Laser and plasma cutting agate

[jackjoh]

I am a Rockhound and have been doing some carving of agate. I was wondering if it was possible to carve stone with a laser or plasma? Trying to reduce the time it takes to carve a dog without all the multiple steps of grinding and polishing.

 

[Kiel]

It's not conductive so I'm guessing no

 

[RogueJeepr]

There are companies that can etch a rock and put your address OR name on it.

Sent from my H1611 using Tapatalk

 

[Caleb]

I doubt plasma would do anything due to it not being conductive, but the right laser would certainly do whatever you want to it. It doesn't need to be conductive for laser to work.

 

[I Lean]

Water jet will cut pretty much anything.

 

[BlueWolfFab]

Make a stencil out of steel with a plasma cutter and then sandblast your stencil into the rock

 

[jackjoh]

I did a google search and there are machines that will laser etch wood that cost $200 to $400 and some that will etch rock that cost $500 to $6000 dollars. But they will not carve deep like I want to do with agate. Does anyone out there have one of these machines that I could observe in action? If not do you know a shop near Riverton that etches plaques etc.?

 

[jackjoh]

I found this place this morning. https://www.epiloglaser.com/products/zing-laser-series.htm
It will etch marble but not sure it will etch agate which is denser and much harder on the mohs scale.

 

[DToy]

I'm co-owner of Walker Monument in Orem. We just purchased a laser but we're still in the process of building a room to house it and then we'll have a bit of a learning curve to get through with it. Ours has a 100 watt laser (about double the strength of the epiloglaser). Once we get it up and running I'd be happy to see what we could do for you.

Agate is similar to granite on the hardness scale (6-7 for granite, 7 for agate) so our machine should be capable of engraving it.

 

[jackjoh]

D Toy. thanks for the invite. will keep in touch.