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Julian Ashcroft
06-24-2017, 1:19 PM
I engrave small pieces of silver jewelry for a local artist, it's either straight text or images of children's writing shrunk down in size (I use Inkscape to vectorize the image and will then sometimes thicken the writing a bit before importing it into the laser software) before lasering in onto the piece of jewelry. Sizes I'm working with are beween 7 - 12mm across and from 3 - 5mm high, so pretty small. Most come out well especially the straight forward text.

The finished engraving is usually filled by the artist with some type of enamel paint to make it stand out more. If possible I would like to create a dark finish with the laser settings, to save that final step.

i have played around with a few settings on the few scrap pieces of silver I have been lent, but haven't had a great deal of success yet. Can anyone give me some pointers to help achieve a darker finish, I'm using a Chinese 20w laser and the usual EZcad software.

John Lifer
06-24-2017, 2:19 PM
I played around with a plated cup a while back. Setings that made the darkest mark were a metal burn setting. But it was not a black, really more of a rust. Otherwise, I just cut into plate to give engraved texture. Cermark worked, but high polished surface it didn't want to stay on. Maybe someone else can speak up, but I think you are stuck with filling.

Kev Williams
06-24-2017, 4:18 PM
Without carbon in the metal to help with the dark, you're limited to burning it, and as John noted, it'll be more brown than black, and most of the dark is soot that can be brushed off.