Etching Galvanized Steel

[Tyler Phong]

Not sure if i'm posting this in the right section or if this topic has already been covered as I could not find it in the search.

But my question is about etching Galvanized Steel sheets. They are those thin sheets only about 8"x12" that you can find at Home Depot. Same thickness as ducts.

I am using an Epilog Legend EXT 75watt CO2 and also an Epilog Fusion M2 Fiber Laser 50watts



I plan on etching on both. With the Legend I will use Cermark on the Galvanize Steel and on the Fusion I will just etch it bare. However I'm worried about fumes. I know it is bad and hazardous to burn galvanized steel becuase of the zinc coating. But is it safe to laser etch it whether it be CO2 or Fiber lasers? Both of my engravers are in a small trailer but each have their own exhaust blower hooked up from underneath the trailer with the exhaust tube outside.
So if it is safe, has anyone had any experience doing this? If so, are there any settings you can recommend for either CO2 or Fiber or both engravers? For fiber I just want the darkest and deepest etch I can get. For the CO2 just want the darkest etch.



thanks.

[Mike Null]

Cermark will not adhere to galvanized steel. I also doubt that you can achieve a permanent finish with the fiber machine but it's worth a try. I don't think I'd be too worried about fumes.

Back when I was in high school I worked for a company which did service work for foundries and metallurgical plants. One of them had a tank of molten zinc for the purpose of galvanizing water tanks (sold with water pumps). We had to service pyrometers in that room and we never had any issues with fumes. Fresh air was available in the room but the tank was easily 12' x 20' with 4 or 5 feet of depth.

[Kev Williams]

interesting- I just put a galvanized anchor on my fiber, lower freq's barely marked it, 80 freq showed up a little better. Upon scotchbrighting I found the lower freq mark basically didn't happen, but the 80 freq mark actually did remove the galvanize and >lightly< etched the metal, which means that part will now likely start to rust...

[Tyler Phong]

Cermark will not adhere to galvanized steel. I also doubt that you can achieve a permanent finish with the fiber machine but it's worth a try. I don't think I'd be too worried about fumes.

Back when I was in high school I worked for a company which did service work for foundries and metallurgical plants. One of them had a tank of molten zinc for the purpose of galvanizing water tanks (sold with water pumps). We had to service pyrometers in that room and we never had any issues with fumes. Fresh air was available in the room but the tank was easily 12' x 20' with 4 or 5 feet of depth.

Thanks Mike. That's good info to know bout the fumes. I'll still wear a respirator mask just in case. I'll be marking it with about 10 passes, so hopefully I'll mark something.


interesting- I just put a galvanized anchor on my fiber, lower freq's barely marked it, 80 freq showed up a little better. Upon scotchbrighting I found the lower freq mark basically didn't happen, but the 80 freq mark actually did remove the galvanize and >lightly< etched the metal, which means that part will now likely start to rust...

Thanks Kev. I know for stainless steel I use 40s / 100p / 5Freq. And that makes a good mark. My plan was to use the same settings on the galvanized steel and do multiple passes.

[John Lifer]

I used a piece of round duct (fitting actually to check what an angled mark would look like that was aluminum and I didn't have test part). I used frost white settings for aluminum and it barely made a mark on the galvanized part. Just a shadow. Enough for my purpose, but not very satisfactory. I didn't test further, but I think it will be poor mark when compared to plain steel.

[Jerome Stanek]

I know that welding galvanized metal gives off dangerous fumes.