Now this might not look great.... but!!!

[Frank Corker]

I decided to an engraving for my neighbour who has just got married. He had romantically written a love message in the sand some years ago when he holiday'd without her, then he photographed it. The photo lay in a drawer for a couple of years and wasn't very good, for want of a better word.

Anyhoooo I thought I would engrave it on mirror. I engraved the image, checked only to find (horror of horrors) the laser had not broken through the paint at the back. Two more one hour engravings and there was a glimmer of action. Reduced the speed, got to within 10mm of the bottom and an amazing zigzagging crack appeared. I was 'gutted'.

Another mirror, slowed the speed and ...... nothing. 5 1.5 hour engravings and just a shimmer. Twice more, my beard growing thicker by the minute and my frown becoming a bit like Charles Bronson's a.... result, a dirty filthy engraving only fit for the bin. Two mirrors down, no engraving but on the lighter side, two nice frames!

I then decided to try for the first time, clear acrylic. I sprayed it with black car paint, engraved at 100 speed 56 power, two coats of white and then I removed the plastic coating off the front. I was very pleased with the result. Plus I had a frame for it. Only took 20 minutes to do so I am still annoyed with myself for having dallied for such a long time.

Now when you look at this picture, believe me, it looks a 100 times better than the original did. I'm chuffed!

[Brian Robison]

Hi Frank, sorry you had to monkey with the project so much.

[Frank Corker]

A learning curve. That said, I still wouldn't back off from another mirror job, if you don't keep trying you will never succeed. These things are just sent to test us.

[Dee Gallo]

I think it DOES look great, Frank. And what a nice wedding memento for your friends. I love it when you (and others) reinvent the wheel so the rest of us have an easier time. Thank you for that!

BTW- this is one more example of how expertly you can handle photos, even bad ones.

cheers, dee

[Skip Weiser]

Frank, you never cease to amaze us. You seem to have an uncanny ability to: (1. Come up with just about any clipart requested, and (2. Turn a poor quality image into a work of art. Thanks for sharing your talent with us.

Skip

[Frank Corker]

Ah jeez pack it in will ya!
:o

[Darren Null]

Good job Frank. For your consideration, I get my mirror direct from a glazier, cut to size, and I always go for the cheapest one they've got...the backing is thinner. I avoid expensive mirror and old mirror because the backing tends to be thicker and uneven, respectively.
I do mirror with 3 passes at 100% P, 8%S on my 10W...dunno how that would translate to your one. 3 passes seems to eliminate banding.

[Joe Pelonio]

At the risk of making his head even bigger, I have to agree that's a nice piece of work, and good trouble-shooting skills in coming up with an alternative for such a meaningful memento.

[Belinda Barfield]

Beatiful work as always Frank.

[martin g. boekers]

That what doesn't kill us makes us better engravers! (or something like that!)


I love the never say die attitude!


Marty

[Michael Wintermute]

I agree It looks great Frank.
Jobs like that reminds that,
God will not give me more than I can handle.
But I wish he wouldn't trust me quite so much

[Nick Napier]

Hi Frank...great job. Quick question though. Did you paint the back side black then laser the painted side and then put a couple coats of white over the lasered side. Do I understand what you did?

Nick Napier

[Frank Corker]

Sprayed black. Lasered black side. Painted over the lasered black side with white.

[David Dustin]

I then decided to try for the first time, clear acrylic. I sprayed it with black car paint, engraved at 100 speed 56 power, two coats of white and then I removed the plastic coating off the front. I was very pleased with the result.
Frank I agree it looks wonderful.
When you say you painted it with black then white, where those coats on all sides?

Thanks,
David

[Frank Corker]

Dave I just answered that one above your question. One side only.

[David Dustin]

Frank,
Forgive me for being slow....

1. Sheet of Clear acrylic.
2. Paint it Black
3. lase the image
4. 2 coats of white
5. Remove the plastic coating

My question is wouldn't the white just cover all the engraving?
Are you doing any additional laser passes?
Your image doesn't look like that (It looks like a very cool effect)

Thanks for your patience.
David

[Darren Null]

A quick cautionary note- if you're using this technique with GLASS and CAR PAINT, it may well not work...the second layer of car paint causes a reaction in the first layer, causing it to bubble, crack, and lift off the glass.
Solution: use artist's acrylic paint for the second layer and everything is fine.

I think it's got something to do with the additives and/or curing agents in the car paint. That and there's not a lot to key to on glass.

Just so you know.

My question is wouldn't the white just cover all the engraving?
No. You're looking at it from the other side. So the only bits of white you see are showing through holes you drilled in the black. And it's the other (display/non-paint) side that you remove the protective film from when finished, so that the surface doesn't get scratched when it's face-down in the laser getting processed.

1. Sheet of Clear acrylic.
1a. Remove protective film from process side.
2. Paint it Black
2a. Mirror the image, because you're going to be looking at it from the other side
3. lase the image. You can tell if you need more passes by simply holding it up to the light (provided that you are ABSOLUTELY SURE that you can get it back in exactly the same position...I do this by making sure that the plastic/glass is hard up against the rulers before starting the first burn- you may have other methods)
4. 2 coats of white, over the top of the black paint
5. Remove the plastic coating from the 'viewing side'

Ray Mighells did a similar thing with (if I recall correctly) ivory coloured acrylic painted black. You have to paint and view from the lasered side, so there's no need for mirroring the image or a second coat of paint.

[Scott Shepherd]

David, you take clear acrylic, paint one side black, you can leave the paper or plastic on the other side for time being. You engrave through that black paint, back down to clear acrylic, then you paint that side white (on top of the black). The white will show through all that was engraved and the black will mask out the rest of the white paint you sprayed on the back.

Peel off the paper or plastic from the front side and you're done. You'll have a beautiful image that is on the backside, so you can't wipe it off or scratch the image.

The image is mirrored and it's on the backside, so when you view it from the front, it looks correct.

[Frank Corker]

I agree about the car paint and glass, on acrylic it doesn't seem to cause a problem. The thing I liked about this method is basically you are making a black and white photograph. The difference is that the thickness and clarity of the acrylic give it the piano finish depth to it. Really makes a nice picture and an excellent way of making use of those frames you would have thrown away!

[David Dustin]

Thanks for the hand holding, hopefully I can return the favor some day.
David

[Scott Erwin]

Frank,
Looks great and thanks for the information on how to do it correctly. Something for me to try in my spare (yea right) time.....

[Jack Harper]

Frank,
Nice piece. What resolution did you run the image at?

[Bill Cunningham]

Generally Automotive or marine type enamel paint will not bubble if you put the second coat on with-in 2 hours. If you don't get it on within 2 hours, you have to wait two weeks until the first coat is fully cured before applying the next coat..

[Frank Corker]

Frank,
Nice piece. What resolution did you run the image at?


It only need to be done at 300dpi. There wasn't enough detail for it to warrant a longer engraving time at 400 or 600.

[Richard McMahon]

Hi Frank,
I usually engrave at 200 dpi, 100% power on my 30 watt and 3 inches per sec and I use mirror tiles from Ikea which are rounded on the edges.
A 12 " square tile takes somewhere around 3 hours to engrave.
Nice job. I can't quite seem to get the detail that everyone else gets with their mirrors so I bought PhotoGrav and I may be able to soon.....I hope!
My laser is home made and has a dot size around 10 thou (I will have to measure it one day).
Rich.

[Frank Corker]

Richard, don't be shy about this, post it and let's see how your stuff is progressing. There are many here who are actually probably on the right tracks but are too shy to show their stuff in fear of being ridiculed, which is not going to happen, your advice will be helpful and constructive. That's the whole idea of the SMC group, we help each other to get on and at the same time we learn. Can't say fairer than that now can you?