Glock gun slide with a Trotec 80 watt laser!

[Jeffrey Dewing]

Hi folks! I'm looking for advice. I have a cusomer coming to see me with 2 Glock pistol slides he would like engraved388256 This is one of them! I have a trotec Speedy 300, 80 watt, CO2 laser... Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks Jeff from Bellwether Laser LLC! It is a Sig Sauer pistol.

[Jeffrey Dewing]

This is the first time I have asked a question to this forum and not gotten any response! Did I do something wrong?

[Kev Williams]

Nope, nothing wrong, the engraving forums have been dead for days...

As to your engraving that slide with an 80w C02 laser, essentially, it can't be done. It WILL 'mark' the finish, but won't create any impression or remove any metal. Using pearl-white Cermark will etch a semi-white mark onto the metal like normal Cermark (LMM6000, etc) puts a black mark onto stainless. This flag was done with white Cermark...
388324

For actual engraving, cutter tools or a fiber laser is needed...

[Marshall Harrison]

That is a Sig Sauer.

Just point that out as I love my Sigs.

[John Lifer]

I've been off for a bit. But Kev is right. I've done a bit with my 80w CO2, but even just the anodized AR lowers look pretty poor compared to Fiber. And a SIG, don't do it. Send him to someone with a fiber laser.

[Jeffrey Dewing]

Thank you all for you input! I think I'm going to talk him into lasering the grip!

[kyle bonnell]

Since its a Sig you should make a logo like " Sig Perfection"

[Chris DeGerolamo]

I mark Glocks on our 35W just fine. My best results come by engraving first a high power, low speed job followed by a high[er] speed "clean up" pass. The second pass seems to always brighten the metal. Good luck.

[Trey Tull]

Do all of you that do work on guns have an FFL, or does the customer stay there while you do the work? No need to really answer....you don't need to incriminate yourselves, but I have been turning away alot of gun work b/c I don't have one. Excluding work on AR's, I don't see that there is enough money to be made that will offset messing up someone gun.

[Gary Hair]

Do all of you that do work on guns have an FFL, or does the customer stay there while you do the work? No need to really answer....you don't need to incriminate yourselves, but I have been turning away alot of gun work b/c I don't have one. Excluding work on AR's, I don't see that there is enough money to be made that will offset messing up someone gun.

My situation has changed now, but I had an FFL and did enough firearm engraving to be quite profitable. You don't want to make any mistakes as it could get costly, but in 4+ years of engraving a fairly large number of firearms I only had 1 mistake on an ar lower - it cost me $89 to replace it so no big deal. It's not that I'm infallible, but on high priced (and irreplaceable) items, I'm so overly careful that short of a machine malfunction mistakes just don't happen.

[Scott Shepherd]

Do all of you that do work on guns have an FFL, or does the customer stay there while you do the work? No need to really answer....you don't need to incriminate yourselves, but I have been turning away alot of gun work b/c I don't have one. Excluding work on AR's, I don't see that there is enough money to be made that will offset messing up someone gun.

We have a FFL. Like Gary, you become super careful. I've done a number of guns that were a couple grand each. I did one last week that was $2,000 for the part we engraved. You just get used to it.

[Trey Tull]

We have a FFL. Like Gary, you become super careful. I've done a number of guns that were a couple grand each. I did one last week that was $2,000 for the part we engraved. You just get used to it.

Without knowing what you engraved, is the time involved to set it up worth it? Did you use a CO2 or fiber? Does your fee go up and down based on the price of the firearm?

[Kev Williams]

You can engrave all the slides and barrels-minus-receivers you want without an FFL. This fact courtesy of the ATF agent who served me with a C&D order...

You can also engrave all the 80% AR lowers you want without an FFL:


The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms controls the sale of AR-15 lower receivers.
As far as the law is concerned, the lower receiver is the weapon.
It also recognizes that a lower receiver, only 80-percent finished, is technically not a firearm and thus not subject to regulation.

That all said, once you get used to engraving firearms, they can easily make you $100+ per hour....

[Scott Shepherd]

Without knowing what you engraved, is the time involved to set it up worth it? Did you use a CO2 or fiber? Does your fee go up and down based on the price of the firearm?

There is very little setup time with a galvo fiber laser. It can be quite profitable. We used to do them by appointment only. You make an appointment and we'd do it while you waited to avoid the need for the FFL but that ended up meaning everyone wanted to come on Saturday's when they weren't working, which required me to be here every Saturday, which I was trying to avoid. We got the FFL and now we'll have them drop them off whenever is convenient and we'll engrave them when time permits.

[Trey Tull]

I guess I'll add firearms to the list once I buy a fiber. Thanks to all that responded!

[Gary Hair]

Without knowing what you engraved, is the time involved to set it up worth it? Did you use a CO2 or fiber? Does your fee go up and down based on the price of the firearm?

Absolutely worth it! I am not shy about charging what I feel is fair and considering the fact that I had the only fiber AND ffl in town, I had a captive market. I rarely made less than about $250/hour, sometimes more, a lot more. I used my fibers more often than my Trotec since they give more consistent results on anodized aluminum and were the only way to get depth on metal. I could also mark plastics with the fiber where the CO2 might just engrave a bit away. My prices were based on time - design time, setup time, lasering time, and "perceived value" - not on the value of the item. I paid more attention to the higher dollar value items because I didn't want to screw up and have to replace something. The only time my prices were completely disproportionate to the engraving was doing SBR's - they took about 45-90 seconds including setup, and I charged $45. I did so many of them that I had templates and fixtures for 95% of the lowers anyone could possibly bring in, and I could pretty much do them in my sleep. If I could do just lowers all day long, I'd be a VERY wealthy man!

[Gary Hair]

You can engrave all the slides and barrels-minus-receivers you want without an FFL. This fact courtesy of the ATF agent who served me with a C&D order...

You can also engrave all the 80% AR lowers you want without an FFL:




That all said, once you get used to engraving firearms, they can easily make you $100+ per hour....

slides, barrels, etc., are just hunks of metal as far as the ATF is concerned, same with what are referred to as 80% lowers (ATF doesn't recognize that term). As for $100/hour - if that's all you are making then you are leaving at least that much more on the table...

[Kev Williams]

you DID notice I put the + sign after the $100, yes? :D

[Tim Bateson]

slides, barrels, etc., are just hunks of metal as far as the ATF is concerned, same with what are referred to as 80% lowers (ATF doesn't recognize that term)...

That completely DEPENDS on your local agent!!!!! My agent disagrees 100% & that's what I have to work with. Yes, you can lawyer up and probably beat it, but as I've said before, I have a business to run & spending time/money in court is a waste. So the take away is yes, I agree with your statement, but your mileage may vary. Just an FYI.

[bill collier]

We have an FFL and use fiber lasers for gun work on any metal parts ... CO2 on wood stocks. If the part is composite/plastic we try to find an unseen spot to do a test mark, like the backside of a removable pistol grip.

Technically, the FFL isn't needed for the engraving - it's more about taking possession of the firearm.

[Gary Hair]

That completely DEPENDS on your local agent!!!!! My agent disagrees 100% & that's what I have to work with. Yes, you can lawyer up and probably beat it, but as I've said before, I have a business to run & spending time/money in court is a waste. So the take away is yes, I agree with your statement, but your mileage may vary. Just an FYI.

It's better to have one and not need it than vice versa!

[Kev Williams]

Considering all the debating and bantering we all do about the serious consequences and punishments we could face at the behest of the ATF, I just smiled when I ran across this:

http://www.oldglorygunsandammo.com/nfa-class-iii-weapons
An interesting and widely unknown fact, since the NFA went into effect in 1934, there has only been ONE, yes, ONE single felony committed in the whole United States since 1934 that involved a legally registered NFA firearm. And it was committed ironically by a crooked police officer who went to a drug house and shot someone on the premises. He used his legally acquired UZI sub machinegun to commit the crime. You hear all the time of machineguns and sawed off shotguns in the news but these have all been by individuals possessing an illegal, non registered weapon. There are millions of records of legally owned entries on the NFA registry too, so it’s not like we’re talking just a few hundred or thousand potential individuals.

[Glen Monaghan]

How OLD is that, anyway? Not true today...

[Kev Williams]

I put the link to the website in the quote, it's an up-to-date site, the quote is from their explanations of class III weapons...