Photo engraving on granite

To create a photo engraving on granite with the vacuum blast machine of systeco has many advantages. The object doesn´t have to be placed inside or outside a blast cabin. The area to be vacuum blasted can be of any size and the foil is not damaged even during long and intense vacuum blasting.

While you have to watch very carefully when using high pressure blasting that the blasting is not too strong or transverse, we always achieve best results with the vacuum blast technique. One doesn´t have to be a pro.

To create photo engravings is not very simple. First of all, the blasting foil must be created. To do this, the motif is converted into a black and white image using a computer program (e.g. Photoshop) and then into a halftone photo. Since it is not possible to create gray scales in engraving, these are suggested by the dot density. Once the beam motif is finished, a negative image is created and printed on a transparent film. The printed foil is then placed on the blasting foil and both foils are pushed into a UV exposer.  For a few seconds, the blasting foil is irradiated with UV light. The blasting foil is then washed out with water and dried again. The material is destroyed by the UV light at the points where it is to be blasted. 

Finally, the finished blasting motif is given a protective film at the top and bottom so that it can be transported without any problems. Many stonemasons have the motifs created, as they do not have the necessary equipment themselves. Once the foil is ready, blasting can begin. For this purpose, the lower protective layer is removed from the foil, the stone is slightly moistened and then the foil is placed on the stone and pressed on with a rubber roller. Finally, the upper protective film is removed and everything that must not be blasted is masked off. 

Then the blasting starts. As a rule, very fine corundum is used. The film is blasted until the desired depth is reached. The foil is then removed. To enhance the contrast, the motif can be painted over.

Photo engravings on granite are offered by many companies. First and foremost, it is the stonemasons who offer photo engravings as part of their work. In the meantime, however, many companies have also specialized in the creation of photo engravings on granite slabs.

With vacuum blasting from systeco, the creation of photo engravings is particularly easy, since the blasting machine is very easy to operate and the foil is not damaged by the vacuum blasting, even during very long processing.

The QR code is a method of writing down information in such a way that it can be found and read by machine particularly quickly. We are encountering such squares more and more frequently. With the so-called QR code scanner of the smartphone, the respective information is read in easily, quickly and without errors and the user is taken directly to the corresponding page on the internet.

This procedure is increasingly used by bereaved families to present the life and work of a deceased person more comprehensively. The QR code to the corresponding memorial page on the internet is displayed on the gravestone and visitors to the grave can scan it and receive as much information in the form of texts, pictures or films about the deceased as no gravestone, no matter how huge, could present.

In order to place the QR code on the gravestone, the stone has to be brought into the blasting cabin using conventional blasting methods. This is time-consuming and very inconvenient. With the vacuum blasting process from systeco, the QR code can be blasted onto the stone directly on site. The amount of work is minimal.