Cermark 6000 on Aluminum

[John Lifer]

Been some questions of dark marks on Aluminum. Supposedly Cermark lmm14 would work on Aluminum, with a CO2 laser. Well, NOT MINE!
Haven't been able to make either 14, nor 6000 stick at all on aluminum. Maybe too much power, I don't know. At any rate, heard fiber would adhere cermark to aluminum.

So, having a bit of time this afternoon, I started trying 6000 on some aluminum treadplate. Finally got it to work.
Frequency was 360kHz, 25% power and 50% speed. Went up to 65% speed and looks about the same, but I'll stay with first if I use. Yes, Frequency is higher than some can go, but I think it and the low power is key.
Anything over 30% power - oh, 20 Watt Fiber- would start cutting off the cermark. Obviously, aluminum is soft as compared to steel so if I tried sanding with some 600 grit, I removed aluminum as much as cermark.

I can post sorry picture, but you get the drift without.

[Kev Williams]

I have great luck with LMM6000 using my Triumph on aluminum--
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--but I have to hit it hard, a full 80 watts, .05mm gap and about 150mm speed. I have some LMM14 I haven't even tried yet, it looks exactly like the LaserBond(?) stuff I bought (made by the guy who invented Cermark), I wasn't impressed with it so I haven't tried the 14 yet. What I REALLY don't like about LaserBond is, even after mixing with DNA, the crap melts foam brushes, so I'm assuming it's cut with acetone. I have too much other stuff laying around I don't need melted,let alone my cherished foam brushes...

As to fibering Cermark, I have no idea how anyone gets ANY results doing that. My fiber, I spent some time one day mixing up settings from 0 to 100% power, 20 to 200khz, and speeds from 8 to 8000, no matter what I try, the laser just vaporizes the Cermark. Maybe WAY out of focus might get some to stick, but that would require resizing the job to compensate for the change in focal distance..

[Alex Tzoulis]

Another option is to anodize the aluminum first and after that engrave it as is.