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Cruising through previous threads, you see recommendations for slate all over the board, from the low power high speed, to high power low speed. I tried the high power slow speed that Keith Winter had recommended in a thread and it worked (100 power, 8 speed, 1000ppi) but didn't know if this is way overkill. Thoughts?
How deep do you want to go? If I'm looking for a color change on stone, a fast run is in order... but if I want a deep etch (possibly to fill with a color), then I slow things way down or do multiple strong passes. They all work, but you need to specify what it is you're aiming for...
Dan, I'm looking for a good mark, not necessarily the deepest. I'm engraving for clients that will want personalization, no color fill. So that's my goal. Running that slow at full power, I got a very deep mark. All my material is new product and I'm trying to keep from sacrificing that if I can. Just looking for thoughts on what a ballpark should be that won't rub off and will give that nice white color. Thanks.
Bob
Everything WE tell you will be OUR opinion of what looks good. (blonde, brunette or redhead comes to mind ;) )
Only YOU know what looks good to you, so what advice any of us gives you is moot.
You need to get a sacrificial piece of slate and experiment with power/speed/resolution settings until what you see is what YOU like. :)
After looking at all the threads on the board on slate, you can see power/speed/dpi going from 100P/8S on a 80 watt to 34P/100S on a 40 watt and dpi from 600 to no higher than 250. That's a pretty big spread and I was simply interested in some ball parks to get that white-ish gray instead of the goldish color/deep etch I did get. But it's not a big deal either way.
When people don't want to share, they simply shouldn't post, and that's fine. One of the people on the board I consider to be one of the brightest contributors has the same machine that I do and gave me some of his numbers on a few materials. He knew that with the differences in the exact same models, I'd have to do some power grids and tweak it out and his and my numbers on glass for example are starkly different. But he didn't mind putting me in the ball park - heck, he's just a good fellow and didn't know me at all. When he and a few others on this board write something down, I pull out my notebook and take notes. I respect his opinion as do others on this board. His and a few other guy's opinions on this board do matter to quite a few folks. And to those guys that don't mind sharing, which is kind of the point of a board like this, a sincere thanks from everyone else that enjoys reading and learning from your experience that you are willing to share. That's part of the fun of this board to me I guess - some guy/girl could be on the other side of the world offering a helping hand. Pretty cool when you think about it.
I run slate at 100 speed and 40 power on both the 50 and 60 watt machines. I don't go for a deep etch at all, obvoiusly.
You have my numbers. 100p 8s on an 80w I don't like things to scratch off ;) you can run up to 20 speed if you like but it will be a little less durable.
I second with what Kev says as well. You need a sacrificial piece of slate to try your own settings and see what you like best!
FWIW, I've never engraved slate- :) And- I've owned 4 different lasers, still have 3 of them, and they're all different. I even borrowed an identical-to-mine ULS for a weekend to get out a large rush job, and they weren't even close to each other! Just engraving black Rowmark, for rastering at 100% speed I had my power set 20% lower than the borrowed machine, but when cutting holes, I had to set my speed about half as fast as the other...
Not that I don't want to share! It's just that I have (A) no experience with slate, and (B) plenty of experience with 'WHAT ballpark?' when it comes to laser engravers! :D