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tony mazzone
07-04-2010, 9:24 PM
Thanks for the tips on the jig. I'm lasering a corporate name on stainless bbq tools and it looks pretty good at arms length. But up close the letters in the font are not smooth. I have an epilog 45tt and have tried settings at 600dpi from 15 speed 100 power to 40 speed 100 power with almost the same results.
I'm spraying on the cermark. The company recomends 1 to 1 dna to cermark. I'm thinning it about 3 or 4 to 1 to spray it.
Any ideas
Thanks,
Tony

Dee Gallo
07-04-2010, 9:34 PM
Tony, from what I read on my company literature, thinning it too much ill result in Cermark not sticking well and uneven engraving. You might not want to go past the 1:1 instructions from Ferro. I spray Cermark through my airbrush and do not have to thin it more than 1:1.

Also, are you spraying it on thick enough? There's a fine line between too much and not enough, but sounds like you're not putting enough on. You certainly have enough power. There is a utube video which shows a guy spraying it on and how to tell if the thickness is right...look for it, it's very helpful.

cheers, dee

Frank Corker
07-05-2010, 6:25 AM
I also prefer a 50/50 mix and if anything favour on more cermark than methylated spirit to get the best result. Too little cermark will make your work redundant and make you do it all again.

Mike Null
07-05-2010, 9:09 AM
I have good results with a consistency of milk and sprayed on very thin.

Richard Rumancik
07-05-2010, 10:18 AM
Using 600 dpi should work fine for a bbq tool mark. Some people on this forum thin Cermark quite a lot (and I don't know how they get away with it) - but if there's no Cermark there's no mark. If you look at the airbrushed item at an angle before lasering you should not be able to see any shine from the stainless showing through. If you do, then I suspect it is not enough Cermark as the others have suggested.

Also make sure that the image fill is true RGB black in CorelDraw (I think all the systems use RGB). If it happened to be a bit off of 100% black, or a CMYK black, then you could get some rough edges. Sometimes I have received artwork that looked black but was actually about 90% black and it will not laser properly.

Dan Hintz
07-05-2010, 12:49 PM
I'm one of those people Richard mentions... I thin mine about 10:1 and have gotten excellent results once I dial it in. It makes spraying a breeze, but in the end I'm sure I still have the same thickness coating as everyone who thins it much less... I see just a hint of metal below the yellow coat.

I don't know how much power you're working with (putting it in your signature hekps in the future), but I shoot for a speed that's 35-40% of my true power.

Gary Hair
07-05-2010, 3:45 PM
I'm one of those people Richard mentions... I thin mine about 10:1 and have gotten excellent results once I dial it in. It makes spraying a breeze, but in the end I'm sure I still have the same thickness coating as everyone who thins it much less... I see just a hint of metal below the yellow coat.

I'm another one who thins it very... thin... I can see the metal throught the coating when you hold it at an angle to the light.

I would much rather spray it too thin than too thick - I can fix thin with another coat, too thick and it doesn't stick.

Gary