Once upon a time, there was a product called “LaserTile” which had some kind of mystery property that engraved black. But they seemed to go out of business around 2017.
I still have a whole box of it, since I tend to buy supplies for projects I never do. I wonder if it has degraded over time. I also wonder if this was their secret sauce.
Thanks, I appreciate that! I’ve benefited greatly from so many other folks’ efforts at clearly documenting stuff here, and I’m just glad to be able to contribute.
i still have 4-5 of the 4" lasertile tiles, too.
I still have a bunch of it, too. I used one a year or so ago and it turned out just fine.
But less toxic which is appealing on many levels.
Fair about (probable) lower toxicity. As always pretty much everything you laser emits harmful fumes and proper ventilation is a must. Once that’s set up correctly the toxicity of the byproducts from what you’re lasering is somewhat irrelevant, no fumes is no fumes.
It’s impossible to get perfect ventilation every time so I agree that less toxic is always preferred.
Some of the toxins that worry me the most are metals. Heavy metal poisoning is particularly concerning to me because of the way it affects the nervous system. Since we’re still using titanium here I’d say it’s advisable to treat this as carefully as any material that you laser.
The potentially good news is that titanium oxides don’t seem to be as dangerous as other metals.
More info:
2011: Until relevant toxicological and human exposure data that would enable reliable risk assessment are obtained, TiO2 nanoparticles should be used with great care.
To our knowledge, this is the first report of titanium dioxide inhalation as the potential cause of metal fume fever in humans.
Titanium dioxide is the key ingredient in mineral/children’s sunscreen among other things so I’m not worried about that.(post cancer doctor’s orders).
I was referring to the toxicity of spray paint fumes and solvents in the overall process 
I see your point and agree that it doesn’t seem as toxic as many other metals. The key difference to me is that you generally don’t inhale nano particles of sunscreen.
History is riddled with things we used to freely give to kids that were harmful. We do the best we can but sometimes we’re way off the mark.
DDT trucks:
Texas children sprayed with dangerous pesticide DDT in 1940s clip | Daily Mail Online
Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Laboratory - Wikipedia
Super Elastic Bubble Plastic - Wikipedia
The list goes on and on… tanning oils that increased uv exposure, scotchgard spray, so many things with lead in them.
Not to mention more modern ongoing things like BPAs and PFAS and micro plastics that break the blood-brain barrier. We regularly find out new risks… just because it’s in kids sunscreen doesn’t give it an automatic pass, and I definitely would avoid inhaling it.
Great write up. I’m anxious to try it…just need to purchase the Titanium!
Titanium dioxide is reasonably safe. The FDA even considers it safe enough to use in food in the US. (Until recently it was also allowed to be used in food in the EU but they banned that last year.)
Good guide, thanks. This seems like a nice alternative to the spraypaint method.
I wonder what kind of results you might get if you used a light coating of spray adhesive on the tile, and dusted it with titanium dioxide? That might be easier to apply than mixing and spraying, and cleanup with alcohol also ought to be pretty easy.
I bought some titanium dioxide few months ago and had terrible results. I think I need to try again using your method. I tried using waterdown PVA glue and painted on with a paintbrush. I probably did not get an even coating and was too thick.
I did add a drop of blue food coloring, just to add a slight tint. It helped seeing full coverage.
Maybe subtle, but still kinda awesome. You might have the coolest looking circular saw blade around.
That would be interesting to check out. Something like EasyTack? Might have to try that. You could even cut out a paper stencil of your pattern, or even just the outline of it, making it just a little bigger, stick the stencil on the sprayed tile, then sprinkle the TD where you expect the pattern to laser. Might save a little bit of the TD.
Exactly what I was thinking, yep!
Hi Ellen.
I’m excited to have been able to start this conversation. Any techniques that we can share/come up with will only benefit us all!
My favorite thing about the method I documented above is… all I have to do is give a tile a spray of mixture (under a minute), let it dry (for one or two minutes), engrave on high speed, then rinse in warm water (a minute or two). For me, it’s super fast and super easy compared to using sharpies or spray paint.
I’m curious as to your thinking about adding adhesive to this process. How might that improve the workflow? It seems that, at a minimum, it would make the cleanup step harder.
This is not criticism of your idea, I’m genuinely curious what you’re trying to accomplish. 
Thanks!
I have attempted a variation using Titanium White water based airbrush paint with poor results.
I tried the titanium based primer with poor results too. It made dark print on the tile but not the subtle Grey tones that I wanted for my picture. Might be OK for strictly black and white images.
My thinking was that by using the EasyTack, which I already have, that: 1) I wouldn’t have to buy a microspray bottle, 2) I always have EasyTack on hand; and 3) I would only have to spray the tile once instead of having to spray it a couple times. I’m not sure how hard EasyTack is to wash off. I’d definitely want to check that out first before wasting TD on it, that’s for sure! And if it is too hard to wash off, I’d definitely buy a microspray bottle.
I hope to try this, but it’ll be a week or two. We’re finishing putting our flooring down first. We make our own planks, stain, seal, nail down. It’s a little labor intensive and is taking priority right now. I’m just in here making sure I get caught up on all the forums so I don’t have a thousand to go through when I get back to it. Plus my husband is sanding the boards right now, and I can’t help with that. But I’ll be sure to let you know when I try!
This is a link to a test of different sprays I did a while back.