Curt Heggemeyer
10-18-2010, 9:46 PM
Hello,
I have got a question about using cermark on aluminum, shoould laser engrave really well but I have having all kinds of troubles here.
This is what is going on.
I got these batons from my customer who biught them from who knows where but the boxs say India or Ethopia, I tried to laser engrave one but it looked as if it had a clear finish on it. So they took them back and cleaned them with Acetone to get down to the metal. Brought them back and I started the process again, sprayed the newer Cermark stuff for shiny metals on with a airbrush to get a nice light coat on the baton. I laser them at 100% power (60 watt laser) and 350 mm/sec travel time. The first 50 came out nice with a nice gray to light black finish, none came out black like they should have, but customer likes them, on to the next box, this box sprayed the same way etc now lasers nice and dark right out of the laser but when I wash off the extra Cermark the dark lasered lettering washes off to or is very streaky... since I have 400 more of these to do I really need to figure out what is going on because I had sprayed and lasered almost 50 more of them and now have to either sand blast them remove the lasered Cermark and redo or find a way to salvage what I have done.
Now the question is could it be the metal isnt aluminum but a cheap mix of metals? How would you prep the material if they have been cleaned with Acetone already and still having troubles?
What else could be the problem?
Thanks for any help in this area..
Curt
I have got a question about using cermark on aluminum, shoould laser engrave really well but I have having all kinds of troubles here.
This is what is going on.
I got these batons from my customer who biught them from who knows where but the boxs say India or Ethopia, I tried to laser engrave one but it looked as if it had a clear finish on it. So they took them back and cleaned them with Acetone to get down to the metal. Brought them back and I started the process again, sprayed the newer Cermark stuff for shiny metals on with a airbrush to get a nice light coat on the baton. I laser them at 100% power (60 watt laser) and 350 mm/sec travel time. The first 50 came out nice with a nice gray to light black finish, none came out black like they should have, but customer likes them, on to the next box, this box sprayed the same way etc now lasers nice and dark right out of the laser but when I wash off the extra Cermark the dark lasered lettering washes off to or is very streaky... since I have 400 more of these to do I really need to figure out what is going on because I had sprayed and lasered almost 50 more of them and now have to either sand blast them remove the lasered Cermark and redo or find a way to salvage what I have done.
Now the question is could it be the metal isnt aluminum but a cheap mix of metals? How would you prep the material if they have been cleaned with Acetone already and still having troubles?
What else could be the problem?
Thanks for any help in this area..
Curt