Shenhui 50 Watt Laser Help Needed

[Ralph Moore]

I have been trying to mark anodized aluminum, and the test pieces I have tried dont seem to come out correct. I have been trying a simple square of 1mm and also 5mm. I get the same result no matter the power setting, speed or resolution. My issue is that I set it for scan (raster) but all it seems to hit is the edges. Toward the bottom of the piece it seems to start to mark, but it looks like the power is too low. I have tried setting it to max power, even with a slower speed, but nothing seems to work. Has anyone had this issue or know a way to mark the Anodized correctly? I am thinking it is most likely Operator Error. I have not experienced this issue with any other material. I have also successfully marked aluminum with cermark, which makes me think that material is too reflective. Any help would be much appreciated.

[Kees Soeters]

If you do the same job to, for instance, wood? does it look right then?
I don't know the Shenhui laser and its controller, maybe there is a setting just not right but my first feeling says there is something wrong with the tube or the alignment.
When you engrave the speed of the head should be constant over the image you engrave. It will start to accelerate left and right from that image, so far as it needs to accelerate to that speed. When it does that, it looks like you have a burst of power but directly after that the power collapses. I guess you did this images BiDirectional. If you engrave Unidirectional (only from the left to the right or from the right to the left) you will probably see the bright marking on one side only. If so, then it looks like the symptom I mentioned here above.. But you will see that on other materials aswell.. (wood, glass, Acryl, Leather etc)

Normal anodized aluminum is very easy to engrave. the power/speed setting doesn't need to be very precise..

Kees

[George M. Perzel]

Ralph;
Is the image filled? Crosshatch checked?
Best Regards,
George
Laserarts

[Ralph Moore]

Kees,
Thanks for the reply. With the same settings on a different material, it appears to mark and cut the material as I intended, but only on this anodized aluminum it gives these strange results. I have heard the laser will mark the anodized aluminum quite easily, but that definitely isn't my experience. The laser moves right to left and only fires at the edges it seems. I was thinking it was a setting, but I only just started a couple of months ago with the laser, so I am far from mastering the intricacies of this equipment. This is the first time I have tried anodized aluminum, and this is the first time I have seen the laser do anything like this. From your description of BiDirectional operation, the image was only done Unidirectional.

[Ralph Moore]

George,
The image was just a black filled test square created both on the RDWorks, and Adobe Illustrator. Both were tried to see if it was a software problem I was having. I was trying to find the proper settings to mark the anodized aluminum when I discovered this problem.

[George M. Perzel]

Ralph;
Laserworks will only "scan" the edges of an object unless it is filled by checking "graph hatch" under Config.
Best Regards,
George
Laserarts

[Ralph Moore]

George,
Thank you so much that is a great suggestion, I will definitely try that this evening. I am hoping that works for this problem.

[Ralph Moore]

Well, I have aligned the tube, and mirrors, no problems there. Still having the same issue. The material is black on one side, with no color on the other. I can mark the side with no color with no problems, but on the black side, i am having this fading issue. Cant seem to figure it out.