocks as well

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