Cermark Hints

[Tim Bateson]

I want to thank Cermark Support for answering questions on 17.4 Hardened Stainless Steel. I did get several good tips that I want to pass along:

1. The obvious tip - CLEAN the metal. This may seem too obvious, so don't over-look it!
2. If you can't get good bonding at 5% speed, then slower is not likely to help.
3. Hard to mark metals - Brass, Aluminum, 17.4... Preheat with a heat gun (not too hot).
4. Raise the DPI/PPI.

This could be a good knowledge thread - Please continue the list with other hints.

[Bob Richardson]

A thin even coat of Cermark is better than a thick coat.

[George M. Perzel]

Does Cermak have a shelf life?

[Mike Null]

George

This is not an official answer but I have some that is well over a year old and some that is just a couple of moths old. I can't tell any difference. I buy the bulk rather than spray or tape.

[George M. Perzel]

Mike;
Thanks- I got some thats probably well over 5 years old- went to use it and no luck but it could have been the nickel surface.

[Mike Null]

George

I've had issues with all metals except steel/ss.

[Dan Hintz]

Does Cermak have a shelf life?

No............

[Matt McCoy]

Hey gang, I have an opportunity to make something with the bottle openers shown in this link:

http://www.webstaurantstore.com/5-church-key-can-and-bottle-opener/407C801.html

I've never used Cermark and from what I gather, the nickel-plated stainless steel wouldn't be a suitable surface. Am I correct in my understanding?

Thanks for the help!

[Gary Hair]

I've never used Cermark and from what I gather, the nickel-plated stainless steel wouldn't be a suitable surface. Am I correct in my understanding?

I marked several hundred nickel plated steel plates with Cermark and it worked fine for me. Get one to test and run a power grid to find your settings and you will either find it works, or it doesn't. Clean the part good with denatured alcohol, apply Cermark very lightly, and after it's done scrub it with a gray scouring pad. If it stays on then you have everything right, if not, you need to keep working at it until you either get it or quit because it's just not going to work. On the materials that Cermark works well on, it's really a no-brainer! On the materials it's finicky on, it can be a major pain. That's why I have a fiber...

[Tim Bateson]

Matt, Gary - What is the wattage on your CO2 lasers

[Matt McCoy]

Matt, Gary - What is the wattage on your CO2 lasers Thanks guys! I have both 40 and 80 Watt CO2 lasers.

[Gary Hair]

Matt, Gary - What is the wattage on your CO2 lasers

30 watt Explorer ZX

[Mike Troncalli]

George

I've had issues with all metals except steel/ss.

Same here, and even then SS is still not 100% great all of the time.. And it does rub off...

[Dan Hintz]

Same here, and even then SS is still not 100% great all of the time.. And it does rub off...

If it rubs off, it wasn't marked properly. Not a fault of the Cermark.

[Keith Colson]

I do piles of stainless and there are a couple of things I do now, after learning the hard way first. And that cost me some precious time.

1) The spray cans are a pile of rubbish. They do not spray well at all and they do get blocked. I end up wasting a lot with over spray and poor control of the paint thickness. Finishing a can is near impossible. So step 1 is get an airbrush, its like magic in comparison. I transfer the contents of the spray can to a paint bottle as the paste is hard to get here in NZ.

2) I run the engrave as hot as I can. If the stainless turns a blue colour then it got too hot. A little less power than that and things work perfectly for me. I would rather have a slightly faded result than a failed result as a redo takes longer than doing 3 parts for me.

I sometimes laser cut fixtures to hold the work in place so if I do have to run something twice I don't have to put much effort into realignment.

Cheers
Keith

[Jon Sollee]

Cermark > Thermark for all the metals we do. We do a lot of different metals and have the setting dialed down. Comes out clean and very sharp. I usually spray a very thin coat and let it dry completely...then lase away. High power/low speed for optimum quality and the stuff doesn't rub off. Below is a job I just ran yesterday on Brushed Stainless.

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