I know that @karaelena and a few others have experimented with marking slate, and I’m looking of guidance on power/speed settings that might be used.
Today’s our 34th wedding anniversary and it would appear that the contemporary gift is Laser. Acrylic and wood have already been prepared, but I should have j u s t enough time to engrave some text on a heart-shaped piece of slate I picked up at Michaels.
Unfortunately the cheat sheet I’ve been working on since day one is null and void after the last update (not today’s, the one prior) You are going to have to experiment. In the future when you grab on off materials. Always grab two. And use the second for testing / dialing in.
If you don’t finish the slate, do what I did several years ago @dwardio.
I got my sawz-all out, put a 12 inch long blade in it that allows you to cut arcs easily and cut out a big heart shaped piece of sheet rock from the garage wall. Painted it red and gave it to my wife. She loved it.
I’d start low & fast and work my way higher & slower. So 5% and 335 with 340 LPI. then kick it up in 5 or 10% increments. Once I hit 100%, I’d start to drop speeds by 50 or 100 ips. Or just keep repeating passes - just don’t move it once it’s in the machine, then it will keep re-etching over the previous run. Either you’ll get to a good combo or the combined # of repetitions will do it for you.
I would also start at mid to low power and a fairly fast speed.
Otherwise the slate surface may melt and leave a light brown bubbly edge that is not super attractive.