Friend has a need for tombstones for some recently deceased animals. Not that she wants to do it, but her kids want something a bit more permanent than popsicle sticks and foam cups. “Hey, Jimmy…can you?”
“Not sure, but I’ll try”.
Doing a ‘sample’ text, I used the offset feature, going .02 in on each pass. Each new offset makes a new layer, and make as many layers as you need to get to a tiny sliver left in the center of each of the letters you’re engraving.
Running about 50% with 2 passes each layer, engraving as a ‘fill’ and not a line did exactly what I was looking for, first time out. You can continue to run more passes, more power, more whatever you need. These are close 3/16" deep, and more than enough for what she wants. Especially on a 1/2" thick tile. Any natural imperfections like veins engrave differently, so some letters you see them in the depth.
The laser ‘works’ on porcelain, but it melts the surface and once melted, you’re just changing how the melt looks. Same with basalt tiles from HD. It melts the design into the stone, and more passes really don’t increase the depth.
The fun part comes next in doing the photographs of the critters, and make them visible on gloss white marble. Guess I’ll figure that out as I go.