Etching stainless steel with plaster of paris

[Jonas Rullo]

Has anyone tried this: 

http://hackaday.com/2014/12/25/laser-etch-stainless-with-only-plaster-alcohol/

I read that post plus the two it references and was not able to duplicate the result with our 40W laser cutter on full or half power. I tried a cutting profile, which is a vector path. I also tried an engraving profile that fills the pattern as shown in the images. I tried three different stainless steels. One was a starbucks stainless 16/10 mug. That info is stamped on the bottom. I also tried a spoon that is marked stainless. I also tried a silvery stainless looking water flask/bottle from Costco. The Costco bottle does not say stainless on it but it almost looks like stainless, which it's probably not. 

I'd love to hear if you're able to get the blackened stainless engraving look using your 100 watt machine.

I used a slurry  of plaster of paris and alcohol in several different densities and varying levels of thickness. I dried the mix to the metal with a heat gun. I also tried just waiting for it to air dry. Nothing seemed to work. 

The plaster just got blown off by the laser in the pattern I used and left no mark. It looked like it was lightly etched before washing off the plaster, but then nothing was left on the metal after cleaning. 

I wouldn't be surprised if our 40W laser isn't that powerful although it does cut acrylic well and engraves pretty much anything except metals. 

[Jeremy Z]

We've etched stainless before but not like that. We used the raw stainless, no coatings or anything. It didn't give it black markings but it did leave a light yet visible and permanent pattern in the metal. We didn't need to run it past 85% power for sure, likely used less than that but I don't remember anymore.

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[Randy Ohman]

Google stainless etching with baking soda for a start. Changing battery polarity toggles between black conversion and etching into the surface.