George's Laser Tip #2

[George M. Perzel]

Hi ;
Working with black marble can be frustrating and expensive-images don't always laser like you would like. Sometimes it's the marble and sometimes it's the photo quality or preparation. You can save some of the grief by doing dry runs to get an idea of the finished quality-but don't use marble.
The first two images below were lasered on ordinary white tile which had been sprayed with a couple of coats of black spray lacquer- I use Krylon. These are pretty close proofs of the finished product on marble-actually like the lacquer tile better! You can also sell these as they are-the paint holds up pretty well-seems to fuse a little from the laser.
The 3rd image is a terra cotta tile sprayed with white lacquer-Krylon again but think even acrylic paint might work.
If you don't like the proof, wipe the lacquer off with lacquer thinner, respray, and use it again.
Good Luck
george

[Keith Bragg]

Great tip George was curious about the tile do you buy gloss or mat finish or does it matter much.

[George M. Perzel]

Hi keith;
Matte holds the paint a little better but both work fine-the first two were gloss and the last one was matte.
Can't quite figure how to post a bigger pic but will keep trying.
Best regards;
George
LaserArts

[Mitchell Andrus]

George,

Posting a larger picture on the forum is easy to do. Remember that the size of the image on the screen is determined by pixel count. The forum sizes picture files by bit count. When you save your .jpg, use "save as" and use the 'option' control to compress the file. The image's detail will suffer, but you can save and display a larger image without making a larger file by compressing it 30 - 40%.

Mitch

[George M. Perzel]

Hi all;
Here's a bigger pic-thanks for the info, Jerry.
George

[Jerry Allen]

George,
I know you told me about this before, but I just got around to trying it.
Works great!
I used 6x6 and 4x4 tiles from Home Depot. Shiny, no abrasion but cleaned to remove oils and dust. I used Rustoleum Pro flat black enamel and coated the tile after lasering with Rustoleum Crystal Clear enamel.
A lot faster than marble or granite. I used 100S, 90P. Probably could have used less power...
I'll add some photos later.
I did notice that a lot of crud gets stuck to the laser head assy after just a few tiles, so I will have to make sure to clean after using this method.

[Scott Perry]

George, have your tried using black poster board ( or any color with a white middle) to test your photo's? I have used it and and gives me a good representation of what I can expect on black marble. Just my 2 cents.
Scott

[George M. Perzel]

Hi Scott;
Good tip-have used mat board for trials but lose the shading depth and detail. Try the black core matboard with white or grey top.
Best regards;
George
LaserArts