When I wanted to make a sundial for my mother-in-law, I had a nice slab polished and the tombstone maker glued a kind of sandblast resistant rubber on it. The polishing was done so smoothly that the rubber held well, but it would not have shown a shadow at all well.
I then drew the artwork on the rubber and my wife (who uses knives in a safer way than I do) cut the design with an Xacto-style knife. We then returned the slab to the tombstone maker who sandblasted the slab to the right depth, removed the rubber, and cleaned the stone. Then he removed the very smooth finish from the surface and made it into a surface that shows the shadow much better. (presumably by lightly blasting the whole slab again? ) The whole affair cost only little more than the slab itself. This seems practical in any country. Count only the sunny hours, Rudolf ----- Original Message ----- From: John Carmichael <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, March 08, 2000 4:07 PM Subject: laser engraving on stone > Hello dialmakers: > > The past few years, the local garden centers have been selling rounded > smooth river rock that have single supposedly inspiring words engraved on > each one (Like "Light" or "imagine" for example). The quality of engraving > is good, much like tombstone engraving. The manager told me that they were > engraved by laser. Tombstones are also engraved by laser, I've been told. > > I don't know how thin the lines can be done or if there is any control over > cutting depth. > I once asked the local tombstone maker if I brought him a drawing of a > sundial could he have it laser engraved? He said sure, for 600.00 dollars! > I thanked him and left. > > John Carmichael > > p.s. I'll be on vacation till Monday, so won't answer e-mails till Tuesday. > >
