I try to mix it up between a few machines and software that others use. I do like the S1 as a laser and xTool keeps adding functionality to XCS. The AI Make is a nice add on to help those of us that lack graphic design skills! Thanks for watching!
When I saw these at $8 each, I grabbed them to see what I could do with them. I was not sure how well the engraving would stand out on these but I'm liking them. I hope yours turn out well too!
Great video, Steve! Another good source of "materials" is dollar stores. The one near me, (Family dollar I think) has a number of small jars of different shapes that are good for holding spices, or treats, or whatever. I've also had good luck etching on candles in glass jars.
Yeah, it takes some material to really dial in your settings. I went through a few panes of glass I salvaged from old photo frames to do some testing. If you have a dollar tree near you they often have inexpensive glass items to work with as well. Keep on having fun!
A little tip. Leave it black and have the silhouette of the image to shine through from the light. You can do the same thing with mirrors and put leds behind in a box to light up the image on the mirror. 🤙
Nice work. I've got the xtool S1 20W. Since I have half the power, I'm guessing a good starting point for me would be 85% power but at half the speed that you used. Re-purposing thrift store items is also a good way to go, plenty of hidden gems that cost next to nothing if you look hard enough.
That might be a good ball park. If you are finding items at the thrift store, see if they have something with a flat piece of glass like a picture frame you can run a quick material test on. Or check out Dollar Tree, they often have inexpensive glass items. A material test will be well worth the use of some glass to dial in your settings.
Thank you for the tutorial. I just received my stool S1, haven’t unboxed it yet. I own a Cricut have had one for several years I can see there are similarities in the design spaces of both machines. How do you know what power level and speed to set the machine for different materials?
@@cindykulp4406 I have been stressing over the power levels and settings too. Luckily, the program that came with the S1 has an update that includes material settings. I have found that sometimes they are spot on and sometimes they need tweeking a little to get them just right. Either way, their suggestions are a great place to start. People also mention their settings on videos. That helps too.
Great video, not sure if I missed it, but what material setting please ? When I bring up glass in material library it has wine glass, is that his the one?
Instead of paper towel I use microfibres cloths. They are less likely to scratch and you can throw them in the washer to save money and the environment.
I do try to use reusable towels as much as possible, but they were all in the laundry at the time. This is also why I like to use water soluble binders so I'm not messing with harsh chemicals that cause even more hazardous trash.
Thanks for the video - new to the Xtool and really liked seeing the process through. I watched a couple times and might have missed - what is the reason for putting the glass up off the honeycomb panel and do you do that for multiple objects/materials? Thanks and subscribed!
That is to prevent flashback from causing a ghosting on the engrave. It wont always happen but having a gap between the material greatly reduces the chance of that happening.
Love this video I tried this method on a glass cup with the rotary tool the engraving is a lil merky perhaps I didnt coat the layer evenly if I dont have a flash drier how long u think I have to let it dry I engrave 50 power at 300 speed
The paint I use turns from a dark wet black to a lighter grey when dry. You can accelerate it with even just air moving over it, but adding some heat with a hair dryer or heat gun will make it much faster. The even coats are key to getting a smooth engrave. Light coats sprayed on, rather than thick coats will dry faster and be more even. Pick up some cheap picture frame glass to do some testing on. I found some at the dollar store for $1.25 each for a 5x7" glass panel in the frame.
I have a couple cheap airbrushes I haven't used yet, how much do you need to water down the tempera paint for it to work in the airbrush. I've tried brushing it on but end up with streaks in the paint layer so would like to try the airbrush.
@@rickgibson7876 it depends on your airbrush. A friend of mine sprays his without diluting. I find with mine I need to make it fairly thin, up to a 50:50 mix.
@Vintauri Thanks, I'll give it a try with a 50:50 mix to start and work from there. I've brushed on wine glasses with ok results but if you look closely you can see slightly lighter or darker streaks where the paint was slightly thicker or thinner.
Thanks - nice video. I wonder what it would look like if you engraved the glass leaving the design not engraved, it might pop nicely. Maybe I'll give that a try, just punch out that design out of a rectangle and then the light will highlight the design.
Yes I ran this with the laser side up. However if you flip it over, the beam will pass through the glass to the paint on the bottom and will also have an effect.
Sorry, I'm late to the party, how thick is the plywood that you focused on to compensate. And do you do this for everything, or just glass? (asking for a friend also with an S1, LOL)
The plywood was just 1/8" or 3mm thick. I do that occasionally when I'm not as concerned with the power but want a smoother engrave. This essentially defocuses the beam so it's not as harsh when it hits the material.
This was just watered down tempera paint and nothing specific to lasers. I mostly use acrylic, water soluble paints in my airbrush. For this method you just need a dark opaque binder for the laser beam to interact with.
Most AI processing happens on servers in the cloud and not on your local computer. They use credits as a way to control excessive use that would bog down the service and drive up their hosting costs. For the xTool AI Make tool, I believe you can get some free credits through various activities on their Design Find site or you can purchase them. They usually start you out with a free bundle to try it out and in come cases if you do not like the art generated, you can get a partial refund of the credits used as long as you have not saved or imported the artwork.
I'm also elevating them off the honeycomb. A Jig, or more properly a fixture would have to be built up to elevate it and keep open space underneath. For a one off item that's more work than worth it.
Even if I had the "jig" built, create a cradle to fit into the "jig" and to elevate it would have taken time and materials. If I was doing 12 lanterns, it would have been worth it. For one lantern, it's a waste of time.
Thank you so much. Still learning
Great information. Glad you showed the project using the S1. Sometimes I see neat projects only to learn that I can't do it on the S1.
I try to mix it up between a few machines and software that others use. I do like the S1 as a laser and xTool keeps adding functionality to XCS. The AI Make is a nice add on to help those of us that lack graphic design skills! Thanks for watching!
Thanks! Great video! I recently bought a lantern similar to this and may try engraving it! Thanks for the idea!
When I saw these at $8 each, I grabbed them to see what I could do with them. I was not sure how well the engraving would stand out on these but I'm liking them. I hope yours turn out well too!
Great video, Steve!
Another good source of "materials" is dollar stores. The one near me, (Family dollar I think) has a number of small jars of different shapes that are good for holding spices, or treats, or whatever. I've also had good luck etching on candles in glass jars.
That's a great tip, I have not been to one in a while, but I need to stop by and see what my local one has!
Neat.much more detail and less mess than sand blasting.
Yeah, that why I like the tempura paint. Super easy cleanup other than maybe cleaning out the airbrush for a one off item.
Great video and extremely helpful! Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Awesome video. I've been enjoy playing around with glass engraving. Got a LOT of glas for the recyle bin but having fun.
Yeah, it takes some material to really dial in your settings. I went through a few panes of glass I salvaged from old photo frames to do some testing. If you have a dollar tree near you they often have inexpensive glass items to work with as well. Keep on having fun!
Great video, I bought an airbrush just for this purpose but have not tried it yet. Thanks for the inspiration.
An airbrush is a nice tool to have in the shop. Just make sure you clean it out and don’t let the paint dry in the nozzle.
A little tip. Leave it black and have the silhouette of the image to shine through from the light. You can do the same thing with mirrors and put leds behind in a box to light up the image on the mirror. 🤙
Nicely done and presented
Glad you liked it!
Very good project! Thank you.
Thanks for watching!
A very nice project. Thanks!
Many thanks!
Pretty cool, I need to knock the dust off of my laser and try this.
Go for it! It can be a great way to personalize things like this or photo frames would be another cool item people would like.
A coloured glass votive would look great.
Yeah that would add some color and likely a bit more light to it.
Nice work. I've got the xtool S1 20W. Since I have half the power, I'm guessing a good starting point for me would be 85% power but at half the speed that you used. Re-purposing thrift store items is also a good way to go, plenty of hidden gems that cost next to nothing if you look hard enough.
That might be a good ball park. If you are finding items at the thrift store, see if they have something with a flat piece of glass like a picture frame you can run a quick material test on. Or check out Dollar Tree, they often have inexpensive glass items. A material test will be well worth the use of some glass to dial in your settings.
Neat lil project
Thanks for checking it out!
Thank you for the tutorial. I just received my stool S1, haven’t unboxed it yet. I own a Cricut have had one for several years I can see there are similarities in the design spaces of both machines. How do you know what power level and speed to set the machine for different materials?
@@cindykulp4406 I have been stressing over the power levels and settings too. Luckily, the program that came with the S1 has an update that includes material settings. I have found that sometimes they are spot on and sometimes they need tweeking a little to get them just right. Either way, their suggestions are a great place to start. People also mention their settings on videos. That helps too.
Thanks so much!
XCS has some nice starting points for a variety of materials in their presets. I'll use those as a baseline and run some tests from there.
I've had similar experiences as JaniLewisPaperCompulsions, XTool recommended settings are usually spot on for me as well.
Great video, not sure if I missed it, but what material setting please ? When I bring up glass in material library it has wine glass, is that his the one?
Based off the material tests I ran for my machine and this glass I used 175 speed and 70% power while raising the focus 3mm.
@ thank you
Instead of paper towel I use microfibres cloths. They are less likely to scratch and you can throw them in the washer to save money and the environment.
I do try to use reusable towels as much as possible, but they were all in the laundry at the time. This is also why I like to use water soluble binders so I'm not messing with harsh chemicals that cause even more hazardous trash.
Thanks for the video - new to the Xtool and really liked seeing the process through. I watched a couple times and might have missed - what is the reason for putting the glass up off the honeycomb panel and do you do that for multiple objects/materials? Thanks and subscribed!
That is to prevent flashback from causing a ghosting on the engrave. It wont always happen but having a gap between the material greatly reduces the chance of that happening.
Love this video I tried this method on a glass cup with the rotary tool
the engraving is a lil merky perhaps I didnt coat the layer evenly
if I dont have a flash drier how long u think I have to let it dry
I engrave 50 power at 300 speed
The paint I use turns from a dark wet black to a lighter grey when dry. You can accelerate it with even just air moving over it, but adding some heat with a hair dryer or heat gun will make it much faster. The even coats are key to getting a smooth engrave. Light coats sprayed on, rather than thick coats will dry faster and be more even. Pick up some cheap picture frame glass to do some testing on. I found some at the dollar store for $1.25 each for a 5x7" glass panel in the frame.
@@Vintauri nice whats the best way to get a perfect smooth eveb coat cause i think thats the issue
I have a couple cheap airbrushes I haven't used yet, how much do you need to water down the tempera paint for it to work in the airbrush. I've tried brushing it on but end up with streaks in the paint layer so would like to try the airbrush.
@@rickgibson7876 it depends on your airbrush. A friend of mine sprays his without diluting. I find with mine I need to make it fairly thin, up to a 50:50 mix.
@Vintauri Thanks, I'll give it a try with a 50:50 mix to start and work from there. I've brushed on wine glasses with ok results but if you look closely you can see slightly lighter or darker streaks where the paint was slightly thicker or thinner.
Thanks - nice video.
I wonder what it would look like if you engraved the glass leaving the design not engraved, it might pop nicely. Maybe I'll give that a try, just punch out that design out of a rectangle and then the
light will highlight the design.
That’s a great idea to try out. The more frosted area might glow more.
I'm pretty sure you did (and might have missed it if you said) but just to be sure, did you laser with the paint side up?
Yes I ran this with the laser side up. However if you flip it over, the beam will pass through the glass to the paint on the bottom and will also have an effect.
Sorry, I'm late to the party, how thick is the plywood that you focused on to compensate. And do you do this for everything, or just glass? (asking for a friend also with an S1, LOL)
The plywood was just 1/8" or 3mm thick. I do that occasionally when I'm not as concerned with the power but want a smoother engrave. This essentially defocuses the beam so it's not as harsh when it hits the material.
Can you use a water colour paint through an airbrush, or does it have to be a specialised lazer paint?
This was just watered down tempera paint and nothing specific to lasers. I mostly use acrylic, water soluble paints in my airbrush. For this method you just need a dark opaque binder for the laser beam to interact with.
@@Vintauri Thanks
What settings.? I might have missed it?
Based off the material tests I ran for my machine and this glass I used 175 speed and 70% power while raising the focus 3mm.
Great video, does xtool f1 engrave 3d on crystal cub transparent glass please? Again thank you for helpful videos
I've never attempted that as I believe that is usually done with a UV galvo laser.
@@Vintauri Thank you very much
Not sure if I missed it but did you dilute the paint? If yes, how much (approx.)?
A nice project to personalize a lantern.
I mix it to where the airbrush will spray it fairly consistently but not so thin that it wants to run. This was about 60/40 paint to water.
laser co 2 can do it ?
Yes a Co2 will etch glass and you can do it without the coating.
@@Vintauri thank you
Why do you need credits for the AI which is built into the software? Are they expensive? Does everything cost credits?
Most AI processing happens on servers in the cloud and not on your local computer. They use credits as a way to control excessive use that would bog down the service and drive up their hosting costs. For the xTool AI Make tool, I believe you can get some free credits through various activities on their Design Find site or you can purchase them. They usually start you out with a free bundle to try it out and in come cases if you do not like the art generated, you can get a partial refund of the credits used as long as you have not saved or imported the artwork.
Poster paper from dollar tree work with flat things
If you had a Clack Shack jig kit, you could keep them still without tape... just sayin..
I'm also elevating them off the honeycomb. A Jig, or more properly a fixture would have to be built up to elevate it and keep open space underneath. For a one off item that's more work than worth it.
@@Vintauri not if a friend already has it built... smh..
Even if I had the "jig" built, create a cradle to fit into the "jig" and to elevate it would have taken time and materials. If I was doing 12 lanterns, it would have been worth it. For one lantern, it's a waste of time.