lasering in color

[Kev Williams]

Awhile back someone mentioned something about a variable wavelength laser-

it's not a hybrid or switcheroo, but a single laser capable of firing at any wavelength between fiber's 1 micron and C02's 10 micron (give or take), and do it on the fly...

Best I recollect that is! I've searched for the thread, can't find it...

The reason I'm asking is, one of my customers called me the other day, and told me that he was told by someone(?) that titanium can be lasered in colors like gold, red, blue, green, purple, orange...
---then my customer says "can YOU do that?" Umm... not at the moment!

If Cermark can do those colors, I'm not finding anything about it on theirs or any other website...

So I was just wondering if a variable wavelength laser would be capable of different colors?

[Scott Shepherd]

I don't think that was from the wavelength, I think it was from the frequency on a fiber laser. I looked into it a while back and I have a couple bookmarks somewhere. It wasn't coming from a Chinese fiber because the frequency is capped at 80,000 Hz. If I remember right, the were using either a IPG or SPI source. I think they were able to get them into the 150,000 Hz area. Being able to go higher on the frequency was allowing them to produce different colors. You can get blue on titanium with any fiber.

The demo I saw was on stainless and they had about 8 different colors if I remember right. I think it was Wisely laser. But I've also seen some sight out of Europe doing it.

[Scott Shepherd]

Here you go Kev


http://youtu.be/VSEWJa69x1s

[Dave Sheldrake]

Scottys got it covered :)

[Kev Williams]

Very cool! I knew fibers were capable of some colors, but that's pretty cool!

Now I need to talk to my customer again, he said he had a ton of work for me if I could do that... :)

As for the thread I mentioned and couldn't find, I found it:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?221850-New-ULS-hybrid-laser!&highlight=wavelength

Read Gregerson's post, that's what I was remembering, the 'variable' part he talked about, although what I thought I remembered isn't exactly what he meant... (yeah, easy for me to say)

Anyway, thanks again for that video!

So, only a fiber capable of higher frequencies can achieve those colors? Aside from the Wisely in the video, who else markets such a unit?

[Scott Shepherd]

It's not unique to the Wisely, I think any fiber with an IPG or SPI source can do it, but I'm not 100% positive if it's either of them or just the SPI. Fibers are really simple, the have a source, the board, and the scan head. They are really simple, part wise, and from my understanding is there isn't much difference in any machines using the same sources. You have at least three choices, Raycus, IPG, or SPI. I think the last two are German made and I think the SPI does things even the IPG can't do, but it's also the top tier of pricing.

[Gary Hair]

were using either a IPG or SPI source. I think they were able to get them into the 150,000 Hz area. Being able to go higher on the frequency was allowing them to produce different colors. You can get blue on titanium with any fiber.

I'm not sure the frequency is all that matters Steve - I have marked stainless with my 80KHz fiber and have been able to get a pretty good range of colors. The keys are speed, power, frequency, and most importantly, focus - it needs to be out of focus. Stainless is completely unreliable for color, small changes in temperature and laser settings can throw things off enough that it's not really repeatable, at least not enough to make money doing it. Titanium, on the other hand, is apparently much more repeatable - but when you factor in the cost of experimenting on titanium, it's not going to be much of a money maker either... I just marked a bunch of titanium parts and all they wanted was a polished mark - fairly easy - and they provided an extra part for practicing (just one, it was a $300 part).

[Scott Shepherd]

Gary, I read the frequency bit on SPI's website a while back. It's there that they talked about the higher frequencies being available and making different colors.

Specifically, they say they are doing it at 125,000 Hz.

318848

[Gary Hair]

Gary, I read the frequency bit on SPI's website a while back. It's there that they talked about the higher frequencies being available and making different colors.

Specifically, they say they are doing it at 125,000 Hz.

318848


Everything you wanted to know about color marking (staining) with a fiber, but were afraid to ask...
http://www.vtt.fi/files/research/ism/manufacturingsystems/relation_of_laser_parameters_in_color_marking_of_s tainless_steel.pdf

[Mike Null]

That's exactly what I've been trying to tell you guys all along. ;)

[Matt Geraci]

I'm doing research on Chinese Fibers now. Seems that most of them use Raycus laser sources unless you specifically request an IPG source, which increases the price significantly.

[Gary Hair]

I'm doing research on Chinese Fibers now. Seems that most of them use Raycus laser sources unless you specifically request an IPG source, which increases the price significantly.

Then add in software that actually has functionality and you spend even more. It looks like about a $4,000 - $5000 premium for an IPG source with SCAPS software. Not sure the IPG source is worth the extra but SCAPS looks like it's almost a decent program.

[Dan Hintz]

Once you run through 50 million tests and determine what the best parameters are... you're going to run into consistency issues if you're a hobby-/garage-based environment. The key to colors (once your parameters are selected) is to keep your environment stable... temp, humidity, material quality, etc. There is money to be had... but there is also a lot of frustration to go along with it, and your customer needs to be aware that if they can't provide a consistent substrate, any consistency in your environment will be for naught.