Cold Galvanizing Compound - Wow!

[Joe Thorn 911]

After reading David Dustin's post from Sept. 2008 about a Cermark alternative, I tried a can of Rust-Oleum Cold Galvanizing Compound today. It's awesome! It took only one pass with a 50 watt laser at 5 speed, 50% power. (I tried a second pass, but the result was the same) The image is not black, but very dark grey. It's very well adhered to the stainless steel and brass samples I tried. I tried sanding and buffing to remove it and it only came off at the point the metal was scratched up. At $7.20 for 16 oz. ($0.45 per ounce) it's a nice alternative and locally available. Just wanted to share.

[Mike Null]

How did you apply it and clean off the excess?

[Scott Shepherd]

I can't speak for this product, but I do know that burning things that are galvanized can be toxic and deadly. I have no idea if this applies to this product or not, but I do know galvanizing is a bad thing to mess with and you should educate yourself on the hazards associated with it.

Might not be enough to worry about in the inside of your location, but if you vent it where other people or animals are, you might want to look into it.

Just something to think about.

[George Brown]

After reading David Dustin's post from Sept. 2008 about a Cermark alternative, I tried a can of Rust-Oleum Cold Galvanizing Compound today. It's awesome! It took only one pass with a 50 watt laser at 5 speed, 50% power. (I tried a second pass, but the result was the same) The image is not black, but very dark grey. It's very well adhered to the stainless steel and brass samples I tried. I tried sanding and buffing to remove it and it only came off at the point the metal was scratched up. At $7.20 for 16 oz. ($0.45 per ounce) it's a nice alternative and locally available. Just wanted to share.


I assume after you sprayed it, you let it dry, then lasered. How did you get the excess off after lasering?

[Dave Johnson29]

I do know that burning things that are galvanized can be toxic and deadly.

Nope. It can be an irritant. If you breathe a lot of the fumes you may get flu-like symptoms and it can also irritate the throat. Welders who regularly operate on zinc coated (galvanized) develop an immunity to the symptoms.

MSDs will say, "avoid contact" Quote:
"Conditions aggravated/Target organs: Persons with preexisting skin or respiratory disorders may be more susceptible. Acute: Irritation possible to skin, eyes, lungs, mucous membranes, and GI tract. If heated fumes may cause "zinc fume fever". Chronic: None known. "

The small amount of vapor given off lasering some lettering would not matter squat.

[Scott Shepherd]

Galvanizing involves zinc. Breathing burning zinc fumes can be deadly.

Burn it all day long if you wish, but people that throw things in lasers, especially when they are in their home should know that there are serious risks to certain things. Zinc is one of them.

Google it and you'll find many cases where people have died from being exposed to burning zinc fumes.

Not saying it'll happen in this case, but it's something to be aware of.

[Dan Hintz]

Welders who regularly operate on zinc coated (galvanized) develop an immunity to the symptoms.
This "immunity" is also fleeting and is gone within a day or two after regular exposure stops. Welders who were fine with it on Friday had to go through the symptoms come Monday morning.

[Scott Balboa]

Joe - do you have a picture to share of the finished product?

[Steve Clarkson]

Joe - do you have a picture to share of the finished product?

This thread reminded me of two things.....

Teflon Flu and Zicam

[Scott Shepherd]

Keep in mind, I did say it wouldn't be enough to hurt you inside the location, but careful where it vents. Not sure I'd want my kids to be playing out back when I was burning something like Lexan or Zinc.


Might not be enough to worry about in the inside of your location, but if you vent it where other people or animals are, you might want to look into it.

Just something to think about.

[Richard Rumancik]

I haven't tried the cold galvanizing spray, but I am using something for metal marking that contains crystalline silica, molybdenum trioxide, vandium compounds, and methanol, among other things.

Apparently crystalline silica can cause silicosis, a lung disease characterized by coughing, wheezing, impaired lung function and increased sputum production.

The molybdenum trioxide can cause eye and respiratory irritation. If inhaled (based on animal studies) symptoms can include anemia, loss of appetite, diarrhea, tiredness, joint pain, liver and kidney damage, and lung effects.

Vandium compounds are highly toxic by inhalation. Breathing the fumes may cause coughing, rhinitis, bronchitis, metallic taste, and greenish discoloration of the tongue.

Inhalation of methanol can cause headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, blindness, and liver damage. The methanol also makes it flammable.

I only know this because it is on the MSDS for a well-known metal marking compound which is commonly used by members.

The point is that we should use prudence and suitable investigation in deciding what we laser. We also need to be reasonable in locating our exhaust venting, and placing it high up and away from people and animals. On the other hand, I would very much like to hear member's new ideas and discoveries without discouraging them too much from coming forward. I'm not at issue with any particular post, but just observing a general reaction in many threads when someone comes forward with a new idea.

[Scott Shepherd]

Richard, I understand where you are coming from, but from my standpoint, there are many people with lasers who don't come from manufacturing backgrounds. They aren't stupid, but many people just don't know what they don't know. I think it's important to state up front you should be careful or any risks involved, as maybe it's just a person that doesn't post and is passing through the forum. They could see something, think it's a great idea, and spend years damaging themselves or their loved ones. I'd like to be responsible for making sure when they read a post, they know up front that there can be issues rather than saying "oh, it'll be fine, I've done it" on posts. I've done a lot of stuff too. I've worked with galvanized metals before. You can say it's not long term harmful, but until you see the smoke, the color of the smoke, and the intensity of it, I'm not sure you can appreciate just how nasty that stuff is. I don't agree with anyone that says breathing that is okay and you'll be fine.

[Dan Hintz]

Richard, I understand where you are coming from, but from my standpoint, there are many people with lasers who don't come from manufacturing backgrounds. They aren't stupid, but many people just don't know what they don't know. I think it's important to state up front you should be careful or any risks involved, as maybe it's just a person that doesn't post and is passing through the forum. They could see something, think it's a great idea, and spend years damaging themselves or their loved ones. I'd like to be responsible for making sure when they read a post, they know up front that there can be issues rather than saying "oh, it'll be fine, I've done it" on posts. I've done a lot of stuff too. I've worked with galvanized metals before. You can say it's not long term harmful, but until you see the smoke, the color of the smoke, and the intensity of it, I'm not sure you can appreciate just how nasty that stuff is. I don't agree with anyone that says breathing that is okay and you'll be fine.
Agreed 100%... I'm not a fan of people being called alarmists (or other such words) when they are passing this kind of information along, as long as they're providing information and not actually trying to freak people out. Yes, the chances of injury may be small, but they should still be pointed out just in case someone manages to tweak the situation in such a way as to make those chances grow significantly.

[Mark Winlund]

Nope. It can be an irritant. If you breathe a lot of the fumes you may get flu-like symptoms and it can also irritate the throat. Welders who regularly operate on zinc coated (galvanized) develop an immunity to the symptoms.

MSDs will say, "avoid contact" Quote:
"Conditions aggravated/Target organs: Persons with preexisting skin or respiratory disorders may be more susceptible. Acute: Irritation possible to skin, eyes, lungs, mucous membranes, and GI tract. If heated fumes may cause "zinc fume fever". Chronic: None known. "

The small amount of vapor given off lasering some lettering would not matter squat.

Precisely correct. As an ex welder, I have had a lot of experience dealing with galvanised metals. As long as reasonable precautions are taken, it is not a serious concern.

Too much alarmism in this group. If you want complete safety, better not get out of bed. Witness the state of California labeling everything as carcinogenic. It is all part of the "nanny state". We all have the same destination.

Mark

[Scott Shepherd]

Mark, perhaps you should read what I said or what Dan said. No one said you shouldn't do it. NO ONE. What was said was to be aware of the location of the vent if it were around where kids played or animals lived.

Not sure how that gets construed as being an alarmist.

Burning galvanized is toxic. That's a medical fact. Not sure how that's being alarmist either.

I think we, as people who have been around metals, welding, gases, toxic fumes, etc. have a responsibility to constantly remind people that these machines are not toys. They are pieces of equipment with a laser in them and that laser burns material. Burning material and breathing the fumes can be a danger and we should alert and remind people often that they should treat this entire process with respect.

When you stop respecting most any piece of machinery, you usually end up with a very bad result. See the first post on this forum where someone left a machine for a minute and it burned down.

I hope I never lose respect for any machinery I operate.

I guess if that makes me an alarmist, then I'll just have to proudly wear that label. It sure beats the label I'd use for the opposite.

[Kim Vellore]

I think Joe's experiment is missed here, Its a great idea.... Joe if you can please post pictures. Many of us are looking for cheaper alternates for permanent marking on metals.
On a safety note lets get the ingredients in the compound and work from there.

Kim

[Dave Johnson29]

Not sure how that gets construed as being an alarmist.


You said "deadly" twice that is alarmist as it is not deadly. During my apprenticeship I spent many many days welding galvanized parts during my 6 months in the welding shop. As Mark says, take sensible precautions and it will be fine.

If you saw the gas plumes coming off welding galvanized and tried to compare that to the minuscule amount of fumes if any, coming off a laser there is nothing to worry about.

Rather than a google search with anecdotal results, reading the MSDS will give you factual issues and cautions.

[Dan Hintz]

Come on, Steve, let's go down to the pub and I'll buy us a round of beers...

[Scott Shepherd]

I said deadly in reference to breathing burning zinc. It is deadly, there are cases where people have died from breathing it. I did not say that burning zinc in your laser is deadly. Perhaps I need to type slower because you're putting things in a context I did not say.

There are two things in context I said, so let me be clear and if you read my posts again, you'll see these very things said there :

1) Lasering galvanized will probably not hurt you, but be aware of the fumes around the exhaust if your kids or pets are near. Wasn't aware that "be aware" was an alarmist. Didn't know reminding people to keep their kids away from a vent that's pushing out toxic fumes was an error. I'll take that back. Sit your kids next to the exhaust vent of all your laser engravers. The smoke won't bother them.

2) I said breathing any burning material that is toxic is bad and people die from it. You can read all the MSDS you want, people die from breathing toxic fumes.

Two completely accurate statements. I never once said burning galvanized in your laser would cause you to die or anyone around you to die. Never said it. Dave, you and Mark have both said "using the right precautions you can weld those". Did you see me say "If you wear the right protection, you'll die?". No, I said breathing them. Not breathing them with a mask on or with a filtration system in place. Breathing them straight up. Most people don't have filters, masks or filtration systems in their homes. Not that it matters, because I've not said that using it in your laser will cause any of those issues.

Talk about jumping the gun. READ what I said as I typed it, not how you wanted to hear it.

There's a reason all the plating companies shut down about 15-20 years ago. Because they were toxic places to work. A few, well regulated ones stayed around but most all of the old plating companies are long gone because the processes were so harmful to their people.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

Gentlemen, you all have valid comments even though there is a little mis-communication that happened along the way.

Thank you all when you take the time to post a warning of caution when working with a potentially dangerous item. As already mentioned, not all of us know a particular item can be toxic and precautions should be considered. We have youngsters, newbies, crafters, well-seasoned pro's and countless others who visit this forum and we can all learn a thing or two or ten.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program .... we return to see Joe in his shop, laser humming in the background and witness the creation of ...

[Darren Null]

l PHOTOS!
l
l Incidentally, Bill Bryson in his book "A Walk In The Woods" describes
l an entire mountain that was stripped of life by proximity to a zinc
l plant. And was still bare years later. Obviously a whole zinc plant
l is going to pump out more fumes than you can manage with a
l laser, but I've decided that -on the whole- I'm not going out of my
l way to snort the stuff, whatever welders say.
l
l
l
l
l
l
▼

[Joe Thorn 911]

Wow,

I sure didn't mean to start a big Haz Mat discussion/argument, but a lot of points well-taken. On that note I will briefly say that I am a retired Fireman with 32 years Haz Mat experience. My son and I are both welders and we have had "zinc" poisoning, which is brief and transitory. It hasn't bothered me a bit...a bit...a bit.... Bottom line: lasering involves small amounts and if well vented poses no hazard. Everything in moderation, eh?

On to the galvanizing. I tried to attach pictures here. If they don't come thru, please email me directly (firejoe911@hotmail.com) and I will shoot them to you. One picture is directly after the lasering and looks dissappointing, but after I rubbed off the excess with (rubber gloves, disposable rag) paint thinner, it looks great! For some reason I think I either have a loose belt or when I get too small with Arial it looks distorted for some reason. Other than that, you can see that the test looks promising. And, as I mentioned, it's pretty well bonded. I can only remove it when I get to the point that the surrounding metal is scratched by whatever process I use to remove it. This test is on stainless steel.

[Joe Thorn 911]

Oh, and, it comes in a spray can and I sprayed it directly onto the stainless steel and let it dry about a half-hour. Instructions say it's fully dry in 24 hours. I did another test after 24 hours with the same results, except that it was slightly harder to remove with mineral spirits, but only slightly.

[Rodne Gold]

Looks like you have a serious problem with your laser and engraving...surely that must affect all other types of lasering?

[Mark Winlund]

All in all, it looks like this might be a viable, lower cost to laser metals. I am curious how it works on regular steel. Kudos for your discovery; I think you can say "I was the first to try this". I would be willing to bet there are some long conversations at Ferro and Thermark about this.

You do have a serious problem with your belts.

Mark

[Joe Thorn 911]

Mark: David Dustin gets the credit for the original suggestion. Not sure from his post in '08 if he actually tried it, but I did and I'm pretty happy with it. I made a test keychain tag to see how it holds up. At an outrageous $10 per ounce, I hope ferro and thermark have some discussions.

Rodne: This is the first time I've seen this problem. Most of what I'm doing is small engraving on AA dogtags for pet tags, and equipment tags for Firemen. This is kind of a wierd problem if anyone has any suggestions. I would think it's a software problem because similiar letters engrave the same way each time.

[Richard Rumancik]

Joe, thanks for posting the pics. This was a vector plot, correct? I'm like to see someone post a raster image using this technique. The question is how consistent one can get the color. A brownish color is not especially decorative but may be okay for industrial purposes. But even for an industrial mark one would probably want a consistent color. Using raster may address this issue.

Somehow I doubt your laser problem is a software problem. It looks like backlash in the system due to loose belt or pulley (or encoder?)

Assuming this was a vector plot: As the laser draws the letter, as long as it is tensioning the belt the same way, it seems to draw the character okay. When the direction reverses it first must take up the slop, so that seems to be why the letters don't close. Curious why the word "cold" came out reasonably well but the rest is broken up. And the first "O" closed but the second one didn't. A pulley that slips only "sometimes"? A loose belt would be more consistent I think.

You thought it was software because it is somewhat repeatable, but it is probably repeatable only because the laser vectors the character the same way each time.

[Joe Thorn 911]

Richard,

Thanks for the insight. I'll poke around and maybe snug up the belts a little.

[Darryl Jacobs]

Joe,

I have been a lurker to the Sawmill for a while and now that I am settled in to our new home in BC, I am finding time to get back into lasering in a more serious way. I hope I can contribute to everyone here on the forum somehow.

Thanks for finding an alternative to the outrageously price cermark product!! I knew there had to be an alternative somewhere and you proved it!!:D ... or at least tried it out for the rest of us.

As far as the toxicity issue goes, we all laser toxic gassing plastic materials every day and just need to take the required precautions of proper handling and ventilation in what we do.

This seems like a very good way to do some industrial marking of metals and I will definately be giving this a try soon.

One way to test the software vs belt issue is to invert the file and move it to a different part of the laser and compare the results. I had a very similar issue due to fonts once. They were some mac files converted to corel and then lasered. The letters over lapped and got skinnier in some cases. I re-did the image within corel with its own fonts and the problem went away.

Darryl

[Dan Hintz]

Joe,

Don't snug them up too much as you could put undue pressure on the shaft bearings. Feel for wiggle in the shafts, that's the problem you need to look out for.

[Richard Rumancik]

. . . I'll poke around and maybe snug up the belts a little.

Okay, but I'm not convinced myself it is the belt (or just the belt) because some evidence points away from that . . . as I mentioned, I would have thought a loose belt would ALWAYS behave the same - whereas a loose pulley or loose encoder wheel (don't know if you have one) is subject to acceleration/deceleration effects and so may stick one minute and loosen the next. eg if a setscrew is loose it may allow the pulley to swing back and forth a few degrees - it may bind once in a while and behave well, then loosen up and swing the other way, etc. But in any event there seems to be some "slack" somewhere in the mechanical system.

[Darren Null]

Does anyone know if there's a european version of this? Or if anyone imports rust-oleum? Quite fancy giving this a go.

[Dan Hintz]

Darren,

Check your auto parts store or local (large) home supply shop... I'm sure companies other than Rustoleum make the spray.

[James Stokes]

One thing Joe did not mention was the wattage of his machine, I can mark bare stainless with my 100 watt. I do not remember off hand on the details but it seems like 30 speed gave me a completely black mark where as 40 speed gave me a brown mark and that was raster. Vectoring would be even faster.

[Chris Tatarian]

Toxic it is!!! In welding, anytime with galvanized metal, a welder must drink a glass of milk to line his or her stomach. If they do not and come across this type of material it will eat away the stomach lining. I would strongly be careful about this.

Crhis Tatarian

[Richard Rumancik]

I agree that one should be careful when welding galvanized steel in an open environment, even with a respirator or fume extraction. However, lasering a thin layer of cold galvanizing compound in an enclosed space with hundreds of cfm of exhaust air pulling away the fumes doesn't seem to be a parallel situation. Elsewhere in this topic I posted a comment regarding risks but it is easy to miss a post unless a person follows every branch of the thread.

We all agree that if you laser anything, you should not breathe the fumes. That includes lasering of organic materials like paper and wood. Maybe we need a sticky about the risks of PVC, Teflon, and the general risks of lasering ANYTHING, so we don't have to spend so much time discussing it for every new idea. (Then the first person to see the post can link to the sticky, and the rest of the posts will be on-topic.) I know everyone who posts means well, but some of the "evidence" against an idea is often pretty general. Over half of the responses to this particular thread have just been warnings or responses to warnings (I include my own posts here.) Kim, Mike Chance, George and Scott Balboa tried to get it back on topic. It did not seem to work.

I'd sure like to see more results with the cold galvanizing in this thread. I haven't had time to try it myself, but would be interested in seeing more photos if anyone else is working on it. Actually, it would be better to start an new thread and maybe that one will stay on-topic.

In the meantime I think I will continue with my experiments on lasering asbestos . . .

[Mark Winlund]

Toxic it is!!! In welding, anytime with galvanized metal, a welder must drink a glass of milk to line his or her stomach. If they do not and come across this type of material it will eat away the stomach lining. I would strongly be careful about this.

Crhis Tatarian

I assume you are a welder and have direct experience with this?

Mark (who is)

[Darren Null]

Thanks Dan. I'll do that.

[joseph zalewski]

I can say for certain that zinic in galvanize is bad really bad. I use to weld floors in old clunker cars with it no fun you can get really really sick not always but if the fumes get you right look out. I'm also from pa and I saw mention about a mountain that was stripped. They are right it's in Palmerton if you travel the pa turnpike north side of the tunnel. Have friends that live there you were not allowed to have a garden. He lost his kinnedy and it was also common for people to have kinnedy and cancer. It was one of the largest zinic galvinizing plants in the world. If in doubt look it up on the internet. Personnely I would rather pay for cermark or not engrave bare metal or better yet get a fiber laser. Just my 2 cents. Please excuse misspelled words.

[Mike Null]

My summer job when I was in high school was assisting engineers in the installation of pyrometers and galvanometers in various manufacturing plants in southern Ohio.

One plant was the old Dayton Pump & Mfg. Co. Our job there was to maintain the multiple instruments of the hot dip galvanize tank. That tank was in a large room with no other mfg. The tank size was approximately 12' x 12' by 48" to 60" deep. It was full of molten zinc within about 8 or 10 inches of the top.

That was in the mid '50's and there were fumes but nothing that I recall as causing any illness or even temporary sickness. We would usually be there for 2 to 3 hours once a month. We did not wear any masks or respirators. This was, of course, before OSHA.

[Dan Hintz]

Mike,

Were you sitting above or below the tank? I imagine hot fumes would rise, keeping it out of your direct sniffer line... that, and the chimney effect probably kept (hopefully) fresh air rushing in from the sides down low.

Don't know, wasn't there.

[Mike Null]

The tank was poured concrete below floor level with a liner. We were at floor level. I seem to recall exhaust fans in a very high ceiling but it was a long time ago.

[Bill Cunningham]

From a guy who's welded and cut enough galvanized to have woofed his cookies on more than a few shop floors (back in the 60's you never even had hearing protection, let alone breathing masks).. I would have to agree that the amount of zinc you will be exposed to while lasering this stuff (considering the velocity of air going through your machine) is going to be very minimal. And, if this small amount does bother you, you may probably be overly chemically sensitive, and perhaps you should also keep a canary in the same room as your laser:rolleyes:

[Chris Tatarian]

No I am not, but I have taken several college classes in welding just for fun learning. I learned Stick, Oxyacet., MIG, and TIG. I have an engineering background and been trough aerospace, semi-conductor industry and various commercial industries. Thanks fo asking......

Chris

[Scott Shepherd]

I would have to agree that the amount of zinc you will be exposed to while lasering this stuff (considering the velocity of air going through your machine) is going to be very minimal.

No one's said otherwise on this thread. Not a single post saying it wasn't safe to laser or there were any health issues with lasering it inside your space.

[Bill Cunningham]

Gee maybe I read wrong, but I could have sworn there were a few concerns posted... silly me...

[Dan Hintz]

Can we move on folks?

Some of us will choose to err a little more on the safe side (and be vocal about our safety concerns for the potential benefit of others), others will throw caution to the wind a little more often. If you don't feel the warnings are necessary, state your side and move on. We're beating a dead horse...

[Bill Cunningham]

Can we move on folks?

We're beating a dead horse...

Ha!! At least PETA won't be upset...:D

[Andy Joe]

looks to me like you need to adjust your laser ramp at start. My guess is that is why you see a bit of a wabble in the pic, at least in my experince. I either adjust it by number or add an area to be engraved on either side of the actuall engraving that isnt on the material. This way no extra engraveing is on the material and the laser ramps up and down away from the actuall pic you want to engrave. Also i think its great that people are experimenting with new ways for us engravers to make money. I think there are hazards with any of the materials we engrave. Cermark..thermark..atomic art. They all have dangers. As opperators of the machine it is part of our responiblity to know what the danngers are and respond to them in a appriopiate way. Also as adlut members of a comunity whos sole purpose is to help support one another i think it breaks some general eddict to insult people and creat arguments over small issues like this thread has. Just support the guy and give helpfull information to him if you can.

[Bob Heltibridle]

Joe
Thanks for this. I have just about pulled my hair out trying to get CerMark to work. I got a can of Cold Galvanizing Compound from Lowes and gave it a shot.
I'm trying it on a brass plate as I'm writing this, the brass ones have given me the biggest headache.
With the cermark I used DNA to wipe down the surface to get it clean, I brushed it on with a foam brush, trying to get a nice even coverage, let it dry for 30 min. the put it in the laser, being 12" across it takes about 4 hours, at a speed of 5 and power of 100. I rinse off the cermark and sometimes it works and other the text just wipes right off.
If this works on the brass I will be one very happy camper.
Thanks again.:)

[Mike Null]

Bob

What is it that you're showing us here?

Whatever it is it's a nice job of layout and placement.

[George Brown]

Bob,

Is that your cold galvanizing engraving result?? If it is, looks awesome!!

[Bob Heltibridle]

Thank you
The left pic is the Cold Galvanizing sprayed on a chrome charger plate used for an award after being laser'd. The right pic is the finished product after the excess Cold Galvanizing removed.
Also I have attached the brass charger plate.

[Dee Gallo]

Joe
Thanks for this. I have just about pulled my hair out trying to get CerMark to work. I got a can of Cold Galvanizing Compound from Lowes and gave it a shot.
I'm trying it on a brass plate as I'm writing this, the brass ones have given me the biggest headache.
With the cermark I used DNA to wipe down the surface to get it clean, I brushed it on with a foam brush, trying to get a nice even coverage, let it dry for 30 min. the put it in the laser, being 12" across it takes about 4 hours, at a speed of 5 and power of 100. I rinse off the cermark and sometimes it works and other the text just wipes right off.
If this works on the brass I will be one very happy camper.
Thanks again.:)

Very impressive experiment, Bob - can I assume the settings and instructions you state are for Galvanizing Compond and NOT Cermark? When you say "nice even coverage" do you mean it is thick enough not to see through?

Thanks for posting, the brass looks fantastic, :) dee

[Bob Heltibridle]

Very impressive experiment, Bob - can I assume the settings and instructions you state are for Galvanizing Compond and NOT Cermark? When you say "nice even coverage" do you mean it is thick enough not to see through?

Thanks for posting, the brass looks fantastic, :)
dee

Thank You
Yes the settings are for the Galvanizing compound.
also your right thick enough not to see trough.
But as I said the cermark was hit or miss.

[Mike Null]

Well--I'm going to try it on aluminum as I can't get a good result with Thermark on thin aluminum tags.

Your results are great. Thanks for posting.

[Martin Boekers]

Joe
Thanks for this. I have just about pulled my hair out trying to get CerMark to work. I got a can of Cold Galvanizing Compound from Lowes and gave it a shot.
I'm trying it on a brass plate as I'm writing this, the brass ones have given me the biggest headache.
With the cermark I used DNA to wipe down the surface to get it clean, I brushed it on with a foam brush, trying to get a nice even coverage, let it dry for 30 min. the put it in the laser, being 12" across it takes about 4 hours, at a speed of 5 and power of 100. I rinse off the cermark and sometimes it works and other the text just wipes right off.
If this works on the brass I will be one very happy camper.
Thanks again.:)

That looks great I have a client that is interest in plates so I have ordered some from Marco to test. I was going to try CLLT as a few companies sell an aluminum "puck" to transfer the the heat using my rerular press.

I really like how yours came out. the only issue is 4 hours is a looonnnnngggg time. I have a 75 watt and even if I could do it in 2 hours it would be tough to get a good price in the market I'm at.

Now all we need is a way to speed up the process.

Thanks!

Marty

[George Brown]

Bob,

How do you wash the excess off? After you spray it on, how long do you let it dry before lasering?

[Bob Heltibridle]

George
I used a paint roller tray and paint thinner.
I let them dry for about 30 min. however because it takes so long to run it in the laser I left one over night. It wiped off with no problem.

[donald bugansky]

Bob,

Is the first example a matte finish on the plate or is it just the camera giving it that appearance.

Not sure what a "Chrome Charger Plate" is.

I assume that is a standard type "rewards tray or plate" that can be purchased where...?

I'm heading to Lowes tonight!

[Bob Heltibridle]

Martin
I got these charger plates from http://www.webstaurantstore.com/ however I just found out that they don't carry them any longer BUT the url below has them.
FYI:
These plates have 2 level the center is about 1/2" deeper then outer rim. The center area took about 2 hours, i had to remove the auto-focus censor so it wouldn't hit the plate.


http://www.twinsupply.com/carlislefoodservice/products.asp?cat=393

[Bob Heltibridle]

Bugs
The matte finish (gray color) is the plate with the the cold galvanizing spayed on.
A charger plate is a plate that they place on the table, when they serve your dinner they put the dinner plate on the charger plate.


http://www.webstaurantstore.com/ - no longer carries them

http://www.twinsupply.com/carlislefoodservice/products.asp?cat=393 - same item

[George Brown]

Bugs
The matte finish (gray color) is the plate with the the cold galvanizing spayed on.
A charger plate is a plate that they place on the table, when they serve your dinner they put the dinner plate on the charger plate.


http://www.webstaurantstore.com/ - no longer carries them

http://www.twinsupply.com/carlislefoodservice/products.asp?cat=393 - same item


$100 for a plate!!!!!:mad:

[Randy Walker]

The idea of being able to mark on metal with cold galvanizing compound peaked my interest so I went out and bought a can. I tried it a 30-06 shell (brass). The second attempt at 100p/1000ppi/2.5s worked. I rubbed and scratched on it and the zinc was well attached. It is a little grey but rub and buff made it nice and black. Here is a photo of what I ended up with.

Randy Walker

Note: The little missing spot on the “F” is my fault I scratched it before I lasered it.