@Print_Witch - I agree your screens makes sense for the final product mass production obviously, but this is the video I was mentioning earlier today for titanium coating tiles to try things.
The TLDR is 1 part ti02 powder, 3 parts distilled water, 1 part Elmer’s glue, and some food color tinting to check for even coating.
Was good to see you and Paul again =)
I have a pound of TiO2 on order, will check back in with the results! 
Was thinking of trying the same on my XTool F1. Be interesting to see if IR or Blue laser light works better.
Oooo, been wanting to look at the F1. Any chance you can bring it by some evening or weekend? I’ll bring prepped tiles for testing…
We can do side by side comparison with the F1, the new Creality 10w in Printmaking, and one of the Thunders.
Can try to work that out. Would be an interesting experiment.
I got the TiO2 in yesterday, just gotta prep some tiles and scrap glass.
Glass would be interesting!
Ok, I have some tiles coated. I think I might have to work in the mix more, it doesn’t seem nearly as even as shown in the video.
Ok, results from testing today.
First off, I’m pretty sure I need to mix my TiO2 more thoroughly, it’s a bit spotty on both lay down and the laser results. I’ve switched to a container that has a better screw top lid where it can be shaken without issues, and might get a dedicated cheap immersion blender to really make sure it’s all mixed up well.
As far as LED vs CO2 lasers, for right now the LED is much better. The Thunder was both poorer in focus, and had too much power to control well. The 10w Creality seems to give much better results, but I think a 20w might be a better choice for speed concerns.
Thunder laser (Blitzen) results:
Creality 10w results:
Rust-Oleum 2x flat white on a Creality Falcon CR-30 5W, cleaned by letting them sit in L.A. Awesome for 30 minutes. Rinse in warm soapy water.
The 5W and 10W will run about the same speed when engraving tile. Mine runs 2200mm/m @ 75% and looks best with 340DPI.
One thing that I have come to understand about using titanium dioxide from others that have used it is that it’s a lot more difficult to work with because you have to have your ratios almost dead perfect, a good even coat, and fully dried. A good spray bottle apparently works best.
How long for one tile to be under the laser?
How is the durability?
Have you done anything with b&w photography?
Paul, what is a good night this week to get together?
My xTool F1 is 2 watt IR and 10 watt blue.
Also have a bunch of slate coasters we can work with.
That seems to depend on the file and what you’re doing. I’ve had some that have only been about 15 to 20 minutes and I’ve had some that have been about an hour and 10 minutes for a 4.25² tile.
The durability is awesome! They are permanently etched and I’ve never had one so much as scratch.
I personally have not done anything with black and white photography, but several others have.
Check out this thread:
Lots of good information there and on some of the split off topics of that thread, along with pictures from a guy using a 2.5 Watt diode doing highly detailed black and white photos on White Tile.
To be completely honest, there is a pretty hefty learning curve, I’m still learning myself and I’ve been going at it for about 4 months now (as I have time).
Slate coasters are awesome, not nearly a steep of a learning curve as white tile.
Some people like to spray clear coat on before they do an Engraving to “give it more of a contrast”, but I personally don’t.
The big thing about working with slate is that you have to make sure that your image is inverted and that your image is light enough. Lighter than what you would think.
After that it’s just getting the right speed and power settings.
Pick a night starting on Tuesday, I’m good on any of them after 7pm.
I’ll try doing a recoat to see if I can get a more consistent layer without all of the lumps.
Let’s go for tomorrow night (Wednesday) at 7pm.
I’ll bring the xTool F1, the smoke extractor and a laptop.
Ok, will do.
Abcde12345
Forgot to say thank to @Hardsuit for the get together and the “paint”. Did get Lightburn set up on the F1 and burned a few power/speed grids:
Tile:
Wood:
Slate:
Interesting but with marginal power even a Galvo based laser is slow compared to a gantry based system.
