David…you are inspiring me to move forward with a laser type machine, now I just have to wait for the rest of my life to slow down and let me catch up. But please, keep doing what you are doing and you are continuously giving me ideas and inspiration on what I want to do. Thank you!!
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Your work has left me wanting a laser even more! I already had my eye on the NEJE A40640. Your post from Jun 8 burst my bubble on that one but you then go on to contradict it somewhat with your tile and slate pics a couple of days ago which look amazing. Is there a real inconsistency using the NEJE with glass or was there a problem with that earlier test?
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Wow. Just Wow.
I’m going to need to re-visit this. I already sent a link to the wife. I have a feeling we’ll be making some of this for Christmas presents this year.
I’m wondering if the black paint method would work on mirrors. I’m also wondering if a lathe attachment could be configured to etch wine glasses.
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I’m sorry. I don’t mean to “burst bubbles” or be “contradictory”. And thank you for the kind words.
I have the Neje A40640 but had never really taken the time to find settings which yielded results comparable to my trusty little Eleksmaker 2.3W laser. And, with the little laser always at hand, I had no real pressing need to spend time “mastering” the Neje laser for tile. But when I finally started playing with the slate’s “forgiving” nature, the Neje easily did the job and I decided to revisit ceramic tile. And, once I did a proper NWT test tile, I finally found the settings I needed. – David
============== SKIP IF DESIRED ==============
An aside and explanation…
I’m a former EE, worked many years in industry on government projects, and often met with customers interested in our progress on multi-year projects that pushed the bounds of current technology. I also have a long-running thread on needle-cutter development on the Flitetest forum.
When development work is done out in the open where everybody can see it… the most accurate information is usually found later, toward the end of the thread/timeline. Earlier findings/conclusions are often “contradicted” by later findings/conclusions when doing something new… but you can only share what you know, or think you know, to be true at a given point in time. There’s no malice/deceit intended, that’s simply the nature of the work… and you hopefully get smarter – and share more accurate information – as you go.
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This happens in any industry where design takes place.
We have multiple projects currently deployed in production where it was built with the ‘best knowledge at the time’. Almost all of which are now in our backlog of ‘tech debt’ stories to re-do or fix in the future. The fact we’ll probably never actually get to re-do them is of little concern it seems 
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Hey, David! I know you and your wife would find this stuff to be fun to do and it’s really not difficult. These tiles/coasters are about the only thing I do that yields anything close to a “finished product” right off the tool. I simply hate, and refuse to do, all the painting, sanding, and finishing most other projects require.
Mirrors are actually pretty simple. You don’t even need the black paint… you simply laser the backside of the mirror and it does the same thing. You just have to remember to mirror the image (since you’re working on the backside) and use a negative image (the lightest areas are where the laser hits glass). There’s some great mirrors in this thread…
Funny you should mention wine glasses and rotary stuff. That’s where I’m headed next, I think. I’ve got a couple of roller type attachments but just never felt energetic enough to mess with them… they’re pretty kludgey for anything not perfectly cylindrical. But I finally found one I like and ordered it… it’s not cheap but far more versatile than any other I’ve seen…
Note that it includes a tiny chuck (much like the one on your lathe) that really makes it stand out in the crowd. Here a great video showing it in action…
I hope to get mine up and running in the next few days. Enjoy!
– David
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Oh, I fully understand how the discovery process plays out. I live it every day at work.
What I was really trying to get at is, given the excellent results on tile, is there some explanation as to why your earlier test on glass didn’t look so great other than pointing a finger at the laser?
Maybe I should just pull the trigger and buy the NEJE in the confidence that it’ll probably do most of what I want. Until a couple of weeks ago I didn’t even realize lasering tiles and glass was a thing and I was more focussed on engraving and very light duty cutting.
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Funny enough. That’s one of the ones I was looking at. Can’t wait to see how it works for you. I was wanting to etch the Yeti-like tumblers with it too.
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Sorry for the confusion. The NWT method for ceramic tile is, unlike slate, quite sensitive to the speed and power required for a decent image with a given laser and paint. Until I actually did a proper NWT test tile using the Neje laser, I’d simply not found the proper speed and power with that laser… and it’s not likely found by accident.
So it wasn’t the laser’s fault and I certainly didn’t mean to imply the A40640 laser module was faulty in any way… I’ve bought three of them!
I would not hesitate to order one. Though it was the first dual-diode laser module available, it’s still one of the best IMHO. I’ve got a number of posts featuring it cutting 3mm plywood and it is impressive.
– David
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A little progress…
Unboxed the Xtool RA2 rotary fixture and started getting set up to do inital testing. First, I raided the pantry for some custom leg extensions for my new Sculpfun S9 laser engraver…
Then added the tiny 3-jaw chuck to the fixture…
Stuck in a relatively long piece of 1" dowel… there’s a handy little roller support included that acts as a tailstock support… and lasered a torus (vector) that never did well on a roller-style rotary (it slipped too much)…
I still need to sort the math, as I’m not using LightBurn to actually control the rotary… yet. But I still got a solid first burn that gives a pretty neat optical illusion…
I’ve gotta say I’m impressed with this unit. It’s a bit pricey (as all the Xtool machines seem to be) but it is so well thought out and versatile that it’s well worth the money IMO. I’ve got a couple of roller units that are so kludgey to set up and use… they’re next to worthless by comparison. Another nice thing is that Xtool actually includes a couple of little wiring adapters that allow use of their rotary fixture with several other popular machines… as with the Sculpfun S9 here. Good on them for doing that!
Since I’ve already got a laptop next to this machine, I’ll probably just directly control this unit with LightBurn in the future. It provides a rotary tool setup that is well documented, handles all the math, and compensates for the circumference without messing with Grbl’s steps/mm setting…
So, the adventure begins… 
– David
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Duplicating all the people expressing their joy at reading your posts. I’m always happy to see another notification that you’ve posted something. Keep on tinkering!
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Loving those highly advanced cylindrical leg attachments. If you’d ever need more height, you could always use Pringle’s cans. 
An update…
Newly-found test/practice materials are renewable, as long as I keep on drinking…
Feeling a bit more confident, I raided the pantry for more custom leg extensions…
so I could elevate, shim, and level the rotary fixture even more for a handled and tapered mug…
Now using Lightburn to control the machine, I chucked up a painted mug and used ceramic tile settings to do a test run…
Paint removed, it etched reasonably well but I still need to work a bit on centering the image and adjusting for taper…
Daughter gets the prototype…
Whew, I’m tuckered… nap time! 
– David
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Well, you stay properly hydrated…
Love what you’re doing and might just have to add a laser now…
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Yeah that xtool does seem expensive compared to the usual 4th axis + tailstock combos, but it does have the rollers and size that make it a great fit for laser work.
Similar to what others have said… I get all excited when I get a noti that you posted something new. Enjoy the nap, stay hydrated, and hold a comfy pace… last thing we need is for you to get burned out posting!
Cheers,
Kev
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Confusing perspective time. Was wondering what the curved piece of card stock was for.
Then I realized that’s the paint that hasn’t been removed yet, and the little owl is the star of the show.
Nice work!
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Thanks. Not so fun cleaning the paint, so I only scrubbed the paint off where I was trying to evaluate the color and over the owl.
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I’ve read in several places (and seen in a couple of videos) of paint removal/scrubbing being a PITA. What are you using?
I use acetone almost exclusively and it usually does very well… especially on flat surfaces, like a ceramic tile. I just pour just enough to “flood” the entire surface and within seconds the paint bubbles up and often comes off in “sheets”, wiped and lightly scrubbed with steel wool. It evaporates rapidly so I usually follow up with a paper towel, wetted with acetone. It usually comes pretty clean pretty quickly. I then go scrub it with dish soap and water.
Coffee cups/handles and odd surface are a bit more time consuming (can’t “flood” the surface) but still not that terrible. Then again, I’m usually doing small pieces… and just onsies and twosies at that.
I don’t get nearly so good results using paint thinner… and it smells worse IMO. Some videos I’ve seen, folks are using denatured alcohol or other cleaners and having a dickens of a time removing paint. I’ve never had that kind of trouble with acetone. YMMV of course…
– David
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“acetone”… “flood”… 
Well, at least you aren’t tossing in “1:1 bleach to ammonia blend” or “submerge in xylene and apply heat”…
And you have mentioned in the past that the weatherproofing in your house is… sub-optimal. So I assume that means you have reasonable ventilation.
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