Laser Cutting Through Wax Resist (or, attempting to)

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[@hamishdc123]

Love the added benefit of the reindeeer cardboard cutout that it will keep an inquisitive toddler entertained. You are an inspiration as both an innovative potter as well as providing unique ideas to entertain young children! I am a year 1 teacher in the uk who has started creating pottery in the last year and you have by far been the most helpful, comprehensive and understandable source of inspiration for me to help me get started in making pots at home. Keep up the amazing work, your videos have helped me to learn so much in my ceramic journey and you continue to inspire my interest and curiosity for the medium :)

[@embee7434]

Love you walking with us through your experimental process. Those coasters looked amazing. Excited for next steps!

[@mai-linhhopkinson3568]

Joe - love your videos. I too have been looking for the ceramics problem to which the diode laser is the solution to… i did just recently test a few other resists. I tested on a bisqueware tile to ensure consistency of surface. Water based sealant, latex, school glue,acrylic paint, wax with oxide, wax emulsion. I tested most at 100% power then i tested my two best at 50%. Speed was fairly high as I don’t want to have the laser be the time limiting step in any process that I use ( 45mm/s) My preliminary conclusion was that water based sealer and wax were the worst performers followed by paint. Glue came out on top. The sealant penetrated too deeply and so there was no absorbency even for the 10W laser at 100% power. The same power over melted the wax and caused it to withdraw from the edges. Paint kind of worked but i found that the surface application was very varied and left variability in the marks. ( could try spray paint). Glue was easier to create a consistent surface and seemed to be a match for the laser giving good crisp lines. Still working on finding the perfect problem for what seems like a tremendous and accessible solution ( I have an stool D1 pro).

[@YaaLFH]

The bottom plate is removable (there are 4 screws holding it in place) - you remove it to use the rotary attachment or work with tall items. There is a pack of riser blocks included, or you can use anything really to lift the machine and it will work as long as you keep the surface of the item within 16mm of the base plate. Just don't look directly at the item and keep children/pets away as there is no eye protection from the sides. xTool now sell a riser base which has laser blocking doors on both sides, it's a very useful addition if you work with larger items.
As for why some glazes don't react to the laser, you're right. The laser emits a 455nm beam so some substances are effectively transparent to it - most notably clear and blue coloured acrylic.
The fumes can sometimes be toxic and/or corrosive, that's why you should never laser PVC or ABS (there are cases of people ruining their machines by cutting one project from a vinyl).

[@diterex]

Would you get different results from using the laser directly on the greenware? Also leather hard vs bone dry?

[@DragonArtsAcademy]

Maybe laser shellac instead of wax?

[@mark314158]

Can you cut a thin sheet of clay?

[@OldForgeCreations]

I haven't tried, but I think it would be unlikely to cut through in a sensible timeframe