Is Ebonite laser safe ?

[Andrea Weissenseel]

I had a customer asking me to engrave a comb, it is made out of Ebonite - has anybody engraved that material yet ?

Andrea

[Lee DeRaud]

Ebonite is just hard rubber, isn't it? On this side of the Atlantic, the name is more closely associated with bowling balls than hair care products.

Ah yes, here it is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebonite ...says the combs have been around since the mid-1800's.

[Andrea Weissenseel]

Yes, Lee that's the material. I gave it a try on a small piece and it smells like burned tires - I just wanted to make sure it is safe to engrave before I do a lot of them

btw my bowling ball says Ebonite on it, doesn't bounce though :D

[Lee DeRaud]

I gave it a try on a small piece and it smells like burned tires...Yup. That's the reason a lot of people don't do rubber stamps on their lasers.

Perfectly 'safe', just not particularly pleasant. :D

[Andrea Weissenseel]

*lol*

rubber stamps I really do a lot, just using that "no smell" rubber - works great :)