laser etch glass and tile with zinc coating. water clean up.

[robothut]

 

[Andyman]

Very cool, John. How did you discover this? Trial and error or an educated guess?

[robothut]

Well for many years now, ever since the low cost laser diodes have been popular, people have been trying out ways to leave permanent mark's on glass and tiles. What they found was you could spray white paint on a white tile and when the laser blasted the paint it got hot enough to etch into the white glaze coating.  For what ever reason white paint tends to leave a darker mark on white surfaces. And on clear glass a coating of black paint will leave a white frosted look very much like a chemical glass etch.  So I played around with all the spray paint colors I could think of since I have about 100 cans of this and that spray paint out in the shop. Got some interesting results from red primmer as well, but nothing was really giving a high contrast mark. So I then checked out what the guys with the high power CO2 lasers were using to mark glass , tile and metal. They have spray on coatings they use as well. It seemed to me there coating were high in metals. So I went out and found this can of Zink spray coating I had bought maybe 10 years ago for a project that did not work out. Since then I had used it from time to time to mark logs that I was about to chain saw so they would fit in the wood stove. Any way gave it a try, and man it worked great. Shows up real nice on tile and glass. Now as with all things you are burning up with a lazer only do it in well ventilated places. Breathing in any paint or coating that has been blasted with a laser can not be good for you. I have a sealed box that my laser lives in and it has a fan and ducting to the outside.

[Andyman]

I like the way you think. Good show, John.