Fiber On Wood

[John Lifer]

I was trying to come up with a way to show a customer what his badge would look like on a black surface (think Glock). I had engraved on a 1911 slide for him recently.
I didn't have any scrap black finished aluminum, but plenty of plain. So I brushed a coat of flat black acrylic house paint on a scrap and after drying engraved it with my fiber.
Looked good and all is well. But I thought I'd play a bit as laser went through paint easy. So I painted a couple of coats on a scrap of plywood. And Dang if it didn't go through it just as easy as on the aluminum.
How about that? Well, not really a surprise, if it cut through layer on aluminum, it would do same on any other surface.

But the nifty thing in my mind, is that it is another way you can use your fiber on a surface that won't engrave, i.e., base wood remains untouched and unmarked.


But there is the engraving..
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[Keith Downing]

Very clever John! Seems like it could grow the abilities of the guys that only own a fiber.

[Jeff Watkins]

Nice find. There are certain stains that will laser also and into the wood. Some darker woods will also engrave just fine, as will darker leathers. I get a kick out of the fact that Black card stock engraves beautifully but white will catch fire. Black card stock is amazing on the fiber, if you get a chance I highly recommend trying it. Lace patterns looks pretty cool as well. I was debating on trying some business cards with a cutout and then a different setting to give a beige/tan/khaki appearance.

[John Lifer]

Well, The Plywood, WILL engrave on the fiber. I was trying out a large letter for a sign and just grabbed that sample. Original settings was for brass, I just plugged in deep steel setting and in one pass slightly browned the wood.
Jeff, I don't need any fires, so Ill try some black at some time.

[Marius Nel]

I'm currently in the process of obtaining offers for a 30W MOPA laser- I currently have a 80W CO2 1200x800mm bed laser that I mainly use for cutting/engraving of MDF or acrylic. Other than obtaining the fiber for metal work - the idea is to speed up production by using the CO2 to cut 'blanks' that is to be finished engraved on the fibre- BUT I'm now told that I wouldn't be able to engrave wood [mdf] nor acrylic.. See below a test that was done for cutting of acrylic- clearly not going to cut.. But will it engrave?


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Rodney Gold has posted a link to his website- showing engraved acrylic- I'm assuming that this was done on his Longtai 20W fiber as the consistency of the engraving is much superior to any engraving on my CO2- no banding -only a smooth looking frosted look..
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So is there anyone on the Creek that can confirm whether it would be possible to use a fiber for engraving on acrylic- and even on mdf - as John Lifer alludes to?

Thank you

[Kev Williams]

You can engrave polycarb with a fiber, but you end up with "3D" engraving because you're essentially 'boiling' and burning the surface at the same time- looks wonderful from the back when reverse engraved, but your personal point of view is will determine if you like the surface engraving. I've never done photos or the like, usually just text and black/white logos.

but like the many other catch-22's with fiber vs. C02 lasers, you can't cut polycarb with either of them...

A fiber will also engrave opaque plex once you get the settings dialed in...

[Rangarajan Saravana kumar]

I had personal experience with Fiber on Black Acrylic that the results far better finish with white appearance, and sharp than CO2 Engraver, and with 20w IPG earlier had good work with wooden laminates 0.8mm thick. very nice and quick. but it will not work with Clear Transparent Acrylic.

[John Lifer]

Again, one of the things that the Fiber seems to do really well is to burn off paint/coatings. Anodizing on aluminum for instance. I've seen several folks here post about using fiber on Rowmark or other modified two color acrylics. My machine just won't do it consistently well. At least in my day of trying different settings starting with those posted a couple of years ago. But I'd bet if your product won't be handled, you could coat back or front (depending you what you wanted to see) and use a fiber to burn off the paint. Quick and easy. Way faster than engraving with a CO2. You wouldn't be cutting into the acrylic at all, but just the coating. Perhaps if handled, you could do two pieces with paint/engraving in center.

[Kev Williams]

Couple of thoughts:


Again, one of the things that the Fiber seems to do really well is to burn off paint/coatings. Anodizing on aluminum for instance.
--Depends on the coating(s)- f'instance, 'basic' anodizing is wonderful to fiber, but hard anodizing can be very difficult to figure out. Some hard anodizing can be lightened up nicely with power settings near zero and a tight once-over hatch, works similar to a C02 just 'bleaching' the color. But running a 2nd pass runs the risk of darkening it, or worse, etching the anodizing, then you have to get all the way thru the coating into the metal, which is another problem with hard coat; by the time you get thru to bare aluminum without black specks the engraving can be quite deep, and the aluminum usually goes a dinjy light gray instead of a nice white. -Most powdercoatings come off nicely by fiber, but some colors are like fiber kryptonite ;)

I've seen several folks here post about using fiber on Rowmark or other modified two color acrylics. My machine just won't do it consistently well. At least in my day of trying different settings starting with those posted a couple of years ago. But I'd bet if your product won't be handled, you could coat back or front (depending you what you wanted to see) and use a fiber to burn off the paint. Quick and easy. Way faster than engraving with a CO2. You wouldn't be cutting into the acrylic at all, but just the coating. Perhaps if handled, you could do two pieces with paint/engraving in center.
--Be aware that when you point the beam at items that aren't absorbed well by fiber laser, such as glass or transparent acrylics, the beam will simply pass thru the item, engraving or severely heating whatever's on the other side... :)