Laser glossy stainless mug

[tony mazzone]

Hi,

A customer dropped off a stainless steel coffee mug sample that has an almost mirror finish that he needed a logo lasered on it. It could turn into a 100 piece order. I've used Caremark on plenty of stainless mugs over the years with good results. This one did not come out that good. It did not produce a clean logo and almost looked like it hit the shiny surface and splattered. Also it did not adhere consistently.

Can this material not be lasered or am I doing something wrong.

I have an Epilog 45TT and am using 100 power and 8 speed with 600dpi.

Thanks,
Tony

[tony mazzone]

I meant cermark

[Trey Tull]

Is there any type of clear coat on it? Might have to burn that away first and then coat with cermark(while in the rotary) and then run again.

try something around 100p/30s. 8s might be too slow. I run 100p/47s on my 60w ULS.

[Gary Hair]

Make sure it's clean, denatured alcohol works great. Then apply a thin, even coat of Cermark. Run a power grid to find your optimal settings. Use 100% power, 600 dpi is fine, and laser a 1/4" square at various speeds. It's doubtful there is a clear coat on stainless, but if there were you wouldn't get anything to stick.

[Kev Williams]

I engrave extremely mirror-finish knives for a maker, his blades get 50 hours of polish time, they're so glossy that Cermark just rolls off like mercury. The way I get Cermark to stick is to wipe with denatured alcohol, BUT I let it dry visibly streaky, because the streaks stick to the blade, and Cermark will stick to the streaks.

That all said-- you sure the thing isn't chrome plated? Mirror polishing a stainless water bottle seems a little time consuming, time equaling money and all...