David, thanks for the video, they are always fun/educational to watch.
This seems to duplicate what’s been posted and the two issues pointed out by the author, amount of TiO2 and coverage.
Anytime you measure liquid and powder in proportions there is an inherent error in most dry materials. As I mentioned, most people use weight measurement instead of proportions to get a more accurate value for mixing. He even mentioned that it was from lack of TiO2, meaning the measurement system used, isn’t quite up to it.
The other problem is adequate without excessive coverage of the tile. This is the same issue you have with commercial coatings or sprays. Laser Bond Technologies have thickness suggestions and point out that too thick of a coat, reduces detail and take more power.
I’m going to give it a shot, as I have everything I need to mix it up again. I also prefer to use the fiber for this as it seems to give my an increase in detail.
This is the one I used except I used clear school glue.
10w laser 1000-2000 speed 30%-100% power.
Barely visible with tio2, applied with foam brush. Doubled the tio2 with no real difference.
Paint came out good and best at about 70% power.
I would agree but all I’ve watched and read just used volume and most said that exact ratios are not that important.
I would imagine that there is an optimum amount for best color, but in my opinion there should have been some black imparted to the surface.
I tend to agree with this. Though I’d never gotten the results I was really hoping for, I tried many recipes and almost always got something in the way of black markings on the tile.
I’ve never used clear school glue, however, only the cheap white Elmers School Glue from the local dollar store.
I also note that you are running a 10W (optical power?) laser considerably slower than the guy in the video did… and slower even than I did with my 5W laser. I was skeptical of his 5000 mm/min and 45% power at first… but when I did my test tile I too was able to go considerably faster than I ever had before at 3500 mm/min and 90% power with my 5W laser. I’d recommend doing a test tile similar to the one in my post to see if you can push the speed out to at least 5000 mm/min.
Beyond that, I would wonder whether your TiO2 is really TiO2?
His white powder may be something else… that’s why he’s worried about the feds coming after him. Feds is short for federal authorities … don’t know if it’s more of a USA joke or works globally … ?
I’ve heard of a lot of adulterated items, maybe you’re both right
