New tile engraving method

@CharlieAnderson Ok, I bought the improved model. However, I have a part that is not in the exploded view, not mentioned, and does not seem to fit anything on the gun. It is a small strainer thingie with a stem and ball at the end. Help?

I guess that must be the ā€œbonus mystery partā€. I couldnā€™t figure it out either. It has threads on the open end but like you said doesnā€™t fit anything. It is intended to be inserted into a funnel to strain the paint into the gun cup and is not a part that fits onto the spray gun. I donā€™t know if HF has a paint funnel with threads to fit that strainer or not, but I think the tempera/Ti mixture would take forever to strain through. I just ran the sprayer at full blast and it worked well, I might try throttling it down a bit on the next batch. These last two tiles turned out nice and black. A couple of letters on the first one look faint, but I think it is the light, the tile looks great.

The U and A on the second one are a little faint, I think I accidently touched the tile right there or something.


Good luck

Under a magnifier, those are ribs, not threaded. I agree even water would be slow through it. Anyhow, I like your examples. If mine turn out that good, I will be seriously happy.

My eyesight is so bad, if those are ribs it makes sense that the filter would pressure-fit in the right size funnel and the knobbed end allows it to be plucked out of the funnel. When I spray the tiles, I have them propped up at an angle so the sprayer can be held level. I wait a minute or two and turn them 90 degrees then spray again to make sure there is a good coating. It looks just like primer.

Just wondering amongst the community, are you selling any tiles? I have only sold a few, probably under priced, $5 for a 4 inch and $10 for a 6 inch. I see tons and tons of engraved tiles in Etsy, it seems hard to compete with so many others doing the same thing. I have so many tiles piled up in my workshop Iā€™m happy to just give them away. I may have to start paying people to take them (Ha Ha)
What about backsplash accent tiles for kitchen design/remodel?

I would agree, but all my funnels are tapered.

Thanks for the tips on using the spray gun. I plan on using 91% alcohol in my mix so it dries faster. I need to get a mini-mixer and containers at Walmart and I will be ready to experiment. :grinning:

Likewise I to have a stack of tiles I will end up giving away. I enjoyed making them and consider that as payment. Iā€™m currently deviding images into multiple parts, six, eight or more that form a large picture when stacked side by side. They make excellent table tops and tray inserts. My odd single tiles serve as hot pot strands or flower pot stands.

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I use one of mine for holding my bacon ironā€¦

Do you compute for any kind of separation between the tiles, like for grout?

Iā€™ve been contemplating this for a friendā€¦


The low cost hvlp sprayer I have will allow the feed magazine to be vertical when the gun is pointed downā€¦

:smile_cat:

Yes sir, I really liked that feature on the purple gun. Maybe mine was a bit of a lemon, it sprayed ok, but seemed to pulsate, and the knobs are hard to turn.
Iā€™ve not tried any kind of mosaic effect, it seems the resolution falls off at the edge of the tile due to the bevel and determining a border calculation is just a matter of more ā€˜sacrificialā€™ tiles.

Thatā€™s still my storyā€¦ I think thatā€™s part of the gameā€¦

:smile_cat:

Anybody use the powder gum yet? What measure or mix ratio with water?
Gum grams
TiO2 grams
Alcohol 91% grams
Water grams
Come on you EEā€™s (Experienced Experts), give me a starting pointā€¦ :laughing:

I would determine the absorption of the gum w:w in water. So for example if 1g gum will absorb 1.5g water or whatever the ratio is, make yourself a slurry of that. I know from my baking experience that when we added gluten to the mix we increased our absorption (water amount) by 1.5% if my memory serves, but I digress. Use measured amounts of your gum slurry to properly thicken your other mixture. I think the key is to maintain at least 15% TiO2 in the formula. Not bakers %, just ratio of solute to solvent.

Oh, just found this tidbit from a quick wikipedia search:
Gum arabic is used as a binder for watercolor painting because it dissolves easily in water. There is a picture of a product that says dissolve 1 part gum to 4 parts distilled water. Another site said it was insoluble in ethanol. I would make the gum/water first so it is already dissolved.

Use the gum slurry as a direct replacement for the tempera that may work, good luck

That is a start, thanks!

I think you need to use less, rather than more gum arabicā€¦ also itā€™s is a hydrocolloid.

@BillieRuben advised itā€™s only a small number of dropsā€¦

Even when used in mixing drinks, they claim about 1% of the volume or lessā€¦

I have the powered variation, so I asking alsoā€¦

:smile_cat:

I have sold one! and I believe it was more to do with the design than anything else. I just figured it out and now I can make them for people. I technically sold 14 all together since people from my work have purchased them but I do not like including them because they have seen them in person and know exactly what they are unlike people on the internet.

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Congrats on your success. The gum idea is something I would like to try. It has to be less messy than using the tempera, but do you add any color to help see the coating on the tile? Your sales story reminds me of when I was a kid selling candy door to door to raise money for my little league team. Gaining customers other than friends and family took a lot more effort.

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I put a couple drops of food coloring in mine so I can see how itā€™s coatingā€¦ kind of a problem with a white coating on a white objectā€¦

:smile_cat:

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Iā€™m too lazy for food coloring I just add a little black tempura paint to make it gray then got even lazier and quit doing that too and just use bright lights to see if I have coated it well enough. coloring it is probably easier but Iā€™m a lazy person, lol