Dispatches from the front (Pre-release Report) - LaserTile

Last week I did some work on glass tiles from Home Depot. This weekend I want to show what a specialty laser tile looks like from the Glowforge.

LaserTile is a specially treated ceramic tile. It comes in different sizes and is available here http://lasertile.com/

The glaze reacts to laser light and turns a fuses black. It’s a lot like what happens with laser printers. It won’t scratch off and it doesn’t actually etch the surface like I did with the glass tiles.

So I pulled out a tile, dropped my 'forge’s design onto it and hit Print. At 1%power, 335 in/min and 225 lpi, it took 9 minutes.

Here’s what it looked like on the little first-timers plaque:

And on the LaserTile:

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Wow! That is sharp! :smiley:

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Holy crap, that’s really awesome. I hit the bookmark button really hard. Can’t wait to try this, once the glowforge gods deem me worthy.
Thank for sharing!

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Very, very nice!

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Wow that came out so crisp ! I have a box of that stuff waiting here !! It says it doesn’t actually etch the tile but reacts with their “coating” or something to that effect… What does the surface of this engrave feel like? Do you feel the engraving, or is it under the glaze?

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Looks great! I wonder if it’s pretreated with Cermark or something?

http://www.johnsonplastics.com/engraving/engraving-supplies/cermark?product_type=8376

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Can’t help but being intrigued by the chemistry, and wondering about other applications if I can work it out.
:wink:

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Wow - so cool! Bookmarking now.

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Outstanding, doggone it! Now there’s another material I want some of.

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Just like the rest of the tile. It’s not etched or raised. The laser just changes the glaze’s coloring.

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they look great - what’s the material thickness? 1/4 inch? 1/8 inch? I couldn’t find that info on their site. thx.

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wow!!! I love how the tile ended :grinning: It looks awesome

Man, my materials list keeps getting longer :frowning: :smile: :stuck_out_tongue:

I have to look when I get home - I recall it being something like .350" but I might be wrong and I don’t have the settings with me.

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They’re quite expensive, but it woud be cool to decorate a kitchen or a bathroom with custom tiles.

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They are - shipping is ridiculous but they are heavy (and well packed to prevent breakage). But they’d be cool accent tiles in the field or border tiles or other pattern pieces.

I use them as coasters with a felt or cork backing glued to them (the undersides have ridges designed to provide room for the mortar that they’re usually set into) and I like to have a finished furniture friendly surface on the bottom.

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They often have deals as well as "free shipping " boxes. I got a box with free shipping of several dozen 4x4 tiles (maybe 6x6? stored em waiting for my GF) and they price was not bad .

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That’s the only time I buy them :slight_smile: They don’t take a lot to store so having some waiting for a project is better than paying for shipping when you absolutely need them now!

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It looks great! Thanks for testing this and sharing your results. I have had the LaserTile website bookmarked since they were first mentioned on the forum about a year ago. I can see this working well for some of my Glowforge plans.

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Oh this is so bookmarked