+1 on laser climbing the to do list.
Mike

I have been asked to do a few laser’d tiles for a friend (non-commercial work).

Following a bit of experimentation, it was evident that pen and ink line drawings (which use hatching to create the illusion of shade) produce better results than the pencil sketch drawings and this is the result of one of the tests which I thought I would share.

(I should point out that I have no rights to use this image. It was solely used as a test and this tile was destroyed after the photo was taken).

Tweakie.

that looks very good tweak any chance in the future you show some close up images of the dot pattern? Do you have to seal the tile after you burn it?

Very nice Tweakie!

Brett

Hi Craig,

I don’t know if this image helps because there is not really a dot pattern as such to see.

The tile was produced from an 8 bit image using the Impact / Laser plugin and this fires the laser at up to 12,500 times per second so with a feed-rate of just 3,500 mm/min most of the dots appear on top of one another (overlapping).

The marking is essentially carbon soot which has, for the most part, been integrated into the surface glaze. I still have some different samples outside in the weather and what little sunshine we have had lately - whilst others have now had many dishwasher cycles so I am thinking the marking is reasonably permanent.

The lasering process will certainly destroy the surface integrity of the glaze but tiles are not usually glazed on their edges and I doubt that grouting compound is totally moisture resistant. But, like most of my stuff, it is early days yet and time will tell.

Tweakie.

Thanks, I do like the detail.
I know when I put down tile, I was advised to apply a grout sealer. Thought that might be a good idea in this case too.
If you were to rerun the program several times does it etch into the tile deeper?
Also wondered about applying rub-n-buff for an added effect. You could mask and color areas for effect.

Hi Craig,

Thanks for your suggestions / ideas, they really are much appreciated.

If you were to rerun the program several times does it etch into the tile deeper?

I don't know, possibly it would - but the secret is not to completely destroy the surface glaze, just to heat it, creating the micro fractures / melt which capture the carbon soot (if that's what it actually is).

Also wondered about applying rub-n-buff for an added effect. You could mask and color areas for effect.

I have tried rub'n'buff after etching and yes colours could be produced but rub'n'buff is easily removed with many different household solvents and the finished tile, although looking good would perhaps not be so durable (I doubt it would survive too many dishwasher cycles).

Others are currently experimenting with coloured enamelling powders and laser fusing these onto / into the tile surface (similar to my toner experiments shown earlier). So far, the results are not that spectacular but I think the idea has great promise and definitely needs further investigation.

Tweakie.

Recently I have completed my D/A converter, tested with A axis and seems to be working fine. My home made diode driver is based on Die4Drive, I changed the sense resister to 0.3ohm, this gives me roughly 1.5A max output current, the diode I am using is M140(supposed to do 1.7w ~ 2w) and a three element lense. See below pictures. The voltage on diode is about 4.65v, with slight modification the drive could work on other types of diode too.

I only tried it on a metal cookie box with paint, seems to be powerful enough. Have not tried to burn a real image yet, looks good so far:)

Hi Yanxin,

Excellent work my friend, you are certainly making good progress on this project. 

Tweakie.

Tweakie,
Nice job, as is always the case with your work.  I don't know much about ceramics, but wondering if burning an image before firing in a kiln would allow lower power to be used - ala laser diodes  .   I have some old greenware (?) left by the previous owner of my weekend home that I didn't want to throw away, so it looks like another experiment has now been added to my list.


Yanxin,
Nice work indeed.  It looks like your DAC is similar to what a couple of us are also using, just with a different IC.  If you haven't already, please join our group at: http://hobbycncart.com/forum/63-151-29.

Regards All,
John Champlain