Engraving Slate

[Andrea Weissenseel]

recently I've been engraving some slate tiles, they come out real decent

I raster them with 100% S and 34% P on 600 dpi (but 300 DPI works also works very good) for picture I use 125 DPI and Gold method, the results with the printer driver is not as good as with Gold method

Andrea

[Steve Clarkson]

Andrea,

Those are very nice. I tried slate once and my results were pretty similar to yours. Couldn't find a good application for selling them though.

That hand one is kinda spooky looking on that color slate......I like that!

[Dee Gallo]

Oh I love those! I'll bet the restaurants would like them, since a lot of them use slate boards for daily specials.

[Brian Knuckles]

Take a look at this medallion I engraved on multi-color slate...its a 4x4 medallion (purchased artwork from lasertile.com) that is getting installed on an outside balcony.

Looks like hieroglyphics...

[Bill Cunningham]

Even ordinary slate chalk boards work well.. I did these for a butcher shop.. The smaller one was a rough surface so it didn't etch as clean and the customers files were a little lower res. than I would have liked, but his money looked fine :=)
Attached Thumbnails

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[Kenneth Hertzog]

I have found that either coating the slate with clear lacquer or spray poly
letting it dry and then engraving the picture seems to pop out more.
ken

[Andrea Weissenseel]

Steve, they are sold as coasters for i.e. hot pots on tables. You're right with the hand ) this was only a test for photos - after it came out good I the whole picture (the one with the two hands) and the large one is less spooky lol

The surfarce is pretty rough - on 600 DPI I get a perfect white mark, I don't coat it to keep the natural look of the slate. Over here you get real slate only in shades of black, red and green.

[Frank Corker]

The biggest problem with slate is that when hands touch them, the grease marks transfer and 'wet' the surface, always makes the image patchy. I agree that the laquering first does help.

[Dan Hintz]

I have found that either coating the slate with clear lacquer or spray poly letting it dry and then engraving the picture seems to pop out more.

Probably because it makes the slate look darker...

[Andrea Weissenseel]

Yes Frank, but due to the structure of slate grease is not soaking into the material and it just can be wiped off with a wet cloth. I tried that with spilling oil on it, just wiped it off and no stains are left neither fingerprints

Andrea

[Bill Cunningham]

The slates I posted above, were sealed with a polymer stone sealer after etching. Water beads right off them, so would oil I imagine..

[Donna Brown]

I am a newbie so pardon me if I make an error asking my question here. I am new to engraving and want to use the vast amount of old roofing slates that I have. The variation of colors is problematic as others have mentioned in the forum. I did try clear sealer prior to engraving and it helped. I am still not happy with the results though. I tried a nylon brush attached to a power brush to clean off the scales and oxidation. It looks better but is labor intensive. I am wondering if sand blasting lightly would remove the scales (don't know how else to refer to them) of discoloration in order to get into the more consistent color at the core of the slate. Has anyone tried this?
Thank you in advance for your help.

[Margaret Turco]

Hi Donna, are you talking about just loose pieces, or the rusty spots? I only use "new" slate, but always wipe it down with a shop towel to knock off any flakes that have partially started. Sand blasting might work, but you'll really change the surface texture. I've actually used an orbital sander and a dust mask to get down to a good surface, but it doesn't look natural at all.

Good luck!

[Steve Middleton]

Very nice!

[Steve Middleton]

I like it!