I used to run a laser engraver in a woodshop that specialized in executive gifts/awards. This was back in the early 90's, when a laser engraver was north of $70K. That machine paid itself off in the first year. But the number one seller in our shop was engraved acrylic plaques. We figured out that smearing dish soap on the front surface gave the laser something to dump energy into, and then it wiped right off. Cheap and easy. Try it.

Sam, you are a credit to our craft! Thank you 1) for sharing your story and 2) for not being threatened to share your secrets. We could all be a bit more revealing in our journey, but you have gone to a lot of effort to make it 'public'. For that I thank you.

you were friendly, not loud, simple clear honest info. I like that.

This is the first time I've seen one of your videos and I have to say that I really like your personality. The brief 'Squirrel' moment you had earlier was cute but not forced for comedic effect. Very natural and organic. I look forward to more of your work.

Great video again. Couple of slate lasering tips that may help or not :-) After the acetone dries, try a wipe of mineral oil on the slate before you engrave. That will help them really pop. The one with the fade may have been caused by it being slightly out of level (check the rubber feet - I've had them vary significantly even on a single coaster). Also, if you check the coasters before you remove them, you can re-run the job for a 2nd pass and even it all out. As long as they don't get moved, your laser should hit them spot on top of what has already been lasered.

You are a shining example of what this country is all about. God bless you. Hope your business continues to excel....

Your channel was randomly recommended and after watching approximately 4 minutes I immediately subscribed. There’s something about your demeanor and delivery that grabbed my attention. Keep up the great content.

Hey Sam, you have absolutely became one of my favorite people to watch on KZfaq! I think a good video upcoming would be for all the tips and tricks you have learned about light burn. Oh and I’m super excited to learn that there is a tablet I can use in the garage instead of my laptop so thanks for sharing that

Your honesty and attention to detail is refreshing. Subscribed and look forward to more videos.

Thank you for the great information. I rarely use links from KZfaq videos but your links seem like they are of actual value to me. Thanks again and I look forward to more videos from you!

Hi Sam, having had a quick look at your coasters, there is a slight difference in the surface finish of the two items, The first one is a little rough, which means the laser has to pentertrate deeper, which it can't. Therefore the feathering occurs ( this is according to my husband Ken, by the way).

Just got a Xtool d1 Pro 10W laser. Absolutely amazed with what all it can do. Your video is very useful. Thank you.

I used to do a lot of this when a member of the TechShop a few years ago. I really liked lasering on slate. It's nice to see there are ready to go products available... I used to cut and finish each one by hand! I miss having access to a maker space. Good luck in your business!!!

Stumbled on your channel recently. Mainly we just purchased a Ortur and went looking around. I find your channel enlightening as well as encouraging. Thank you for your insight! It’s appreciated!

Sam I did mess up on a few slate coasters, they can be reconditioned on a sander in the shop then reused but the only issue is the surface is smooth. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. You have taught me a lot so far.

Sam thank you for your informative videos. Only one month ago I bought a laser engraver and I’ve paid for it already with one job. A restaurant / inn I stay out in the UK here needed new key fobs. I have a secret supply of small hardwood, but oak and other woods, and so I took a sample of a key fob to the manager and he ordered 17 of them for a very good price. I am now figuring out how to make some Christmas decorations for the house and finally worked out how to ‘trace’ round an image to cut out of card and make a very effective decoration with a battery powered to light behind it. All the very best to you and your laser cutter.

Hey Sam... I don't do any Laser work but I clicked on your video for some reason! Glad I did... :) I really enjoyed your way of presenting. Your vid is easy to follow, good sense of humour, valuable info for those in the field, massive transparency...! All very helpful to help me trust you and want to learn more from you. Even though I have no plans to enter this space I really enjoyed this and wish you every success my man. I will recommend your channel to anyone who is in the space for sure. Rock on dude! Cheers Greg

Thanks for great content without any of the annoying stuff other üTubers seem to be addicted to. The Princess Bride... (still) the greatest comedy ever made, nearly 25 years later!

This video was helpful. I got a bonus tip and you didn't even know you gave it... hanging the miter saw on the wall when not in use. Awesome!

*Another great video Sam!* I find I get different results based on the grain, so I always orient the grain vertically. Since doing that, I haven't had a single fail. I only do monograms, they sell like hotcakes!

I just wanted to say it's obvious from watching your videos you are a very good person I appreciate Who You Are I'd like to fill America with 100 million more like you. Cheers

Great video. I have a giant co2 laser. It hasn't made much money for me yet but I know it will soon. I have mostly been designing and making gifts so far but when I start posting products I hope I can sell some. Always nice to see what others do with their lasers.

Awesomeness all around.. I'm just breaking into the laser market and these tips will take me a thousand miles.. Thanks Sam!!!

Sam, your videos are in my top 2 or 3 (many times #1) in presentation & explanations.

Thanks for showing us some of the ins of running your bussiness and craft! I'd like to get into cnc engraving and etching

I like the coaster that you sad was bad. I like the variety in the depth of the lines. keep it, sell it, it looks good.

I too, have been running a laser engraved slate coaster product for about a year and they do great, from custom design to in house designs.

Love our custom coasters!!! Thanks so much. You should offer wood coasters sealed in epoxy. Just an idea

Just stumbled onto your channel, after a minute I subscribed.

Sam, a couple things. I have found precoating the lasers gives a better look in the end. A simple spray of clear is all that is needed. Personally I use 1 coat of spray shellac as it dries really quickly. Secondly, with all of your orders, start saving the bucks and jump up to a c02. I had 2 diode lasers for a couple years and end of summer last year (2021) I finally jumped to a 60w omtech and I can run a set of 4 coasters at high speed and low power pretty fast! Worth noting, and I am sure you know, running the diode laser at 100% will burn it out much faster, but I get that its worth it for the speed aspect on a lower powered unit.

If you use some rustoleum gloss spray enamel on the slate coasters before engraving it makes the engravings show up much more clear. Just 1 coat and a few minutes with a heat gun to dry quickly works really well. I find without the spray enamel that unless you're looking at it from the right angle, the light just reflects off of the image and it can't be seen that well. A matt clear coat works too but gloss seems to show up the best. Makes the slate even blacker and makes the white pop. Also lighburn is definitely the software to use, unfortunately some of the best laser engravers only use their own proprietary software. So definitely do your research before buying. The ortur laser master 2 pro is definitely a good starter one. It's what I have. I have the short focus laser module for better engraving. While they also sell a long focus version for better cutting. I find that if you have experience with 3d printers, a diode laser engraver will be really simple to understand with assembly and software. Like 3d printers, it's all about trial and error. Each material requires different speed and power settings just like different 3d printer fillaments. Run test pieced with the types of materials you want to use. This includes different kinds of wood. As for me, I'm running a single machine out of my bedroom in my apartment for a small business. The next step is to save up about $6,000 for a fiber laser engraver, because I have a lot of people asking if I can do metal, which unfortunately, with a diode laser you cant.

Love watching your videos, I'm only about 45 minutes from you in south carolina. Your videos have helped me a lot.

Getting my machine on Saturday...Can't wait to get started in this journey like you and The Louisiana Hobby Guy...two great channels.

I order from Uline a lot for my work. The minimum order for free shipping is 550$ And always factor in waste or bad cuts it's part of doing this type of work. Subbed great content no bullshit

I got soaps and coasters sets for my grown kids stocking stuffers this year. They were thrilled ! My son got the Goonies set and he just loved em! Really they all loved them. And the soaps smell amazing!

U-line is awesome. As a DDS, I used to package travel oral hygiene supplies in a clear tube with color coded rubberized ends and give these out as promo swag on kayak group outings. Waterproof and keep other thing "fresh" like smokable legal things

Really enjoyed the video and your information. Hoping for more videos!

I knew we was gonna be friends when I seen that TS hat those are the best. You got my vote !

u can also save on the bubble wrap by getting the free flat rate shipping envelopes from USPS. u can either ship with them, or just throw them into a different container.

Don't know if anyone said it but if you get a fade one it could be the un even surface making laser slightly out of focus. 1. Maybe Save them up and Sell them as misfits slightly discounted or a pack with 1 bad at 10% off 2. Re run the print before moving it and it may get a little clearer/defined on a second pass. Great video and well done for getting a business up and running. keep up the good work 💪

Good video, thanks. That saw hanging on your wall has seen better days! 😂

What an awesome thing to share! Thank you Sam for giving your insights into a portion of your small business! Thank you so much. x from New Zealand.

I am glad to see you are really using both lasers to grow your business.

your candidness got me subscribed. eager to watch some more.

Just bought an engraver and its great to see examples of its potential use! Thanks for this...and I love the Goonies coasters!

I've been doing slate coasters too. Finish them off with a coat of spray lacquer to really make them pop

To my knowledge, and from experience, fingerprints, q bit of oil residue, wax pencil lines and such won't affect the etch from a laser on stone. We've been doing pizza oven hearthstones at work for a few years now, no problems with residues. Thatight save you a fewinutes next run you do. Love your video, and how you break it down for us. Keep it up brother

I'm really close to purchasing a CNC Machine and of course a Laser system at the same time. This video could not have come at a better time for me. Thanks for the info and heads up on everything laser and beyond. Keep up the good work. We're recent TN residents and really enjoy your story.

My buddy luke combs we love watching your videos at first I tought it was luke combs since I been watching some country videos lol thanks for all your tips Sam craft!

As a current uline employee, we thank you. I believe you can buy your parking in just a single roll. Great video.

Love that I happened to stumble on these videos through my freecad and 3d printing worm hole I been down. Prior I hadn't considered laser engraving even though I been doing it for 10 years on a $20k plus epilog machine. 10 years ago I only found industrial machines that run on par with cnc machine prices. Our primary use is engraving and accurate punch and drill locations on product I build. Seeing these machines and the affordability is awesome! All the ways I've already used engravers and all the solutions I'm used to from, materials to setups to software (we use corel draw 3 and its excellent for the drawing process and communicates well with the printer) I also use corel to convert to dxf files to cnc as well. I can't wait to dive in to this world to make myself $ instead of a company. Thanks for the great videos

Princess bride! A classic! Love that movie! You can get a multiple port USB that will plug into your single port. ( micro center) I had to do that too. I had to be able to run my mouse and laser. And my computer wasn't cheap. Lol Great video! Love the slate!

coaster isnt flat, diodes have a very small focus distance. You can sand them and use again. Also try applying a coat of clear lacquer before engraving. This gives even greater contrast. Id post some examples but YT wont let me

One USB port should be no problem since you can daisy chain up to a total of 127 devices ( the newer versions may be higher). So get a hub and you can USB until your heart is content.

I spray a thin coat of krylon clear coat BEFORE I engrave my slate. Makes the engraving pop!

Hi Sam! You have a great channel. Regarding the anomaly/difference in engraving outcome. I’ve been playing with laser cutters for a few years at university and have found that sometimes the laser needs to warm up (run a spoil job) before going for the actually thing. Other times dust at the lenses will impact the quality. And of course the major one, the Z focus height is very important. I’m sure you know most if not all of this, just wanted to let you know. All the best! : D

Thanks for your insight and sharing the knowledge of your business. Oh, and the source of your materials helps more than you can imagine. One comment though, you wiped each coaster down with acetone to remove fingerprints, oil, etc, then you handle them with your bare hands??? Even 'dry' hands have some oil on them and can undo what you just spent time and money doing. Keep the videos coming.

@ 11:32 the unknown bug you encounter. the laser takes some time to get up to full speed. Either your laser driver or the program that you are using compensates for this with a weaker laser power at the edge. This can be prevented by overscanning.

Excellent presentation! Thanks for sharing your tips. I hope your business continues to thrive and brings you much joy! 👍🏻😎

Thank you for confirming Lightburn raised their prices. I had so many people telling me it’s always been $60 and I knew I paid $30 in 2018 and it wasn’t until a few months ago that I got a message saying I needed to pay $30 annually to get updates.

"The Princess Bride"! Yes!

Max, The one with the fade may have been caused by a smaller thickness of the slate, i had some that where up to 1mm less thick, so your laser is out of focus then. Nice video's keep it up!

Thanks for sharing your experiences, great ! It does help indeed.

Great video. Thank you for sharing this information, one thing I would suggest is to use environmental friendly packaging (a.i. NOT plastic) In my experience, customers will appreciate and pay for it!

Great info, on software, and products you use, and the uline bags are awesome. Thanks Chuck

Thank you for sharing this with us. nice work by the way :)

Not sure if anyone mentioned this, but I didn’t notice air assist on your setup. That could have to do with the inconsistent images. The air assist will push away debris and smoke that can haze the laser lens and obscure focus. You can find some fairly inexpensive units out there. Good luck.

Ah - another big Princess Bride fan! Bravo. First video of yours that I stumbled on. Subscribed. Interesting content. Keep it up!

Exactly what I was searching for. I'm starting my own business and I found this video extremely helpful. Thank you so much!

You can always get a USB hub to use, it normally has like 5 USB ports on it.

You have a great presentation style. Very easy to follow.

So I visited the links to your stuff and can't find the coasters. Even if it's later than Christmas it's cool with me. Videos like this and other makers I've watched make me want to take that laser plunge. We'll see what happens. Best of luck and I did your channel. God bless you and yours brother.

Something you could do is X-out with the one that aren't perfect is to make random set. Mark a couple of dollars cheaper. It would be like X-out a disc golf disc. X-out is messed-up stamp or other cosmetic blemishes on an otherwise perfectly good disc. If it has a dimple or other structural flaw, we either return it or put it into our Goobered category. Goobered discs have small yet genuine flaws, like a scratch, bump or indelible mark

I personally don't own CNC machines or laser coasters. I do like the basic concept of the custom designed coasters. You could work out of season like thanksgiving themes in July in the bulk, stock them into sets, prepackage with labels and set aside in a corner for October orders.

Thanks for sharing. Excited to try slate on my laser.

FYI. You're able to sand the slate with a sander to remove the image. And then try again and again until it works or not...

Check the coaster thickness with a caliper. It might be that the coaster was a tad thinner in that area.

Thank you so much for this inspiring video. It was a pleasure to watch! Will check out your other videos for sure. Ah, and I think your personality is fantastic!

Thank you for your transparency and sharing.

I like your vibe. And the information was very helpful. I'm a new hobby woodworker thinking of selling coasters. I just ordered an engraver. I read somewhere that customized items sell better.

Love the video it helped a lot and it’s just fun to see people making things

Great video, thanks. I’m embarrassed that it took me nearly to the end of the video to recognize that the coaster said “bee” kind

Wow great video. Alot great Info for me. And wanting a small slash home 🏡 hussle.

Thank you so much for the tutorial and the information. On my part it was very appreciated and well done. Thanks again.👍

From one Sam to another this was a great video, thankyou!

Thank you Sam. That was a good video. I'm just wondering though, the title to your video says "My Top Sellers" so I was kinda expecting more than just one product. I've been doing these slate coasters for a while now and your advice is spot on. Would like to hear what else yo sell.

Thank you for the video. I just ordered my Ortur LM2 Pro this morning. I appreciate a look at the business side of the business since I hope one day to be able to sell crafts to support my woodworking.

I have had dimming of cut when I run the laser continuously without breaks. I also got what I call the dot matrix printer effect. Where I would have bands of light and dark. There again. Let it rest for a bit. Hope this helps. I was trying to perfect a design and kept re printing only to run into that problem. So I stopped what I was doing, shut It all down and tried it later. Ran perfectly. Then I remembered about letting it rest in-between.

😃👍Danke für das Video. Eine gute Idee. Werde ich mal testen.

My respect to you man. Great business and this achievement video is more motivating than those simply preaching. Thumbs up.

❤️Lightburn is inexpensive at any price…… for those with some business and historical perspective….software/firmware is the real magic that makes all this “Cheap” hardware work😎

Feathered edges means your stock is not the same height across the blank (upper surface parallel to worktop). Only solution is to check with a straightedge or mini level before you run. Not sure it would pay to try resurficing bad blanks.

Thank you Sam for sharing great info!

Have you ever had customers complain that water damages the engraving? I’d like to make these for my friends, but I wonder how durable they are. Love watching the progress on the new homestead!

Well crafted video - thank you so much for sharing!

Sam, I loved your video! I'm looking at buying an engraver myself and have been binge watching laser videos and I must admit that I like you no-nonsense videos refreshing. Keep them coming. May I ask how much you charge for a set of the coasters you showed? Are the custom coasters more for a set? How many do you put in a set? Thanks!

Great video man! Been thinking of getting into the business myself. Very informative.

Great info, I just got an xtool D1 and rotary attachment and can’t wait to get started

im coming off your ortur laser master pro review, in the future (it still sucks) i will say i audibly laughed and will now use "SQUIRELL" as a segway. love it

Great video. Thank you.