Laser Business Top Seller 🤑 Engraved Coasters 💵 5 Types for Max Profit - PDF Design File Available

We break down five different coasters to show how you can achieve the best profit when offering this in your laser business. We use our Trotec Speedy 400 to make these coasters, but a Glowforge or other hobby laser can tackle these coasters as well.
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****DESIGN FILE AVAILABLE****
Get access to the design files from this project and many others by becoming a Patron at:
/ 20220902-coaster-74489761
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Good sources for making coasters*:
Slate Coasters
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Cork Coasters
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Ceramic Tiles
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Felt Adhesive Pads
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Clear Adhesive Pads
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Castle Art Supplies 24 x 12ml Oil Paint Set
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Paint Brushes Set
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Items used in our projects*:
Application Tape
6" x 100': amzn.to/3aDOQPK
12" x 100': amzn.to/3ALDJz7
24" x 100': amzn.to/3PmyIkq
Sili The Complete Silicone Glue Kit
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WORKPRO Bar Clamps for Woodworking
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Clamps
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Binder Clips for Clamping (medium and large work best)
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E6000 Craft Adhesive
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Professional Grade Aluminum Foil Tape
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ScotchBlue Original Painters Tape
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Titebond 5003 II Premium Wood Glue
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Precision Screwdriver Kit
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Castle Art Supplies 12 Large Acrylic 75ml Paint Tubes Set
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Acrylic Paints by Artist's Loft Fundamentals
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DecoArt Dazzling Metallics Acrylic Paint 2oz-Bright Bass
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Royal Brush Manufacturing Royal and Langnickel Zip N' Close 12-Piece Brush Set
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Vector Software - We Use Adobe Illustrator
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*As an Amazon and Adobe Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
#smedleyworks

[@JasonNeri]

Pro-tip: if you have access to a tile saw. Buy slate floor tiles at the big box stores, broken ones for a discount. Cut into 4x4 squares and get creative with the edges... Fraction of the cost

[@jakerazmataz852]

I've also heard you can get scrap veneer and plywood.

[@terryharris1291]

Thanks for the tip

[@jakerazmataz852]

Depending on how you cut them, you might be able to put it in a frame to hide the edge. 🤷‍♂

[@Adamtherealboss]

I've found the laser engraving community to be very open and welcoming. Muchmore than most industries I have dealt with.

[@TeeNMugCrafters6092]

Very brilliant works, many thanks for this excellent guide

[@caneloANDRETTi]

Keep these type of videos coming! We just bought a FSL laser and coming up with a line of products we will be offering

[@rdr6253]

very nice, informative and easy to watch. great job

[@redditchscroller7049]

I use thin cork backing discs on my 3mm round ply coasters and laser my makers mark on it. I then give it a quick blast of spray lacquer to seal the cork and stop the lasering wearing off. I have been testing them for over a year now with hot and cold drinks and the cork backers still look like new.

[@frankligas2249]

Thanks for the video. Just found your channel. It was suggested through the KZbin algorithm after I watched a few Louisiana Hobby Guy videos. Good video. Good content. I am just getting started with a laser engraving. I took a getting started class at my local Makerspace here in Charlotte, NC. FYI… a poor-man’s mask for engraving is a wet sheet of card stock typing paper. The water keeps it from going up in flames and sticks it to the material. I have spray painted over the wet paper, let it dry and it comes right off with no clean up. Another pro tip: The masking film on that acrylic you engraved can be a paint to peal off all the little pieces. Use duct tape. It peals all the little bits off in one pass. Glad I found your channel. You get a Subscribe and a Thumbs up. Keep up the good work.

[@jamescooper1991]

very good

[@NickSpirov]

You can pull up all the protector tape without weeding, by putting stronger tape on top and peeling. Like duct tape.

[@smedleyworks]

Thanks for watching! We appreciate it! If you like what you see and would like to see more videos, please click the Like and Subscribe buttons. Plus, get access to the design files from this project and many others by becoming a Patron at: patreon.com/smedleyworks 🙂

[@pauljackson7668]

Would love these design files but hate patreon. Are they available anywhere else?

[@brat8388]

How did you clean off the slight scorching on the cork? It cleaned up really well

[@wcgator1996]

Another great video with useful information and no fluff. When it comes to shipping your coasters, how much does it typically cost? Or do you charge for shipping?

[@smedleyworks]

Coasters are mostly going to be fairly light, so shipping USPS 1st class package mail will probably be the cheapest option. You will need to decide if you want to charge price + shipping, or increase your price to include "free" shipping. I think the topic of shipping would make a good video. I'll add it to our future video list. 🙂

[@SharonMehl]

I usually use a light coat of mineral oil on the slate coasters before engraving. Use a paper towel to take off any excess. Good video with comparing the different types of medium. I'll be adding clear acrylic coasters to my store, when it comes online, to go with the slate coaster offering. Thanks for the reminder on that, even though not absorbant, it does look really nice.

[@123yesindeed]

Nice vid! Thank you. Do you need to do anything to seal the oil paint?

[@smedleyworks]

No, I don't believe you do. My understanding is that oil paints are waterproof when dry.

[@shaunahutchinson7373]

Love this. Thank you! Where do you get your acrylic from? The ones I have found are very pricy.

[@smedleyworks]

We have a local supplier, but you might try a large company like ePlastics.com.

[@FrankieG411]

OK wow I made the frog tile and my wife and I love the way it turned out! A picture cant replace the physical item in your hands to give it true justice! Question where can we find more of the tribal animals? I searched but cant find others that are close to your frog. Or did you make that yourself? Thank you!!! Sincerely Frank

[@smedleyworks]

The frog design was created by one of our in-house artists specifically for this video. I would recommend going to Etsy and doing a search for "tribal clipart" to find other artwork.

[@chuckandy3d249]

The start you messed up. First tape with blue tape Second laser engraving Third paint Fourth put tape over tape then peel, so it all peels off at once. No cleaning needed.

[@pfiltz]

I'm a wood worker, turning pens, bowls, letter openers etc... Just added a 55w laser to the shop. I've been doing some slate coasters, but I like that painting you did on some of these. I've never done acrylic but I think I need to give it a shot. Back to the painting part. Your using a oil based paint? Do you wipe it down while it's still wet? I'll have to watch some vids on painting. Thanks for the content as well.

[@smedleyworks]

Yes, we used oil paint and you should wipe it while it's still wet. :-)

[@pfiltz]

@@smedleyworks Cool. I may order some acrylic and give her a whirl. Thankx

[@MrJimpurvis]

I was curious why you used oil paint vs acrylic because acrylic paint dries so much faster.. but I really appreciate this video!!!

[@smedleyworks]

I think I thought it would rub in better? I'm not a huge fan of oil paints. I do usually use acrylics for everything. 🙂

[@GarvinYeung]

Have you tried using the norton method of changing the color of tile to black where it is lasered. I have read about it and haven't been able to get it to work on my trotec speedy 100.

[@smedleyworks]

We've seen videos on it, but we haven't tried it. It's something we'd like to attempt though! Maybe for a future video...

[@RyanTehPyro]

Hit that MDF with some clear-coat and it'll go a long way in preventing water absorption.

[@smedleyworks]

Good tip!

[@ericmichalowski9582]

What technique do you use for the acrylic to get such a good image

[@smedleyworks]

You just need to get your specific laser focused and settings dialed in correctly for the material you're using. If you're marking acrylic like in the video, you don't have to engrave too deep...just deep enough to etch the surface.

[@seen53]

what would you estimate labor & equipment breakdown cost would be?

[@smedleyworks]

It would really depend on your equipment and employee costs. We don't sell coasters, so we don't have that example to give you.

[@catalintoia4366]

Hi! By any chance can I have the frog image please? Thank you!

[@smedleyworks]

Please see the description for information on how to get it. 🙂

[@johngregg5735]

How long does it take to engrave a slate tile?

[@smedleyworks]

I don't have the times in front of me, but we were able to do it pretty fast. We engraved it on a 120w Trotec laser, so your times are going to vary greatly based on your laser's power.

[@johngregg5735]

thanks

[@jakerazmataz852]

Hold up. I've seen at least a couple vids where they say a laser won't cut clear acrylic. Is it because you left the paper on?

[@smedleyworks]

I think they're referring to fiber marking lasers. A CO2 laser cuts clear (or any color) acrylic just fine. 🙂

[@62saki91]

Diodes also take issue with clear acrylic, research different laser types and what is best for what.

[@romantashevRT]

All you folks....did you notice his laser machine. He never said what machine is this. (look for Trotec speedy laser machine) this is industrial grade machine, not for hobby:) Cheers for the price.

[@smedleyworks]

We have both Trotec and Universal lasers. We're also used Full Spectrum in the past. Most of the products or projects we've gone over can be done on the small home hobby lasers too.

[@romantashevRT]

@@smedleyworks That's a relief. :)

[@melissabryant9766]

Is the cost for one coaster, or for a set?

[@smedleyworks]

All the calculations are for a set of 4.

[@chrisperry3525]

your costing/retail price is way wrong. 1.06...that is part of your product cost, but you haven't figured in your time. setup, load, clean, fill with paint, time to package and package cost. Then you have overhead - cost of the machine, marketing, designing, selling, going to the bank, doing taxes, etc. Plus other expenses you're leaving out (room in the house your work in, computer, website, commissions/fees on sales, etc) using your cost and retail figures you'd make more money working at walmart.

[@smedleyworks]

Yes, we didn't include operating costs. We also only used the same arbitrary price for all the coasters just so that it was an apples to apples comparison. You can certainly charge more or less for comparable products. The point was to show the kind of product profit margins you could get with products like these. It's not realistic for us to include all those operating costs as they would be wildly different for us than for you. It's up to you, the business owner, to factor operating costs into your product price, if at all. We do not. We know what kind of product profit margins we need to get to be profitable. That math is specific to us, but wouldn't be relevant to you.

[@veterancustomwoodworx9858]

I sell my coasters for $25 for a set of 4

[@FrankieG411]

great video.. I thought I found the password but it does not work and don't want to put it here lol

[@smedleyworks]

Thank you! The password does work, we just double-checked to make sure that nothing had changed. It's case sensitive and it doesn't work if you put "PASSWORD:" on the front. 😊

[@FrankieG411]

@@smedleyworks hhhmmm the word I saw started with an f all lower case.. I'll rewatch :p

[@smedleyworks]

@@FrankieG411 sounds like you didn't include the first part of the password 🙂

[@FrankieG411]

omg I finally saw it duh lol thanks

[@BryanNWright]

39 % is low on the profit side

[@smedleyworks]

If you watch the entire video, you'll see that I did say that the price used was consistent across all types of coasters for comparison purposes. You can always buy coasters in larger quantities to decrease your costs AND/OR increase your price if you want to increase your profit margin.

[@62saki91]

you're charging only 9.99 for 4 coasters? i see people on etsy charging 20+ all the time for engraved slate coasters.

[@smedleyworks]

If you watch the entire video, you'll see that I did say that the price used was consistent across all types of coasters just for comparison purposes. If you think there will be demand for any of these coasters at a higher price point, then by all means, you should charge more.

[@lilslava]

Why are you paying yourself for your time? Instead of selling those for $9.99, sell them for $30 and actually make some good money.

[@smedleyworks]

If you watch the entire video, you'll see that I did say that the price used was consistent across all types of coasters for comparison purposes. If you think there will be demand for any of these coasters at that price point, then by all means charge that amount.