Laser Engraving Slate For DIY Valentine’s Day Gift

Step 1: How To Laser Engrave Slate with Diode Laser

To create this DIY Valentine’s gift, I’m going to use the xTool M1 laser etching machine. This machine is a laser cutter, engraver and blade cutter. A versatile tool and perfect for this project.

Step 2: Choose Laser Engrave Settings for Slate

The first place to check what settings you need to engrave your material is within the xTool XCS software itself. Which is the free software you use with this engraving machine. Selecting the material as ‘Stone Coaster’, will set the power and speed settings for the engraving.

This is a good place to start and may work perfectly well. But as you’re going to do a test grid of other setting variations, where else can you look? 

Firstly, check the xTool materials settings page. Make sure that you select the right xTool machine, the material and then the laser power. 

That will give you three numbers. The power, the speed and the number of passes (how many times it will engrave the image).

Secondly, check out projects shared by members of the various xTool Facebook groups. People happily share their successful projects and the settings they used so others can recreate them. 

With these numbers as a guide, you can create a test grid. The better results will be clear and you can use those settings for your final project.

Step 3: Best Setting For Engraving Slate Using Test Grid

You can create a test grid in XCS software. Vary each setting slightly.

Based on other people’s recommendations, I varied the speed from 120 to 160. And the power from 10 to 20. All of those combinations should work, but it will determine which the best option is.

Step 4: Prep the Slate for Laser Engraving

Additionally, I prepped the slate coaster for the test grid with different base coats. This was to see which base made the engraving look the best. The base coats were with black spray paint, a clear sealer, mineral oil and also the natural slate.

As expected, based on the settings research already done, they were all a decent result. A higher power and faster speed such as 17 power and 147 speed worked well. But other than the low power settings of 10, most of these different speeds would have done a good job.

For the base coat, the look you like is a personal preference. I was torn between the darker black helping the engraved surface to really stand out and the natural prettiness of the slate. 

It might seem like the mineral oil was clearly the worst choice.

However, slate easily absorbs oil from things like your fingers. So preparing it in advance with oil will prevent it from getting oily marks on it in the future.

Another advantage of mineral oil is that it is food-safe. So an ideal top coat if you’re going to use your slate as a charcuterie board or similar.

Step 5: Heart Slate Test Material

Slate is a natural material and therefore comes with variations in its surface. The more uneven the surface, the harder it will be to get a consistent engraving across it.

As the laser beam works by being set at a certain distance from the object, a variation in the height of the material, will have an impact on the finish.

To avoid this, you can sand the slate more smooth with 80-grit sandpaper before starting. Then you need to clean the slate with soap and water and let dry before you begin.

I used two slate hearts for this Valentine’s project. One is a test of the design, which will be repurposed for another project. And the large heart for the actual gift. 

I didn’t sand smooth either of these hearts as they didn’t need it.

Step 6: Choose Engraving Design

The design for this heart slate is something anyone could adapt and create. I used pairs of things that people love and go together. Such as strawberries and cream, hugs and kisses and puddles and wellies. 

This could be easily adapted to personalised things for yourself. Your own favourite drinks, your takeaway order, anything that makes you think of special memories.

There are several typefaces in XCS but I used Canva to have more options. I went for an easy-to-read typeface. But something more ornate or that looks like handwriting could work really well too.

Step 7: Choosing Images to Engrave on Slate

It is difficult to do subtle shading on slate, so a simpler line drawing will be more successful.

To match the wording on this slate, I also used Canva to select the images. I selected cute, basic drawings that paired with the words.

Step 8: Laser Engraving Pictures on Slate

Ideally, export the image and text as SVG files. This file type means that you can increase or decrease the size without losing any quality.

But this also separates the images into lines rather than staying as a whole. For the engraving test, I used different power and speed settings for each group of words.

This works out the best combination for the final piece.

Step 9: Add Slate to Laser Engraving Machine

After the design is ready, you can add the slate to the xTool machine. Try and line up the slate so that it is in the centre of the machine and straighten it so that the design will engrave how you expect it to.

The camera shows how the design will be displayed on the material. This is where you can move the design around.

Engraving doesn’t make colour, so if the image isn’t in black and white, you can make it greyscale to see what it will look like.

I left the colour of the hearts when importing it into XCS but they would always turn out grey.

Step 10: Laser Engraving The Image Onto Slate

With any material, you should do a test engrave to check the settings are as good as possible. Ideally, you should have two of the same material. One is the test and the other is the final project. 

With each word pair having different settings, this is where you can compare the best combination. While almost everything was engraved nicely, ‘Strawberries and Cream’ and ‘Bucket and Spade’ were fainter. These were the middle power and middle speed settings.

After the test engraving, I changed the wellies to a design with less detail.

Step 11: Spraying Black Base Coat on Slate Before Engraving

Then onto the final piece. This slate is much larger than the test heart.

As the heart slate board I was engraving wasn’t perfectly consistent in colour, I went with spray painting with black first.

This would help the engraving stand out more rather than get lost amongst any little imperfections in the slate stone colour.

Step 12: Laser Engraving Final Project

You should stay near the machine while it is working to ensure that everything goes to plan. You can pause the process if need be and come back to it later.

This slate took about 1 hour to engrave.

Step 13: Sealing the Engraved Slate

You don’t have to seal the slate if it’s going to be purely decorative or used as a coaster. However, if it’s going to be in contact with food, it should be sealed. You can use a small amount of mineral oil or a sealer suitable for countertops. 

The advantage of sealing is that it will make the engraving more durable. However, it is likely to impact the colour of the engraving slightly. 

One of my favourite things about engraving is that you have the freedom to engrave whatever words or messages you like. You could engrave a loving message, a special date, your initials or create custom designs. 

Engraved slate looks impressive and feels special. And it’s not difficult to do. It’s a win all round.

And it’s a durable gift that can last for years.