Generally craft acrylic paints tend to be non toxic. It’s when you get into the artist mediums that you’ll find added metals that can be toxic.
Thankfully the craft version paints just fine and is way more less expensive…
5 Likes
This is very interesting. I would have not thought that the acrylic paints would be toxic. Maybe they were thinking about someone eating the paint and not being toxic. I doubt most places are concerned or thinking that someone would be lasering the paints. 
1 Like
Ha ha…never heard those ones…
Nothing wrong with being cautious!
I use only cheap craft acrylic paints to laser over…not the ones for artists…
9 Likes
yes and yes.
Just looking over the Windsor-Newton oils I have and they all list the pigment used (and have a little ASTM: NO HEALTH LABELING REQUIRED logo).
yeah, not too likely to find a true cadmium color in a $1-$5 jar of acrylic. Most of the cheap paints should be safe… in the US… besides, none of this is as bad as lead-based paints, right…?
(the countries in Yellow still manufacture lead-based paints.)
13 Likes
Nice piece of research there, for a worthy topic.
4 Likes
Well, good, now I’ve got a use for those things…Chuckle! 
3 Likes
On the topic of lasering over paint, I recently started wondering if lasering over white paint at a certain power level/speed could darken the white to something close to black. My specific case is a white lighthouse with back stripes and other details. Is that possible?
1 Like
I highly doubt it will get black…more likely burnt brown…
4 Likes
Thanks for the response! Might not work for the lighthouse but that could be interesting in other situations.
2 Likes
I recently had a build where I decided to finish each of the pieces before I glued them together. Instead of paint, I was using stain. The glue did not want to join the two pieces like it normally does.
Typically wood glue uses the grain and pores in the wood to create it’s bond that is actually stronger than the wood itself. When you put something in between both surfaces you create a much higher probability that the glue joint will not nearly be strong enough.
If your difficulties with the painting was just getting access to all the surfaces, you might want to consider gluing part of it up and then painting. It will probably take much longer to get all pieces glued and painted, but you might like the final results better.
9 Likes
Good advice. I may paint the surfaces that show, but use masking tape to mask the places that will be glued. Of course, many times, the surfaces that are glued are the back of the piece, which will not be painted at all.
5 Likes
Can you just thin these down with paint thinners to use in a siphon fed air brush?
You would use water, not paint thinner, to thin but would also probably need to strain them to prevent clogs. For airbrushing I use Createx acrylics…they are ready mixed for airbrush.
4 Likes
Very nice work! Definitely inspiring!
A friend of mine says: You have to compensate lack of experience (and skill) with quality tools.
And that’s why I use Iwata airbrushes 
10 Likes
Cooool!!!
true enough. High quality tools will help a novice far more than they help a master - they help level the playing field. A master can overcome deficiencies in their tools. A novice won’t even know the tool is an issue. When I’m using a high quality tool to do something, I know that any sub-optimal results are my fault.
5 Likes
(The toxicity thing is going to be even more complicated because we don’t care so much about whether a paint is toxic in its wet or dry form, only whether its decomposition products are toxic. Which can work either way – some compounds that will kill you dead if you eat or sniff them can burn into pretty much CO2 and water; other compounds – say, polyvinyl chloride – that you can chew on all day without doing much harm, will not be your friends at all in decomposed form. Probably the ones with toxic metals are bad regardless?)
2 Likes
My point exactly about the Glowforge vs other laser cutters!!! Lol
14 Likes
Absolutely. I’d be lost (and a bit scared) trying to run a Chinese laser. The big boy (and girl) lasers are out of my hobbiest price range.
No LOL here. I’m serious about this.
8 Likes