Laser engraving on rocks with 3 watt Daja DJ6 blue diode

So a report back on trying to burn on a transparent agate with toothpaste and mustard. It really did not do anything more than the burn I had using black sharpie to give the laser something to focus on. Certainly did not come with that great white mark that Rob got. Possibly because the laser is so weak at 3W.

But I did forget about the little black sheet of laser engraving marking paper that they had included in the package! I only remembered when I saw it as I was packing away! Stoopid. But from what I glean, that is for etching on glass, so that will be what I try next time I have a gap.

It's getting better and better in my opinion.
Pretty impressive with the paper & the cheap laser.

Looks like a win to me. I will be researching the diode lasers further, most likely in the late spring when all activities move indoors here in AZ.
The one that Jugglerguy Rob is working with, or one like it, may fit the bill perfectly, and building a small negative air flow chamber for it from the pile of acrylic sheets I recently acquired would be a snap.

I think his one would be much better!


For my purposes, the cost and the small footprint of the machine are benefits! The machine is about the size of my two hands held side-by-side.

So there we go, my first cabochon's back laser printed logo on a rainbow moonstone! Pretty darn happy with it! Will be playing with sizes and such next, but this is good enough for what I wanted to do already!

Hi Patty,

Yes I did! I think I would use it for most cabs really, not only the translucent ones, because it printed quite lovely grey/black with the laser engraving paper on the Mookaite too. Except when I want a more white/grey look, I suppose.


Also, I have refined my direct burn (no paper or anything) on the Mookaite, turns out I did not need to do a gazillion passes, at 100% laser, 20% speed and 2 passes it looked the same as my first burn at the top with 100% laser, 20% speed and 40 or 50 passes! And it was done in under a minute.


Still learning :-)

Hi Patty, to be honest I have been otherwise busy, so have not done much more with it than the above. But it is very much fit for purpose for what I wanted to do, which was to put a logo mark on the back of our cabochons. On some rocks, particularly opaque ones with homogenous colour it can do it directly. But for most rocks, using the laser transfer paper, it should work a treat!

I think it may have some issues with darker translucent rocks, but it is possible that a lighter colour transfer paper will work for those, I just have not tried to source any of the other colour papers yet, I only have the dark transfer paper.

The cost at 150 dollars makes it perfect! And the other thing not mentioned above is that it can obviously also do markings on wood and leather and such. So it will have more uses than just the logo on cabochons. For example, if we are selling say a pendant, and put it into a self made wooden box, you can have a print that looks pretty professional on the top of the box! 

The only cons I can see is that you will not actually be able to cut into the stone, like have a relief or such, the laser is too weak for that. And I think even for wood, you may possibly be able to cut something like thin wood veneer, but that is all. Also, it only works on a small area, maximum engraving area is 80 by 80 mm.
Theo

That is such a good price too! Nice! One heads-up, they give you a few blank pieces of wood to learn on which is great, but do that outdoors, it stinks out the house! :-) The etching on rock hardly smells at all.

And one other thought, if you have cats, dogs or kids around, only run it behind a closed door, one would not want any of those types of critters to accidentally look at the laser while it is zapping. There is a little shield you put in front, but it does not cover all the sides.