I know a laser does not have a temp. But was wondering and wanted to post this question for the conversation and feedback. Have run material tests with each new material I use. On one of my last tests I was playing with layers of black paint on canvas with a single layer of white on top. Found my settings and set the laser to run. After 2hrs of watching the job run and letting overthinking do its thing it had me pondering something. Base layer Engine/Manifold paint. Now one could simply go out buy and see what happens with another material test. But I am sure someone has already tried this but I was not able to find anything on it. On some jobs ran I have burned through my top and base layer where the paint may have been thinner. Does anyone think that a base layer of Engine/Manifold paint would hold up any better aganst burn though given its 2000deg rating. Again I know the laser does not have a temp. Going to give it a try and report back but would love to here eveyones thoughts on it.
@Parrott I did the opposite of what you are planning some time ago. Here is the link. I sprayed a tile first with orange paint, then overpainted that with black manifold paint. I burned through the manifold paint to reveal the orange underneath.
You will see in the post that I got the idea from a previous post by @Heyward43 . I don’t know if the black that Heyward used was manifold paint.
Please do report back on your findings.
@gwilki so do you know if the manifold paint held up any better than a reg paint would have? I will need to do some testing now. Manifold paint cost alot more and if it is not offering any extra protection/toughness. Long jobs cost me more than I make lol. I alway seem to think my way into more non paid work just to quiet my mind.
@Parrott @gwilki - Just to add to Grant’s response. I just used acrylic paint for both orange and black. I’m not sure how manifold paint would be much different. I once used white manifold paint on the exhaust manifold of an old car I had. Didn’t stay white very long as it turned brown after driving around for a few days. I did do a burn test before running the tiger. I think I used a power of 13% if I remember correctly. I probably should have used a little higher power to burn through to the white tile as well for added accent. This was done using a Chinese 5W laser. Hope this helps. Pictures attached.
What lens type did you use?
I have no point of comparison. I did not do any more projects using black paint of any kind. The butterfly tile sits in my office, so it looks like it did when I first burned it. If I was to use it as a coaster, for example, I would clear coat it. I don’t believe any paint on a tile will put up with constant abrasion and still look pristine. Just my opinion, though.
@Parrott @gwilki - Whatever lens came on the cheap Chinese 5W laser. It is a diode laser. Lenses are not swappable on this one. Had to manually focus by sight and trial and error.
@Parrott FWIW, I was using a 3 element lens when I did mine. That is the default lens for many diode laser modules.