Ceremic Tile engraving

[greg lindsey]

Hi Creekers, I have a customer who wants me to engrave about 250 tiles , various sizes ,2"x4", 2"x8" and 4"x4" to go on a wall for thier school. So the question is that the tiles are different colors, and I was thinking cermark but have never used it for tiles, should I have any concerns about the contrast or the quality of the tiles, I have told her no dark tiles, looks like they will be a teal or mustard color. Does the quality of the tile matter. Also is it possible to engrave a decent photo direct from Corel X3, I dont normally do any kind of "arts" work, so I was hoping not to have to buy photoshop or Photograv. Any thoughts.

[Andrew Mammoliti]

Check my post that is about five posts below this one. Dee can help you as she has done this before.

Cheers

[George Billett]

Greg, I have engraved on Tiles before and then I have used India Ink to fill in the engraved area. We then seal them with a clear Lacquer. Just an option. have only done this on white tiles btw

[Dee Gallo]

Greg, here is a photo of a test I did when I was trying to figure out cermark on tile. You can see three colors, two achieved with cermark.

The black is standard application, the green is light application. The white is no cermark, just laser. The tile is called "Italian tile", whatever that means, and was provided by the customer. Looks like it is white/ivory inside and lightly glazed with a stone pattern.

For settings on my 35w Epilog, I just started with the factory recommendations sent by Ferro. 50 power, 20 speed, 500 dpi. To get the green, you need more power or less speed. Once you do some experiments, you will be able to get predictable results but remember each substrate will react in its own way so don't ASSUME anything!

Hope this is helpful to you, dee

PS- for your own sanity, start a notebook with your settings and record everything. Take pix if you can. The other thing I do is engrave the settings right on the sample for future reference and always note the settings on your saved document (outside the printing area of course). You'll be glad you did once you realize that there are a million permutations for everything.

[Bill Cunningham]

Dee? You can get 500 dpi on your Epilog? I thought the Epilog driver used dpi multiples of 150-300-600-1200. At least mine does!

[Dee Gallo]

Dee? You can get 500 dpi on your Epilog? I thought the Epilog driver used dpi multiples of 150-300-600-1200. At least mine does!

Sorry, typo attack. It was 600.

[greg lindsey]

thanks for the replies, Dee, the notebook is a must, after 12 yrs of engraving it is almost impossible to remember it all. I am most interested now in the photo process, I am still wandering if it is possible to get a quailty engraving out of X3. maybe I should have taken some of those art jobs in the past, but, my bread and butter is in the industrial side. Normally I would pass on this, but it is for a friend.

[Robert Walters]

The other thing I do is engrave the settings right on the sample for future reference and always note the settings on your saved document

Never thought about engraving the settings on the sample piece - great idea!

May not be a bad idea on dating the sample too, just in case you go back to it later and if age made any difference or to get an idea of when it was made so you can find the original file! LOL

[Todd Suire]

Dee,

The Cermark you used, is it the same type used on metal or a special type for ceramic tile?

Todd

[Larry Bratton]

Greg:
"I am still wandering if it is possible to get a quailty engraving out of X3."

Yes you can. I use the Photopaint module for preparation and get good results. This is a link to a tutorial that Roy Brewer-Engraving Concepts has on You Tube. (Roy is a member here and is very helpful) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yllZTBA0HO0

[Dee Gallo]

Dee,

The Cermark you used, is it the same type used on metal or a special type for ceramic tile?

Todd

I got a small sample sized jar of each. The glass/ceramic one is what I used on the tiles. What's the dif? I don't know, but figure they must have made them separately for a reason. The little jars hold plenty for my purposes as it goes a long way.

dee

[Todd Suire]

Thanks Dee,

It looks like I've got some testing to do. Engraving some ceramic tiles with my 25W VersaLaser can take a long time. I'm hoping the Cermark might speed things up and make the image pop.

Todd