I have a Jtech 7watt and run 100% power. Piant will not dry well at 25 degrees so it needs to be applied to the warm tile and left inside to dry and cure. After it is dry you can use it anywhere i would think.
Thanks, I have tile coming in tomorrow and I’m looking forward to trying it.
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Well first off, Thank you all for your replies. I do want to say that I have been painting and curing the tile in my basement. However, I think its around 55 degrees in there. My laser has a power output of 5 - 5.5w.
Ok, I got my tile and tried it out. I have to say this has to be the most forgiving process in all of my lasering experience! Here is my test tile that I thought would be a first pass to guide me to tune the process:
It has graduated power level values from 10% to 100% at different speeds and power settings. There are two objects being exposed, a simple vector square and then a filled triangle without line around it. I was hard pressed to decide which one I liked, but settled on 20% power gradient at 20% laser power (I have a K40).
So… this was SOOOO good that I decided it was time to go for broke! I messed around a bit with image settings, but on the 3rd try I ended up with this:
This was the paint I used.
I used unglazed tile which are actually pretty good quality:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SHWSNPT
Cleaned with Acetone before spraying, sprayed at room temp of 74 degrees F, and let it cure for at least 2 hours.
After exposure I cleaned the paint off with Lacquer Thinner and, voila!
Really this was sooooo easy!
Thanks to @wayne1 for his exposure info. My settings were derived from his numbers with only a minor tweak to increase power a bit.
UPDATE: I should mention that I now bake the tiles at 125C for an hour to get the Lacquer thinner VOCs out of the tile. I found a spot on my office desk where the finish was totally ‘melted’ due to the residual lacquer thinner in one of my earlier pieces.
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Those both look very good
Does anyone have a solution as to why the laser power is not consistent across the pass. The Is there a setting that I don’t have correct? (see photos)
Thanks.
5.5W laser module Sainsmart 3018-Prover GRBL
Rustoleum 2X Flat white
Test tile and Photo attempt.
i can say too much speed
Hi, is this correct? did you mean that you did this in a CO2 Laser K40?
Yes, that’s what I used for that exposure.
I’ve since used a 30W (5.5W optical) diode laser to do the same thing, with different settings, of course.
Ok, Thank You… Very nice Job.
I have been trying to do this on a CO2. I can get the black glassification to appear at 20mm/s, but nothing faster. This is really slow to be running rasters at for the big machine, so I’d say it’s a technical success but actually a failure. Also had to disable air assist which we don’t normally allow.
I did try added a lot more Bullseye 123 primer. Also added tape over that before firing. Was hoping I could fire more on greater power, but nope, it just left a tiny column of primer around the laser pulse
I’m engraving white tile using the Norton White method and everything seems to be going okay and then all of sudden it seems like the laser power dips. I’ve seen this several times. Sometimes it occurs at more at the beginning than at the end. At first I thought it was my painting, but after a few different paint methods and varying levels of success it seems to be something else going on.
I’m running a K40 with LightBurn, VMS LX2b board, Engrave settings 80mm/s 40% power. Air assist running, lens / mirrors clean before start.
Any thoughts on what might be going on… where to look etc…?
Much thanks!
Did anyone ever answer you? I’m having the same issue I have the FoxAlien 20w (5-5.5woutput) and most of what I attempt to etch on washes off with the acetone
I think you will find a lot of help with your problems if you read this thread I started a long time ago. New tile engraving method - Community Laser Talk [UNOFFICIAL] - LightBurn Software Forum
All of my tile designs have been done at 45% power and 500 mm/minute. I’m having banding issues but when it isn’t banding, the etch is beautiful. Make yourself a test tile and see what works best. I believe your speed is much too fast. I use a atomstack S 20 Pro.
Good luck
typically when i havce that issues is there was not enough Ti02 and the black you saw was what little bit was there but not enough to fuse to the tile. when I personally have that issues i put another coat on. I can tell you I had many many issues trying these and the prep is jsut as important and the picture and speed and power. I have run a 100 test for speed and power and that is why i know the prep is so important. what I do is I do a batch of tiles and make one a test if i get good black color then the rest should have the same results if I prepped them in the same way. photo preparation is very important too and line and dot size. I instantly had better results after doing a ramp test. I do not want to discourage you but i do want to be honest it take some time. you might have intermittent luck but be prepared. once you get it your golden be patient and methodical in your practices. I got discourage watchin videos make it look so easy and saying all you need is one test of power and speed bull! you need a photo that will actually work you need to have it prepped right and you need your tiles peppered consistent to you testing tile and last but not lease a good running laser.
ps i stated reusing tiles to save money for testing it helps a little you can see where your old burns are usually.
Been working at it, tried paints with a higher titanium dioxide % ran tests using test grid in lightburn using the settings it has and still most of the marks wash off with acetone, but am getting a few to kind of stick better
All the test squares look similar, as if your power is not changing. There should be a distinct diagonal line between too low of heat and fusing to the glaze heat.
In my experience, the TiO2 power will fuse black at much lower power that that power required to fuse to the tile glaze. These unfused sections will easily flake off.
Before cleaning you can see that every square has blackened TiO2 (home center white tile, 10W optical power diode).
Here is that same tile after cleaning. You can see on the lower row where the speed is slowest that the laser has begun to cut a pit into the tile.
Similar results with spray can primer (3 coats, Rustolium 2X)
The “sweet spot” on both tests has TiO2 bonded to the glaze without excessive heat burning a pit.
While I do not use paint my best and most blackest color is 1200 mm/m with 40% power. this is a 10W diode laser so its not very powerful. I found you have too look close as you can see in the picture and see which is the blackest with the least damage. do much power and you will just etch off the Ti02 and ceramic and just leave stone left behind. I have done this when I do not prep my tiles correctly or forget a second coat. additionally you want the lowest setting that gives you the black you wont because it will really effect your shading if you are using any.