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Matthew LaFrance
02-25-2019, 2:00 PM
Just started a new firearms related job and they had previously purchased a XT Lasers 30W fiber laser and never even unpacked it, and no one at the company is very tech savy nor interested in self learning the machine. Also up until now there was no need for it as products were marked offsite (usually engraved via CNC) and sent to us pre-marked. We soon will need to use it for various marking of serial numbers inhouse and this is the only thing on hand that will work so I unpacked it and started trying to learn EZ CAD and see what it could do. I have so far gotten some ok results that seem to take a while just by trying random settings. Some times the edges of text or logos has "slag" build up and doesn't look clean. I contacted the supplier but the direct to china stuff seems to be lacking, as they provided very minimum info that wasn't helpful.

Doesn't anyone have some sort of correct starting place I can look at for settings in EZCAD for the deep engraving options? I can post what I did so far but I have a feeling Im doing this completely wrong and maybe someone has better suggestions. I have figured out how to load and center things into the software (though issues with the vector importing seems to be a completely different issue I will tackle another day, I was able to get things loaded eventually) and I learned how to apply a hatch (fill?) and settings for that, but some of the text or logos do not need to be filled in and just need to be "line style" which seems to be different settings that do not let me get as deep as the settings I guessed at for the Hatch stuff.

Let me know if I should provide more specifics to get an idea of what I need to do. I appreciate any input, and feel a bit dumb asking such broad questions.

I am currently marking 7075 and 6061 aluminum, mostly in the white to be cerakote finished after but possible marking through anodizing at some point.

Thanks

Scott Shepherd
02-25-2019, 3:07 PM
Post your settings and it'll let people know where you are now so they can easily spot any issues.

Deep engraving on aluminum takes some time. You can engrave stainless steel deeper and faster than aluminum. Speedy it's a term used for deep engraving aluminum in my experience.

Kev Williams
02-25-2019, 3:22 PM
https://www.permanentmarking.com/wp-content/uploads/TYKMA-Laser-Marking-Manual-REV214.pdf

^ ^ this link downloads a how-to manual by Tykma, it's what I used to learn and they use EzCad - it's been around a few years so the EzCad is older but nonetheless it's great info for new fiber users...

Matthew LaFrance
02-25-2019, 4:39 PM
Post your settings and it'll let people know where you are now so they can easily spot any issues.

Deep engraving on aluminum takes some time. You can engrave stainless steel deeper and faster than aluminum. Speedy it's a term used for deep engraving aluminum in my experience.

Scott,

Thanks for the reply. Below I will list my settings. As far as the material type: our main products that will be marked are always going to be 7075 and 6061 aluminum so I cant change that, but it is good to know for other projects it is faster.

For logo or serial engraving I randomly tested hours and hours of changing numbers with very little clue of what I am doing and came up with the following which got me deep enough just not always clean looking:

On the right side of screen under the "pen selection" I have the Main Marking Settings as:
Loop Count: 35
Speed (MM/Seconds): 500
Power%: 70
Frequency (KHz): 20

I applied a hatch and then the following settings
Count: 20
Line Space: 0.02
Type: (maybe should find photo, its blue snaking line with right angles, this was faster then the blue lines with red cross angles going laterally)

I have low quality photos on my phone of the settings if I failed to convey what I mean.

Thanks!

Matthew LaFrance
02-25-2019, 4:41 PM
Kev, thanks! I did find this PDF early on in my searching right around when I found this forum but I must be missing something because following the settings for deep engrave really didnt get much past surface scratching. ATF requires serials to be .003" deep, and all of our product will be cerakote finished (spray on ceramic based paint that is baked, so it could fill in engraving a small amount)
Edit: looking at this again now that I have about a week of laser time under my belt... I had the wrong type of hatch (blue line snaking along, which I knew what to call that) selected when following these steps. Only confusion now is the loop count on the main set up page, and the count on the hatch page.. since the instructions do not list two quantities do I use the same for both ( loop count vs count)

John Lifer
02-25-2019, 4:59 PM
Aluminum used on AR lowers is easy. I use 10 loops of deep engraving 1500 speed, 100% power 35 freq at 90 and 270 angles .02 line spacing and all calc, no contour and use the blue lines that are back and forth.(not full loops)
then 5 loops at 2000 100 power and 75 frequency to clean up at 135 degree angle and .02 spacing. For text (numbers) just a couple of minutes for two line SBR. Way deep enough, probably .005 inch depth.

Matthew LaFrance
02-25-2019, 5:14 PM
John,

Thanks for the specs! I wish I was at the shop so I can try, its first thing in the morning. I think the second pass with the different settings is what I was missing for cleaner look.

Those RIA 22TCM look really badass, kind of jealous. I did my 1911 armorer cert at Academi (also use to be called Blackwater, and then US Training Center) and the instructors were RIA fans and suggested them as a good base gun if looking to do lots of upgrades on a basic style 1911, and of course now a days they make some really slick higher end models that look great.

Chris DeGerolamo
02-27-2019, 8:17 AM
Aluminum used on AR lowers is easy. I use 10 loops of deep engraving 1500 speed, 100% power 35 freq at 90 and 270 angles .02 line spacing and all calc, no contour and use the blue lines that are back and forth.(not full loops)
then 5 loops at 2000 100 power and 75 frequency to clean up at 135 degree angle and .02 spacing. For text (numbers) just a couple of minutes for two line SBR. Way deep enough, probably .005 inch depth.

following...

Kev Williams
02-27-2019, 12:02 PM
When I get a few minutes I'm going to put together a post about the various EzCad hatch fills and settings, Laser TC settings, how they work etc.. --for example, the TC settings are rarely brought up, but getting them right can very much refine the engraving quality, AND speed the machine up big time-- When I got ebay laser1, the engraving looked like crap, it was because the TC settings were out of whack, allowing overrrun when changing lines, during the 'auto' cross-hatch a bad double-vision thing was going on. Once I dialed it in, perfect engraving, and the other bonus was machine speed picked up a ton, like 30-40% faster...