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Kenny Davis72
06-23-2018, 10:30 AM
Has anyone ever experimented with using gold foil and their CO2 or Fiber laser? I purchased a roll of gold and silver foil for hot stamping on eBay to try. The stuff is very inexpensive. I'm hoping to be able to use the stuff for the one-off project that needs the shiny gold look. My think is that since I can generate heat with a laser that maybe I can get the gold foil to transfer to the substrate sort of like hot stamping but of course without the pressure involved. Using my Chinese CO2 didn't work too well. I felt like it got too hot. Using my MOPA Fiber laser was a lot better. Not perfect but worth the time to try and experiment some more. You have so many settings to play with on the fiber laser that I feel I might be able to find the sweet spot eventually.

Here are some of my result. My test was on plastic. The result is very permanent and actually felt like a hot stamped item. I couldn't scratch it off without damaging the plastic. The shiny gold didn't take in all spots but I feel it might be just a few tweaks to make passable for hot stamping. Only spent about a half hours on it. The setting that got the best result was 600 speed, 40 power, Freq 20, Q Pulse 100 and hatch line spacing of .1. The foil was just laid on top of the plastic. Didn't use any spray adhesion or tape. Just quick setup since it was just an experiment. I will play with it some more next week when I have time.

388333388334

Kenny

Keith Downing
06-23-2018, 1:55 PM
Has anyone ever experimented with using gold foil and their CO2 or Fiber laser? I purchased a roll of gold and silver foil for hot stamping on eBay to try. The stuff is very inexpensive. I'm hoping to be able to use the stuff for the one-off project that needs the shiny gold look. My think is that since I can generate heat with a laser that maybe I can get the gold foil to transfer to the substrate sort of like hot stamping but of course without the pressure involved. Using my Chinese CO2 didn't work too well. I felt like it got too hot. Using my MOPA Fiber laser was a lot better. Not perfect but worth the time to try and experiment some more. You have so many settings to play with on the fiber laser that I feel I might be able to find the sweet spot eventually.

Here are some of my result. My test was on plastic. The result is very permanent and actually felt like a hot stamped item. I couldn't scratch it off without damaging the plastic. The shiny gold didn't take in all spots but I feel it might be just a few tweaks to make passable for hot stamping. Only spent about a half hours on it. The setting that got the best result was 600 speed, 40 power, Freq 20, Q Pulse 100 and hatch line spacing of .1. The foil was just laid on top of the plastic. Didn't use any spray adhesion or tape. Just quick setup since it was just an experiment. I will play with it some more next week when I have time.

388333388334

Kenny

Interesting stuff Kenny. I don't personally have any experience with the laser-able foil, but I feel like there are some products out there I've seen posts about specifically for the use on plaques and wood blanks that worked very well.

Hopefully you'll get some more feedback once the usual crowd returns on Monday. Keep us updated on your progress though, I'm curious to see what you can make work.

John Lifer
06-25-2018, 10:01 AM
Not surprising its working. It transfers with heat. CO2 is probably blowing thru the top layer. (I think the film is polyester in most cases) Good trial and idea.