Crazy Technique for Etching White Ceramic Tile PERMANENTLY! 

ATTENTION FRIENDS! I missed an important step! UGH! After your tile is lasered, you must clean the tile with Lacquer thinner or Acetone. Use a paint scraper and microfiber cloth to clean up the excess paint!

As a new subscriber I can honestly say that you talked us through that process very well. Many thanks. I am new to the whole laser scene and have learnt so much from this one video. 👍

Awesome that you give Nicky Norton the credit he is do. I'm in a FB group with him and he is super helpful to everyone.

Excellent tutorial!! You ALWAYS provide complete information. I especially like how you showed the steps you took to determine your settings.

I just wanted to say I really appreciate this video. I went out and got the materials, and did a bunch of burns today. I finally got my settings dialed in, and the results are incredible! There's a little blurring, but with that much detail, I'm not surprised. I have a Full Spectrum Muse (C02 laser--45w), and my settings were 100 power, 10 speed, 0 blur, 500 dpi. At 90 power and 20 speed, it was still only a gray. At 1000 dpi, the blur was much more pronounced. And then cleaning it with acetone after took away all those impurities in the paint--the bubbles and fingerprints, and left a nice dark burn. I'm so excited for this!

i love all the videos this guy makes, explains so well step by step and even offers helpful advise when emailed. thank you sir!

Hello from Canada, just dropping a note to say thanks. I really enjoy your introduction to burning tiles. keep it up!

Love these vids. Really personable and comprehensive instruction delivery. Nice work man! Keep it up!

And it works!! I was sceptical about not having the right kind of tile and using regular ennamle spray paint, but wow... It worked.

Great video and instructions took awhile but got it figured out and now can't stop etching tiles. 10 stars and a pat on the back keep up the videos and never learn to must.

I have watched all sorts on HOW TO on this subject. This one sorted it out no problem at all. I have done some great tile engraving after watching this video Thanks

Great video Garret! Nice to see all of the steps in one video.

Little mis-information here, When you set pass-through, the Line Interval and DPI settings are completely ignored - it tells you this right there in the tool tip. It burns at whatever DPI you got out of the Da big Gimpin plugin. All that prior testing at 0.11 line interval made no difference what so ever had no bearing on the final outcome.

Great work Garret!! Mine finally shipped yesterday!!

Have you tried rustoleum cold galvanized compound instead of paint? Some say it’s quicker (no paint removal) but I’m curious of the quality

Thanks for posting a link to proper blue/violet laser engraver safety glasses. The green ones the chinese give with lasers are WORTHLESS and people MUST be told this.

I just want to give a shoutout to LaserWeb, I do most of my rasterings into wood by using LaserWeb's own inbuilt raster engine. Can't wait to try it on tiles now too!!

Have you ever used the Rust-Oleum cold galvanized spray paint? It apparently burns darker plus you just wash it off in the single afterwards and its the same effect as this but less chemicals to clean with.

Hey brother just ran across your channel, by far one of the best how to for diode laser on tile i have seen, really enjoying it. Hope you upload more on it. I have a 40 watt k40 and a NEJE 20 watt like your orture. Have a blessed day.

Found volumes of information on this video! Thank you!

Strange and very admirable. What a great idea.

Very cool! My only question is one that might be silly, I'm not sure. How do you line up where the tile is and where the laser is firing? I've never used a laser burner before and that really puzzled me.

Explained thoroughly and succinct. You are a rarity. One of one. THANKS DAD!

Thanks for the video. I'm going to give this a try soon. One thing that caught my eye. At around 10:20, shouldn't the numbers, written on the tile be, .08, .09, ...., instead of .8, .9?

Ordered my first Ortur Laser 15w. Looking forward to making some cool custom art tiles.

I tried this method tiles came out great 50 watt laser 10% power 75% speed. The only suggestion I can make to all is to make Garret’s test tile is the key otherwise your flying blind.

Focus the Lazer once then what ever you are ingraveing put under each leg and you don't have to adjust the Lazer again if you just put a tile under each leg it's perfect if ingraveing 3/4 plywood put a piece of 3/4 ply under each leg great video waiting on my Lazer to be delivered 👍👍

Can you tell me where you got the eye image please? It has amazing detail. Thank you in advance. Great video.

May I ask why the white tile needs to be painted white? Great tutorial, Thankyou.

Thanks for the detail instructions 👍🏻

Wow looks great ! Question if the burn is on the paint why is it so durable ? Your scraper did not bother it so I guess solivent will not bother it once its burned either. Is it that durned paint is super tough ? Or is there something else happening to the tile when the paint burns ? Thanks again. this looks so great I think I will have to give it a go.

Nice tutorial, I have a diode laser and a CO2 and use Seans plugin

Just curious why is it necessary to paint the white tiles white? Can’t you just burn them with out painting it?

Wow this was honestly amazing.

Why exactly do you have to apply white paint to a tile that is already white? Is the laser actually melting the white paint and turning it black and melting it into the tile?

Do you think i can do it with a 2.5w laser? Thank you for the video 👌

How do i change the file back to .jpg after the Da Big Gimpin plug in? it is only letting me save in xcf

I was waiting for that video! ;) Great video. You use the acetone to remove the remaining white paint?

Thanks for the advice and videos. 10 stars and thumbs up.

Really Informative Tutorial! Thanks for sharing. I would have loved to see the final process, as in your method of cleanup and sealing the tiles if it's necessary, lol!

Can you please tell me why you chose 600 dpi for your resolution? If i understand, you have a line spacing of 0.11 mm. If I am calculating this correctly this would be a DPI of approximately 230 DPI. If you divide an inch (25.4 mm) by the width of your dots 0.11 mm, then you should get a pixel perfect 230 DPI. At 600 DPI your laser program will read approximately every 2.6 lines and average the laser firing. Could you please re-run this exercise with the 230 DPI to see if it will increase the overall quality of the picture? This is the method I use when using my fiber laser on gloss black tile. My laser outputs a laser spot of 0.042 mm on most gloss black tile so I use 600 DPI and it comes out pixel perfect. Also, does your burning program allow for the input of bitmap images? Using a 1-bit bitmap image instead of a JPEG will give your laser exact on/off timing for each pixel when firing. The plugin you are using appears to create a black and white dithered image which would be what you need to create a 1-bit bitmap for this application. You would just export a bitmap instead of a jpeg. Sorry I am not saying that what you are doing looks bad, I am just wondering if the technique can be improved by calculating the actual DPI and using an image that represents exactly where you want each pixel to be fired.

Awesome Video! Thanks for the mention 👍

Hi Garrett, well, I did my first engraving job on cork. Is there a way I and send you 2 pictures of what it should look like versus how it turned out? I'm at a loss as to where to go from here. thanks

Will this work using a 7W diode?

You are a very funny dude... love your channel

do you think that the air assist when purchasing. I do plan on only working with tile but I am sure I will have other requests. This will be my very first laser purchase :) pretty excited

Thank you for a great tutorial. I have watched it several times and have learned a great deal. Having followed your instructions carefully, I get some different results. I am using a laser just like yours. My engravings have improved as I followed your instructions on focusing the laser, but I never get the dark burns that your video shows. I have changed power, dithering and speed settings and only get grey results. Any suggestions you might have would be much appreciated.

Awesome! Do you put a clear coat on after the laser burn? Thanks!

About how long does it take to etch the tile once the laser starts?

Thank you. You ever had to replace the module? Just wondering what's the life span

I've had issues with the paint flaking during the burning process. How long do you let the paint dry before burning? Love your channel. Lots of great content. 👍

What are the steps if you do not have Da Big Gimpin Plug-in? I would like to try some tiles on my Neje 20w.

Have you thought about 3dprinting a pulley wheel that will fit on your focusing knob and mounting a small stepper motor on it to make micro adjustments of the laser? It'd be really cool to be able to click a button and get teeny tiny turns on the lense to really dial it in. Maybe record a scale and convert different settings to different focal heights. Call it a nano Z Axis for lasers. That with an air assist could really dial in the cutting ability of the laser.

Is the imagine countersunk on the tile after it's been etched?

I have been watching your videos for the past couple of weeks has caught my interest and I would like to get started would you be willing to help a newbie I would like to get the pro I'm not sure exactly how to going about doing that thank you for your time

What is the purpose of the white paint on white tile? I have a glowforge and get awesome results on white tile, but the engrave is clear. I then run black ink into the tile and wipe it off. Then clear coat. I have also done the white tile painted blacks method a few times. Also, Still perfecting my standard white tile settings for use on a black tile engraving the black away. Still dialing in the power settings to get through the black layer better.

Hey I was wondering if this method would work on marble as well? Thanks for the help I have tons of marbles and I want to recycle them if I can. I loved your techniques it’s so exciting!

You made a very understandable tutorial but will the smaller and portable laser burn just as well?

Have you looked at the Anycubic mega pro I does fdm and it has a laser for it also. The laser does a 8 21/32" X 5 33/64" all on one printer?

Awesome Job!

Does this work with a CO2 laser? If not why? What is the reason it works on a diode and not a CO2? Could it be the wavelength of the laser?

How often are you performing the focus procedure? Every piece of tile? I am looking at the Ortur 15w for photo laser engraving on tile and wood. I am also looking at the ACRO DYI with a JTech 4.2 watt output laser engraver. That comes with a focus height plate to lower the head to. It is quite a bit more in regards to price versus the Ortur. I am curious how much focus adjusting the Ortur requires in general? It is worth noting either one will require dialing in software parameters to get the focus dialed in. I am inquiring about the mechanical side of focusing the laser. Great video

Yeah don’t know what I am doing wrong for sure. I put it to laser and it doesn’t detect the image I guess because it just keeps burning. I am trying to figure it out on wood first before I try it on a tile any idea what I might be doing wrong? If I leave the image negative it turns off the light of the laser on and off without negative it leaves it on constantly

I’d love to see a review of a 3018 Pro if you have one of these machines. Mines in the mail and I’m nervous about setting it up and the learning curve of dialing it in since it’s an offline laser engraver. Love your channel, thanks for the video! Cheers 🥂

Purchased a 15W laser and the housing is larger than the sleeve any ideas on what to do and does the motherboard need to be replace when going from a 5W to 15W ?

Great video and extremely helpful for my small business! I ordered the Ortur Laser and got the 7W, but now I am wondering if I should have ordered the 15W to cut wood as well. Let me know what you think....thank you! :)

Another great tutorial. Does anyone have an indication of how long the laser takes to complete a fill picture 4x4 tile?

Hello Sir, I have an Ortur Laser Master 2, 20W and I have been trying to do the Norton White tile method in your video, but something is wrong. Using lightburn and following all the prep steps...I cant even get the laser to mark the paint. If I crank power to 100% and slow the speed down to 200 mm/min, it'll work, but something tells me there is a problem here, I shouldn't have to run it this slow right?

Can you remove the excess paint? Can you/ should you? Thanks ! ❤

Great process. Any suggestion why the final product comes out more silver/grey than black?? Image quality is great, just wondering about final color.

Hello, I have a boss laser. Do I just adjust the laser head height versus turning dial on laser head?

ok i would like to get one of these lasers but i click the link an i cant understand the language?

How did you get that to burn at 1200 speed? I did everything that you did and i can not get to to burn over 350 at 100%. I do great with wood ,mirror. Can not get tile to burn correctly. I have an ortur lasermaster 2 15w.

I seem to be getting wave like streaks when I try it..with either white or black spray paint and im.not sure why..I have turned the power down, up, laser faster slower and still these wave like streaks appear on my portraits...

i never knew about the fire option to test the beam. I always eyeball it but i will give it a shot forsure!! Could you stick tiles underneath rather than setting it up again?

I have a 50 watt c02 laser that I am trying to setup a etching grid for painted tiles what power and speed do you suggest to start off with.

Really enjoy your videos, very informative! I have a laser diode coming soon. Was wondering if this technique can be done with a 1.6W laser diode?

Awesome! Did you try to cut thin metal with it? BTW, what music is in the background?

Hi 3DPrintFarm, question here: so my local Lowe’s doesn’t carry the home accent series of rust-oleum can I substitute that for the rust-oleum advanced formula white gloss and expect to get the same results?

what would be the settings for 100w CO2 laser ?

Hey there! Thank you so much for the video! Have you tried it with a CO2-Laser? Do you think it should work for burning ceramics as well?

does this work with a co2 laser. I haven't tried it yet but generally my laser just burns the paint to the tile surface. you are actually turning white paint black.

Yes I'm trying to find a free way of making the photo like it is when you use the plug in ?

well, I did the test on pink paper, with the LM2 Pro, I turned the adjuster 1/4 turn either direction, twice, and all blocks looked exactly the same on the paper. lol

Thank goodness the 20watt version doesn't have to mess with all this focusing stuff.

Will this work on ceramic plates?

Hey so I work in the construction business and there is tons of left over white marble. I was wondering if this method would work with marble as well. Do have any advice or knowledge on this? Let me know thank you!

Do you burn with air assist on or off please?

great tutorial my only question is how long did the job take?

Hi, great channel! I just got an Ortur master 2 - 20W Laser, I have contacted Ortur for the drivers for Lightburn...but no joy, they have provide nothing. Do I need Windows 10 drivers to get Lightburn connected to the hardware? If not how do I make this connection? Thx!

Is your .9 (hand written on tile) supposed to be .090?

I noticed in lightburn, that the move tab(while burning) theres a tab for increasing the burn. can you increase wile burning is happening?

is the power high enough to break the surface of the glaze on the tile ?

You mentioned you're using a 15w version. Can this be done with the 7w model too?

Great video, I have a question for you.. When you focus the laser even at a low setting like you did, will it still burn your fingers?

Hey great video. Thanks. One little question. How much time is needed to do a 4x4 tile? The print process only.

Can that be done on a 50 watt co2 laser?

Really thinking about buying the ortur 2 how complicated is the software I'm 73 and not really a computer geek. Also do the tile's give off smoke?

Will the 7 watt be enough to do the Norton method on both the small and large. I realize the difference being small verses large. Thank you

when i adjust the line interval it adjust the dpi automatically. so the dpi ends up at 9 when i input .11 on the line interval. im using lightburn 9.21. should i check constant power mode on or off? i adjusted the dpi according to what i see in your vid to 231 to get .00433 line interval. any suggestions. i try to run at same speed but i need to run slower speeds. i have ortur laser module LU1-3 15 watt 4.5v 3.5 amp laser non adjustable. im using the new big gimp with v4 but when i select v3 tile it doesnt invert the image. any suggestions, thank you. love the vids and instuctions.