engraving an image- need help

[Ian Malings]

this is my first time using a customer supplied file to engrave an image.
can anyone tell me, what to do with this image to get it to come out looking good on a stainless steel flask?
i tried greyscale 8 bit conversion in corel 12, but it looks crappy

any advice for a newbie is greatly appreciated

thx
ian
26425

[Ian Malings]

hmmm...
how do i attach a file??

[Mark Plotkin]

Ian,

I have not good results putting logos on stainless. I would take out the fill colors so the logo becomes outlines with no shades of grey or colors to worry about. This will make for a clean crisp logo on the stainless. I hope this helps. If others have had good results with logos and photos I would like to here from them.

good luck!
MP

[Shaddy Dedmore]

I agree with Mark... you should make it all outlines with no blue or yellow fills. You could probably make the sword handle and blade all black. If it's not already a vector file, your could probably have Pete Bertrand do it for you, for $9.00. If you want to keep it raster you'll just have to use the Fill command in whatever photo software you use. Looks like you might have to increase the tolorance of the Color Fill to get all the color (a low number usually means you only fill the exact color you choose, a higher number allows you to fill more, like light blue AND dark blue). In Pain Shop Pro, there's also a Color Replacer command, that allows you to replace all the colors of the whole picture at once (like, choose to turn yellow to white, then blue to white).

Shaddy

[Ian Malings]

thx Shaddy- i'm going to give Peter a try. for $9 you can't go wrong.
i'm still figuring all this software out, and until i get proficient, i'll have to seek help wherever i can get it.

[Keith Outten]

I have engraved stainless steel many times and the results have been from poor to excellent and everything in between. What I do know is that every time I blasted the stainless with glass beads the engraving was perfect. I think everyone knows that Cermark requires a clean surface and there cannot be any coating on the stainless steel. Other than glass bead blasting I haven't found any chemical or process or cleaner that has been reliable. Even the special items sold for engraving which are not supposed to have a coating are often problematic.

Given the cost of Cermark if I can't blast the stainless I don't even try to engrave it anymore.

Below is a link to a flask I blasted before engraving. I masked the area, blasted with glass beads then engraved with Cermark. The photo doesn't do the job justice, the engraving was dark and the edges were pristine considering the graphic I was given to work with. Since then I have done lots of vector logos that were really nice.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=1943&highlight=flask

.

[Joe Pelonio]

Ian,

If you are not able to do the bead blast that Keith showed, try engraving with the filled B/W vector file (remember to turn any hairlines into 1/2 pt)
once without the cermark, then without moving the picea, apply the cermark and run again. On may coatings I find that the laser will remove it and allow the cermark to stick, and this way there is no change to the background. Just hard to apply the cermark without moving it. Good Luck.

[Ian Malings]

keith- unfrotunatley i'm not into sandblasting (yet?)...
very nice job on the flask

joe- i'll try your method if my initial results are poor.

i've used the cermark on stainless sheet stock with satin mill finish, and the results were excellent.