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Scott M Smith
06-22-2009, 4:29 PM
I had some barcodes put on some of these (http://www.laserbits.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=69_142&products_id=327) and tried to scan them. The scanner is not reading them. They were made on a mini 24 45 W at 20% speed and 40% power as reccomended by laser bits. Can anyone suggest why I cant get them to read? It looks like they are not dark enough. Should they have engraved twice or would that make a difference?

http://www.laserbits.com/images/pdfs/Alumamark.pdf

Duane Parcells
06-22-2009, 5:53 PM
Hi Scott

I have the flier that come from AlumaMark. For a 40 watt laser they suggest 25 power and 30 speed at 600dpi for a starting point. The following notes after the power settings: "It has also been helpful with some lasers to slightly de-focus the laser, in particular when marking satin silver lowering the bed of the laser about an 1/8 of an inch can yield better results. To achieve greater consistency and improve results a second pass is sometimes helpful."

I found that lowering the bed on my laser helped a lot (down 4 clicks on my Epilog). Also, run a test at the suggested speed and increase the power each test until you get a solid black mark. If you run your job and it is not dark enough then the second pass is needed. Don't forget to remove the protective plastic Before lasering.

Duane

Carl Sewell
06-22-2009, 6:52 PM
Did you print the bar codes to paper and try to read them? Have you compared the printout to what you lasered? Are you using a laser barcode reader or a CCD imager?

1D barcodes can be difficult to reliably produce on reflective surfaces: laser scanners have problems reading them. Bar spacing and width spacing is critical and becomes significantly more critical with small bar codes.

Post a picture of the bar code and specify which bar code symbology you used.

Steve Clarkson
06-22-2009, 7:03 PM
For those of you who do barcodes......what is the recommended material to use? Would a Rowmark product work?

Carl Sewell
06-22-2009, 7:09 PM
It all depends on the application and what type of reader will be used. The CCD imagers have become quite sophisticated and can read really low contrast marks on a variety of substrates. Laser scanners (readers) are not as versatile, but can handle a lot of different materials.

Scott M Smith
06-22-2009, 9:09 PM
I did print them on paper first and they worked. I think it just is not black enough. I had someone make these for me so I cant redo them. I am pretty sure that the barcode reader I use is a laser one.

Carl Sewell
06-23-2009, 7:59 AM
Can you post an image of one of the barcodes on Alumamark?

Jon Colley
06-23-2009, 8:56 AM
I would agree with Carl on this. A typical bar-code reader is calibrated to read the difference in reflection between white and black areas on paper or plastic. Once you start marking other objects, you are creating a direct part mark or DPM for short. These can be read by the CCD readers that have built-in contrast correction and adjustable lighting to compensate for surface reflectivity and low-contrast. The top manufacturers of these are Cognix and Siemens but there are others as well.

Scott M Smith
06-23-2009, 4:13 PM
I will try to post a picture when i get back from town. I have to relocate my card reader....again.

Bill Cunningham
06-23-2009, 10:36 PM
For those of you who do barcodes......what is the recommended material to use? Would a Rowmark product work?

I find the matte white/engraves black works very well..

Steve Clarkson
06-23-2009, 11:55 PM
I find the matte white/engraves black works very well..

Thanks Bill.

Gary and Jessica Houghton
06-25-2009, 4:55 PM
I read that if the alumamrk does not print black the first time, you should laser a second time. I would suggest not moving the item though. (I had a bad habbit of this when I first started and it cost me a lot of money)

Sam Wainer
06-01-2012, 4:16 PM
for bacrode labels, it best to use the AlumaMark Matte finish - that our DuraBlack is better for barcodes