Engraving details on anodized aluminum pens

[Janis Berzins]

Hello,
I have 80w Gweike lg900n machine and I engrave pens with it. Recently I was at my friends house and noticed pen on the table and it was laser engraved with some companies logo, same exact pen model that I engrave on, but engraving detail was much better that I can do.
I use 38mm lens machine focus is adjusted properly and everything is align correctly, I can get good results with my machine, but pen I saw at my friends house had details that can't get with my machine no matter what I do. Maybe it was engraved with YAG laser, and you just can't get such results with co2 laser? Is there anything I can do to improve engraving detail on my co2 80w machine?

[Bert Kemp]

What are the settings you are using.? Are you positive your focus is good. What dpi are you using.Its hard to give good advice if we don't know what are starting point is.

[Kevin Gregerson]

Depends on optics, power, and which type of laser was used for marking and software setup. A Fiber laser has the theoretical ability to mark lines as small as 3-5 microns, a Co2 is around 20-22 microns. Lenses, it depends on the size of the dot you are using. A 1.5 is able to get down to .003 a 2.0 gets down to .005 a 4.0 is .01. Then, it comes down to the software settings you are using.

[Gary Hair]

You can get great detail with a co2, but the chinese machines, especially higher wattage, are not going to be great for detail. Even the very best of the co2's that are being used for engraving will pale in comparison with fiber. I can almost guarantee that my $15k fiber will give more detail, and many times faster, than the "typical" co2 and the "typical" co2 will give better detail, and be faster, than any chinese machine. Sometimes in life you get what you pay for!

[Mike Null]

Gary

Do you have any examples that would show a comparison between your co2 and the fiber machine?

[Gary Hair]

I'll see if I can come up with something Mike. 99% of what I'm doing on the fiber is proprietary so I can't publish it here.

[Mike Null]

I can understand that. Thanks.

[Gary Hair]

If you like, post a vector file that you would like to see on a piece of anodized aluminum. I'll mark it with both lasers and post a scan of it. Make it something fairly detailed with lots of fine lines - less than .003 wide.