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James Walker
05-12-2017, 4:00 PM
Hello all and thanks to all that helped me with my initial question on laser Fiber Laser purchase. I chose to buy direct from RayFine and purchased a 30W MOPA with autofocus and Cyclops system. I ordered it with a custom enclosure for eye protection and I think it will be easier to make an exhaust system should it become necessary. The laser has been complete for a week now but the holdup is the cover is not yet done so I wait. Hopefully it will ship next week and will arrive quickly.

My purpose for this thread is the machining company that I sold asked me to mark some gold plated stainless plates. A very simple job but after reading some archived posts my concern is that beam reflection could harm the machine. Rayfine said it was able to mark gold and that the lens offers protection but they said that off center marking would be best. What do they mean by off center marking? Does that mean to tilt the plates so that the beam would bounce away instead of straight back. Anybody routinely mark gold plated stainless with a fibre that would care to share results?

Scott Shepherd
05-12-2017, 6:09 PM
Hi James, on the galvo setups, home (so to speak) is X0,Y0. If you engrave an object at X0,Y0, then the beam is perpendicular to the work piece, so the reflection would go straight back up. If you move it to something like X-3,Y3, then the beam is far less likely (if at all) to bounce back into the head. That's all they mean by off center marking, don't do it at X0,Y0, rather put it to the outer edges of any quadrant.

James Walker
05-12-2017, 8:25 PM
Scott that now makes perfect sense. Thank You.

Jacob John
08-05-2017, 1:38 PM
Hello all and thanks to all that helped me with my initial question on laser Fiber Laser purchase. I chose to buy direct from RayFine and purchased a 30W MOPA with autofocus and Cyclops system. I ordered it with a custom enclosure for eye protection and I think it will be easier to make an exhaust system should it become necessary. The laser has been complete for a week now but the holdup is the cover is not yet done so I wait. Hopefully it will ship next week and will arrive quickly.

My purpose for this thread is the machining company that I sold asked me to mark some gold plated stainless plates. A very simple job but after reading some archived posts my concern is that beam reflection could harm the machine. Rayfine said it was able to mark gold and that the lens offers protection but they said that off center marking would be best. What do they mean by off center marking? Does that mean to tilt the plates so that the beam would bounce away instead of straight back. Anybody routinely mark gold plated stainless with a fibre that would care to share results?

I wonder about this as well. The videos I've seen and been sent are marking stainless steel that isn't shiny. I'm curious about gold, silver, and shiny stainless. I can't find any videos showing that being done, nor anyone talking about marking it.

John Lifer
08-05-2017, 7:32 PM
I don't have any polished gold or silver nor for that matter SS that I have done. I have engraved some polished silver plate, no issues that I can tell. I think it is a non issue.

Jacob John
12-14-2017, 2:52 PM
Didn't see this thread when I commented on the other one, but has anyone done gold plated stainless yet? I've finally been asked but I have no idea about settings or if I should be concerned about bounce back.

Jacob John
12-18-2017, 4:45 PM
I don't have any polished gold or silver nor for that matter SS that I have done. I have engraved some polished silver plate, no issues that I can tell. I think it is a non issue.

Most ads for fibers also claim they can mark all metals yet I have not seen any settings for gold or gold plated stainless. I'm gonna have to burn some to figure it out I guess since this thread is quiet like a church mouse. This is going to be an expensive experiment.

Jeff Watkins
12-19-2017, 12:20 AM
@Jacob, maybe check with a few jewelers and see if they might have some scrap metal form rings or orther jewelery they could give you or sell on the cheap. Just an idea.

Jacob John
12-19-2017, 1:16 AM
@Jacob, maybe check with a few jewelers and see if they might have some scrap metal form rings or orther jewelery they could give you or sell on the cheap. Just an idea.


I might do that thanks. I wonder though how different it is to try and anneal gold plated stainless versus real gold. I don't have the item in yet so I can't gauge thickness of the 24K plate.

John Lifer
12-19-2017, 10:58 AM
Just tried annealing, total fail. I can engrave mark using 2000 speed, 100 power and 65khz with 90degree .03 hatch (20watt machine)
Nice mark, not deep, but noticible.

Jacob John
12-19-2017, 11:32 AM
Just tried annealing, total fail. I can engrave mark using 2000 speed, 100 power and 65khz with 90degree .03 hatch (20watt machine)
Nice mark, not deep, but noticible.

That's not very encouraging John! I'm not going to touch my piece until I practice enough and feel confident I can get a consistent mark. This might be a one-off but I still want to make sure. I'll share any settings I can once/if I get there. This might end up being the Moby Dick of fiber lasers. :D

Gary Hair
12-19-2017, 12:27 PM
That's not very encouraging John! I'm not going to touch my piece until I practice enough and feel confident I can get a consistent mark. This might be a one-off but I still want to make sure. I'll share any settings I can once/if I get there. This might end up being the Moby Dick of fiber lasers. :D

FYI - "annealing", which is actually called staining, works by drawing the carbon in steel to the surface. Since gold doesn't contain carbon you can't stain it the same way that you stain steel. It may mark but the settings, techniques, and results, wii be very different.

Jacob John
12-19-2017, 3:47 PM
FYI - "annealing", which is actually called staining, works by drawing the carbon in steel to the surface. Since gold doesn't contain carbon you can't stain it the same way that you stain steel. It may mark but the settings, techniques, and results, wii be very different.

I should have been more generic and used marking. My question though is still, is it possible to achieve dark black marks using a fiber?

Jacob John
12-19-2017, 3:55 PM
This guy managed to frost gold plated! Bah humbug.

https://youtu.be/lBauQtbRjec

Kev Williams
12-20-2017, 7:03 PM
As Gary said, what goes black is the carbon. You can get dark engraving on most anything else but you basically have to burn it, and in my experience, once you clean the engraving with a stiff brush and maybe a little soap and water, I've found most of the black is just soot, and what's left is not very pretty heat-discolored engraving.

No carbon in gold, but-- you may be able to turn a diamond black... ;)

Jacob John
12-20-2017, 8:47 PM
Any idea how they managed to frost that piece in the video I linked? As I've said, we're guinea pigs! Ha

Kev Williams
12-21-2017, 12:37 AM
Yes-- the same way I frost stainless :)

A little searching tells me that even 'thick' gold plating is only about 30 micro-inches (.00003"), which any fiber should just blow thru without breathing hard ;)

Jacob John
12-21-2017, 12:40 AM
Yes-- the same way I frost stainless :)

A little searching tells me that even 'thick' gold plating is only about 30 micro-inches (.00003"), which any fiber should just blow thru without breathing hard ;)

Kev, I hold you personally accountable when I blow through this 24K gold plated piece! :D I'm going to see how that works, then adjust if needed. I can only get a silvery/white out of my SS, never been able to get a true white.

Kev Williams
12-22-2017, 1:55 AM
You (or I, at least) can't get SS to turn white like aluminum will. The 'frost' in that video isn't white, it's silvery. Some MOPA's will make white, how I don't know, and for what purpose, ditto. :)

SS can be finicky to make nicely frosted, but if there's one thing I keep learning about these machines, the opposite of what you think should work will probably work better ;)

Jacob John
12-22-2017, 9:33 PM
You (or I, at least) can't get SS to turn white like aluminum will. The 'frost' in that video isn't white, it's silvery. Some MOPA's will make white, how I don't know, and for what purpose, ditto. :)

SS can be finicky to make nicely frosted, but if there's one thing I keep learning about these machines, the opposite of what you think should work will probably work better ;)

Is your silvery white shimmery or flat? Mine mostly comes out shimmery which I like, but I still want that frost white.