which type of acrylic is this that you’re baking? is this like a pebeo porcelaine paint?
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I need to find a supplier for that. It would be useful for all the feral cats in the neighborhood.
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Ok, so I am scared to do these things, now. Would you need to wear a particulate mask while using the laser with these products? I wanted to do a lot of slate signs, but am rethinking.
Please do not inhale directly from the vent hose.
Seriously though, if it is properly vented you should not have any issues. As for buildup outside the vent I have no idea how any particulate would disperse.
When cleaning the forge it might not be a bad idea to wear a mask as you might stir up some particulate.
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I’ve just done a few (and some of these are in another thread), but using 300 Speed, Full Power on my Basic, and using the Sharpie Paint Markers (with generic magic erasers to remove excess), produced the following tile. (and I have to say, I believe tile is the least expensive material ever (15 cents for the 3x6). This will be an end-of -the-year gift for the Accompanist for our church choir, with similar tiles and or / (larger) PG plywood versions for the director and several other musicians.
I probably need to do some additional touch up / second coat in a few spots, but I am very pleased with how it has turned our so far.
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Has anyone actually tried colored grout? Just ordered some to see what it would look like with an image I did at 1225lpi, 400, Full, 1 pass
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Thank you for the inspiration. I would like to share with you this drawing work of my nephew of a Puerto Rican parrot. I used acrylic black paint.
Greetings from Puerto Rico!
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He’s a very good artist! 
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Really nice Parrot and greetings from St. Croix!
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Oh my, that turned out so well! She will love it!
So this was REALLY an experiment to see what the GF could do! My husband put a random image on the Glowforge bed, we took a picture of it, and rendered it with the GFUI. The resolution looked good enough that we decided to engrave it. The material is a sample of vinyl flooring from Home Depot (free). It cut really well. Settings were full power and maximum speed, one pass. It actually looked quite good just as it was but I wanted to see if I could inlay the cut areas to create more contrast. I used polymer clay. It was a bit hard getting it to stick in the cut areas at first, but when I put the whole piece under hot running water, added some liquid dish soap, and just rubbed it in with my fingers it seemed to be more malleable. I should really pop it in the toaster oven I use for baking polymer clay. After 10 minutes at 250 degrees I would be able to sand it smooth.
I’ve also cut samples of wood laminate flooring and they work beautifully, too.
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That’s cool! …but I don’t think Vinyl is laser safe. It releases chlorine gas which can corrode your laser and your lungs.
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It looks nice, but just a head’s up…you need to be careful what you laser on…a lot of vinyls contain PVC (polyvinyl chloride) which is a big no-no in lasers. It creates a caustic when burned that will corrode the machine, and misuse by lasering unsafe materials is not gonna be covered by the warranty. 
If you know from checking the MSDS for the free tile that you used that it did not contain any chloride, you should be fine. If not, you need to thoroughly clean the machine - wipe down anything you can reach with a slightly damp rag (with the machine turned off) and let it dry before using it again.
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and unplugged!
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ahh poop. I was hoping that big collection of acrylic paint I had in a drawer actually was going to get used. I looked on Joann.com and it’s $2.49 a bottle and metallic $2.99 <<not in stores?>> (not a bad price; and they have coupons!) Think I will go pick up a bottle or two to play with. What did you mask your tiles with? If you weren’t masking, how would you clean it?
P.S. I searched on Joann.com and unfortunately they don’t carry the infamous “spay paint”…ha
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That has amazing detail!
I masked my tiles with blue painters tape prior to engraving the as I haven’t purchased they stuff others have recommended. Paint still got under it and I clean it up using a razor blade.
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