[OP]
Contributor
Was cruising through today on my way to the paint department for sandpaper...big display of granite tile, including a solid black that looks more like marble: no grain at all on the polished surface. Only $6 each for 12x12, so I took a flyer on a box of 5. Pretty good stuff, based on one (relatively) quick test:
Aztec12.jpg
Anybody know offhand if you can cut this stuff with a standard tile saw?
Yoga class makes me feel like a total stud, mostly because I'm about as flexible as a 2x4.
"Design"? Possibly. "Intelligent"? Sure doesn't look like it from this angle.
We used to be hunter gatherers. Now we're shopper borrowers.
The three most important words in the English language: "Front Towards Enemy".
The world makes a lot more sense when you remember that Butthead was the smart one.
You can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much ammo.
Administrator
Lee,
Granite cuts almost as easy as black marble on a tile saw. Try a photo and see what the quality looks like on the granite.
Moderator
I use the HD Granite all the time, even at $7.99 it has been the best price around here, most places it was $10. Thanks for the sale info, I'll go get more tomorrow. With photos I have been using a much higher speed/lower power because with any depth the mottled color under the polished black surface blurs the image. I'd love to see you do a sample though, Lee.
Sammamish, WA
Epilog Legend 24TT 45W, had a sign business for 17 years, now just doing laser work on the side.
"One only needs two tools in life: WD-40 to make things go, and duct tape to make them stop." G. Weilacher
"The handyman's secret weapon - Duct Tape" R. Green
[OP]
Contributor
I'll keep that in mind. The Aztec calendar was just using the straight 'engrave' settings for marble from my ULS "bible". Probably wouldn't kill me to sacrifice a tile to a set of gray-scale calibration strips...faster than waiting for a chunk of photo to come out.Originally Posted by Joe Pelonio
Yoga class makes me feel like a total stud, mostly because I'm about as flexible as a 2x4.
"Design"? Possibly. "Intelligent"? Sure doesn't look like it from this angle.
We used to be hunter gatherers. Now we're shopper borrowers.
The three most important words in the English language: "Front Towards Enemy".
The world makes a lot more sense when you remember that Butthead was the smart one.
You can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much ammo.
Member
Funny this thread just came up. I ordered a case to play with last night. I haven't seen the black marble at Lowes mentioned in another thread. I will ask on my next trip.
Jim Walters
Pinnacle Mercury 30W
CorelDRAW x3
AutoCAD Electrical
Member
That caught my eye. Where can I get a ULS "bible"?
Member
I am new to laser engraving, I have a Laser Pro Explorer II 30 watt for 3 months now. Where did you find the Actec calendar vector file?
[OP]
Contributor
It's not a vector file, it's a bitmap. Google images, search term "aztec" has several versions.
Yoga class makes me feel like a total stud, mostly because I'm about as flexible as a 2x4.
"Design"? Possibly. "Intelligent"? Sure doesn't look like it from this angle.
We used to be hunter gatherers. Now we're shopper borrowers.
The three most important words in the English language: "Front Towards Enemy".
The world makes a lot more sense when you remember that Butthead was the smart one.
You can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much ammo.
[OP]
Contributor
It's a Word file of power-level settings for various materials my ULS distributor sent me. Way too big to post/attach here (~800K)...PM me with your email address if you want a copy.
Yoga class makes me feel like a total stud, mostly because I'm about as flexible as a 2x4.
"Design"? Possibly. "Intelligent"? Sure doesn't look like it from this angle.
We used to be hunter gatherers. Now we're shopper borrowers.
The three most important words in the English language: "Front Towards Enemy".
The world makes a lot more sense when you remember that Butthead was the smart one.
You can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much ammo.
Member
Here is my vector Aztec business card.
Help youselves. just change the text
Abdul
P.S: The file is in corel12 format and too big to upload.(850KB).
If anyone wants it, send me an email and I'll attach it back to you
Member
I'd love to get a copy of that word file too, if you don't mind. Thanks!!
kmaitl1@aol.com
[OP]
Contributor
Tried some photos on one yesterday, with so-so results. Not the kind of thing I'd prefer for portraits, I think: the reflections from the dark (unengraved) areas are very distracting, kind of like doing a watercolor painting on a mirror. The images look decent but are nearly impossible to photograph, so you're not going to see them here.
I think this stuff might actually push me into buying Photograv if I decide to pursue photographic/grayscale work on it (as opposed to two-color graphics)...my brain has trouble working out what direction to tweak the settings when I'm working with a "negative". And I can't just snip off a sample piece to dial in the settings like I normally do with wood.
Joe, you were right about the settings though. The "book" said 100% power, 60% speed: that worked ok for engraving, but turns out 25% power, 100% speed looks just as good...and gets done twice as fast.
Yoga class makes me feel like a total stud, mostly because I'm about as flexible as a 2x4.
"Design"? Possibly. "Intelligent"? Sure doesn't look like it from this angle.
We used to be hunter gatherers. Now we're shopper borrowers.
The three most important words in the English language: "Front Towards Enemy".
The world makes a lot more sense when you remember that Butthead was the smart one.
You can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much ammo.
Contributor
Lee,
It will be very difficult if not at all possible to get good results doing photos on granite without photograv.
[OP]
Contributor
No kidding: I was able to do it (barely), but it wasn't nearly as easy as on wood, and definitely not fun.
Yoga class makes me feel like a total stud, mostly because I'm about as flexible as a 2x4.
"Design"? Possibly. "Intelligent"? Sure doesn't look like it from this angle.
We used to be hunter gatherers. Now we're shopper borrowers.
The three most important words in the English language: "Front Towards Enemy".
The world makes a lot more sense when you remember that Butthead was the smart one.
You can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much ammo.
Contributor
Reflection on both marble and granite can be annoying if dispalyed in a bright room. A shadow frame can help, but positioning is critical.
One way to overcome the difference between engraving a photo on marble vs. granite is to change the photo from grayscale to line art (blk&wht). Also a white fill can help since the granite substrate is gray as opposed to marble turning white when lasered.
An example follows which uses the same original photo.
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