Granite tile question

[Viktor Voroncov]

Ron, fantastic work due UNUSUAL DESIGN. I am working with stone engraving many years, but this type of using stone I see first time !

[Dee Gallo]

Ron, that turned out really well! The welded frame sets it off nicely without overpowering it. The contrast shows well even in a photo, good job! It may be your first, but it won't be your last!

dee

[Larry Bratton]

Good job Ron!
I am wondering though if a 500 percentage with unsharp mask is really necessary with a good photo. The ordinary setting for print correction is about 120-130, radius less than 1.0 and threshold at 1. If you have a good photo to begin, which you obviously did, is this an overkill? The finished product looks great, so I reckon the proof is in the pudding so to speak.

[James & Zelma Litzmann]

Really nice Ron. We have been using granite for script but haven't had a lot of luck with photos. You did a GREAT job!

[Terry Swift]

Ron,

What kind of settings did you use and how did you get the "white" coloring? I'm about to give up doing granite, as it has not worked for me to make it work very well. The hardest part is some of the fine detail in some of the pieces and if I paint them, when removing the tape - usually some of the paint goes with it. Not a good scenario. I know Dan has said he uses acrylic and I've gone that way with better results; but still not worthy of turning a piece over to a customer. With granite being the prices it is; it's not a cheap product to learn by trial and error. I did an oval 5 x 7 from Laser Bits, as that's where I've only found that type and size and their recommended laser settings. I suppose they weren't factoring in masking tape into that equation; nor was I. A post from a few years back by one person said they used like a 40 / 40 setting and they got very nice and white results from their 30 watt engraver. My customer wants a white background which is perfect, that I wouldn't have to use tape or paint and the graphic is pure black and white - no color at all.

It may seem I am rehashing some of this, but I did a search thru the forum (up-to-date) and found nothing that would have helped me. I finally did some Googling and it brought the thread up from the archive that I mentioned. Making mistakes with wood and other inexpensive and readily available products is one thing; doing that with stuff like granite and other materials that aren't likely local and are more pricey makes you want to shy away and they are less a part of your business anyway - due to their higher costs.

Thanks All - You're the Greatest Helpers. Keep It Up.

[Joe De Medeiros]

. I found this video on youtube. I'm not sure if he is a member here or not but thanks for posting this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZubRDUrg_7k

It's Mike Clark from Toronto, he has lots of tips on his web site for using Corel Draw with laser engravers.

[Larry Bratton]

Here is a good tutorial on youtube by Roy Brewer, one of our fantastic members here. I have been using Photograv but I tried a combination of Roy's method and the one from Mike Clark that Ron used and got a very good result. I used these methods to get to a 8bit greyscale image and then used the Epilog Jarvis dithering.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yllZTBA0HO0

[James Stokes]

One thing you can do to minimize your cost on using granite is take one piece and cut in to 2" strips, then you take one strip and place it where the most detail will be and engrave just on the strip. Also you can engrave a full tile then take black spray paint and paint the piece of granite, doing that you can generally get 4 or 5 tests just using one piece of granite.

[Mark Ross]

Terry,

Have you read the thread concerning the Gold method? After reading that thread I was 100% up to speed on how to engrave black granite (from Lowe's).

[Terry Swift]

Mark,

Haven't seen the thread on the gold method. I'll look it up. I've looked at the videos mentioned as well and searched YouTube for more; but didn't find much more; even though I've been told there are. Maybe it's just my search words I'm using.

I'm attaching a JPEG of the piece of granite I'm having issues with. Even after a couple of re-passes on the laser at lower settings than recommended by Laser Bits, it's still washed out and is now more of a beige brown texture (maybe too much engraving). I like the idea of cutting strips and repainting and then I had a brilliant thought - I have a church friend who does countertops and maybe he has scrap pieces of granite - albeit not always black.

Is black marble easier to work with?

[Larry Bratton]

Terry:
I posted a thread here last week about Lasersketch's Absolute Black "Marble". It's engraves beautifully but it is NOT marble. It is some kind of fine grained granite. You may want to take a look at it. You may also want to look at adding some titanium white oil paint rubbed into the engraving to whiten it.

[Terry Swift]

Larry,

Great news. My time on the Mill has been extremely limited in the last few weeks, probably to my detriment; but my work has picked up and trying to learn new and best way techniques is sometimes a hit and miss kind of thing. I do have a subscription to LaserU and have printed out most of their material, so I have a better grasp; when the "EVERYDAY REAL PRO'S" are not readily available.

Like everyone says - time is the key; but it can be somewhat of an expensive learning tool - when you're trying to do things that are on the edge of your experience curve and getting a sellable product to the customer.

With each laser really being so specific to itself, trying to dial in power / speed / & PPI per a certain material becomes an art in itself. My machine doesn't behave like your machine, if it was the same wattage and model. It becomes very distracting to look at what a laser manufacturer says, the product seller says, and even the pro's like you guys say the ratings should be. In a sense, you have to just take an average and wing it to see if it works or not. Since I've not worked outside of granite and wood yet; cutting / rastering wood is fairly straightforward on most types; but granite / marble are in a whole different league. Do you tape or not, what kind of paint to use, etc. - the list goes on? Taping is a subject in itself. Limited detail to me is okay for taping, but doing detail on smaller pieces soon becomes a frustrating matter. Tape doesn't stick when you need it too or sticks too much when you need it to come off. Paint - is brush or finger best? I know acrylics work better than enamels, but spray is so much easier / faster.

Sorry to cover so much; but being a newbie presents a ton of issues at every turn. One of you like Dee or Dan needs to write a Laser Engraver for Dummies book. I'd be the first person to buy one.

Thanks all.

[Dan Hintz]

Terry,

I picked up a Dell Netbook last week so I could write while I'm on the road (currently at my HS reunion, and I was writing the section on optics cleaning while sitting in the Atlanta airport... having to learn LaTeX as a language to get the formatting down automatically).

Despite what many have come to believe (including myself in the beginning), determining settings isn't an art, it's a science, which means you can follow a prescribed pattern for determining how the substrate is going to react. Picking settings at random is a bad idea. Learn how to run power grids and you can dial in a new material in less than 5 minutes.

Or just wait for my "dummies" book

[Terry Swift]

Dan,

Totally understand the "dialing in" part. That's why I look at what Universal says in their documentation, along with places like Laser Bits also provides settings as well. Lot's of times they don't match up, so I tend to settle for what Laser Bits may say to use over Universal - as my documentation from them is probably 5 years old and out of date. I'm trying to log my settings for each material as I go along and what works best with what material. But as many posts prove, each laser is totally different from everyone elses. Even someone running a Epilogue 35 watt machine will need different settings than my M-300.

Don't get me wrong - I appreciate all the feedback and constructively try to use it to better myself, improve my skills, and abilities.

I'll be eagerly awaiting that "For Dummies" book. By the way - Atlanta (or suburb of) is my hometown. Hope they treated you right! A little Southern Hospitality.

[Bill Cunningham]

Lasersketch's low fleck granite, is much nicer than any custom granite piece I have had cut and polished by some monument makers.. With the addition of titanium white, the photos and designs just pop off the rock, and properly sealed will stay nice for a long long time....
Here's a couple of 'people' ones I did over the winter.