Looking for pictures of engraved clear anodized aluminum.

[Joe Hillmann]

Does anyone have any pictures of how clear anodized aluminum turns out when engraved with a co2 laser?

I have a customer who wants to replicate some rose turning (like engine turning but the part is also moving so the spots are not round) on some clear anodized aluminum, but I don't know how clear anodizing turns out. I could always do it on the yag with bare aluminum but the work area isn't big enough so I am thinking it may work on the co2.

[Rodne Gold]

I assume you mean natural anodising..silver..engraving comes out white , it wont replicate engine turning in any form.

[matthew knott]

At highish speed there is not much difference between the colour of laser engraved clear anodize be it YAG or CO2, well thats what i find, we swap between the two depending on the job size.

[Mikah Barnett]

Attached picture is CO2 etch on clear-anodized 6061-T651 aluminum. Would be very challenging to make it look anything like engine turning, IMHO.

[Mike Null]

Here's an iPad.

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[Dan Hintz]

Yeah, I assume you're looking for a shiny, bright engraving, like into bare metal (as a rose engine would create)... not gonna happen.

[Dave Sheldrake]

Ummm please excuse the hijack. what's "Engine turning" ?

cheers

Dave

[Gary Hair]

Ummm please excuse the hijack. what's "Engine turning" ?

cheers

Dave

I had the same question - a quick google search turned this up
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_engine_lathe

[Dave Sheldrake]

Cheers Gary,

That machine is artwork!!

best wishes

Dave

[Joe Hillmann]

Yeah, I assume you're looking for a shiny, bright engraving, like into bare metal (as a rose engine would create)... not gonna happen.

No, the part isn't engine turned which leaves a bunch of highly polished circles. It is rose engine turned which removes a small amount of material in all sorts of shapes.

The part I am trying to duplicate looks like a piece of polished aluminum that had a pattern of diamonds turned into it and was then anodized. We are trying to match it as closely as possible. One idea is to have the aluminum silver anodized, then engrave it with the CO2 and possibly clear coat it if necessary.

The other option we are testing at the moment is to engrave a piece of polished aluminum with the yag then send it out to be anodized.

[Dan Hintz]

I still don't get what you're after, then... do you want the deep engraving aspect, the shiny aspect, the different colors, what?

[Mike Null]

Can you post a picture of what you're trying to replicate?

[Joe Hillmann]

Right now they will settle for anything that comes close to replicating what they have. The closer I can get to what they have the better. I don't have any pictures, just a measured drawing.

The pattern is repeating diamonds .060" tall by .560" wide and .030" apart over an area about 16 inches by 6 inches.

[Dan Hintz]

Right now they will settle for anything that comes close to replicating what they have. The closer I can get to what they have the better. I don't have any pictures, just a measured drawing.

The pattern is repeating diamonds .060" tall by .560" wide and .030" apart over an area about 16 inches by 6 inches.

What look are they trying to replicate? We can't offer proper suggestions until we know what you're after. I thought I understood in the beginning, but now it seems I'm way off base...

[Joe Hillmann]

Dan, when I started this thread I just wanted a picture of what the natural or silver anodized aluminum looked like when engrave, and Mike posted a picture.

Ideally they would like a few thousandths of depth and the engraved area have to have slight circular marks as if it was done by a spinning tool then the entire piece anodized.

If worst comes to worst they were ok with it being anodized than engraved (I showed them mikes photo.

What they would like is for me to figure out a way to break the design up so it can be done in the 8" working area of my yag, to get it a bit of depth and then they will anodize the parts after they are engraved and formed or formed and engraved.

[Dan Hintz]

Well, if you want to engrave, you know as well as any the YAG is your only option (with what you have in house)... the CO2 is out of the picture (unless you want to mask, cut with the CO2, then electro-engrave). With a proper fixture, you can engrave in one area, shift, then engrave the next area over... but your fixture will need tight tolerances to avoid seeing any gap or overlap. If the engraved area (to depth) is large (you mention circular marks), you could simulate that look with some final passes of the YAG on a lower setting in a circular motion. Don't know how it would look, but with some tweaking you could probably get it to look about right.

Or maybe a steel stamp and press would give them a fast engraving (if the aluminum alloy is soft, the stamp wouldn't have to be terribly hard/expensive). Though you would get the circular pattern without a lot of extra work on the stamp, and I'm not sure that kind of detail would last very many stampings.

[Rodne Gold]

Easier to send it out to someone that actually does engine turning or DIY
http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/threads/27105-My-first-attempt-at-Jeweling

[Joe Hillmann]

Easier to send it out to someone that actually does engine turning or DIY
http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/threads/27105-My-first-attempt-at-Jeweling

That is engine turning, not rose turning, engine turning is just a spinning wooden rod with polishing compund, rose engine turning is kind of like a diamond drag that is spinning in several directions at once making use of several cams and patterns. It is most often done on a rose engine lathe and done on wooden parts.

[Joe Hillmann]

Well, if you want to engrave, you know as well as any the YAG is your only option (with what you have in house)... the CO2 is out of the picture (unless you want to mask, cut with the CO2, then electro-engrave). With a proper fixture, you can engrave in one area, shift, then engrave the next area over... but your fixture will need tight tolerances to avoid seeing any gap or overlap. If the engraved area (to depth) is large (you mention circular marks), you could simulate that look with some final passes of the YAG on a lower setting in a circular motion. Don't know how it would look, but with some tweaking you could probably get it to look about right.

Or maybe a steel stamp and press would give them a fast engraving (if the aluminum alloy is soft, the stamp wouldn't have to be terribly hard/expensive). Though you would get the circular pattern without a lot of extra work on the stamp, and I'm not sure that kind of detail would last very many stampings.

The moving of the parts to tight tolerances is the problem with using the yag. I did some testing and keeping the .030" gap between the diamonds was very difficult and just a few thousandths off becomes noticeable. Which is why I designed the vernier scale to mount to an x y table. I don't think I will worry about the circles in the pattern, but I hadn't thought of running another pass once I had it to depth. I may give that a try. They were able to find someone who was going to try and match what they had but at an estimated cost of $600 per panel.

[Bill Cunningham]

Sounds like metallic Jewelling. I used to achieve this look on aluminum by buffing the surface with a firm eraser in a drill press. Just bring the eraser down spinning, and overlap the burnishing marks until the surface is covered. But it's not a diamond look unless you can burnish that shape with multiple swirrels
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