Lasering 18k Gold

[brian fithian]

I have a customer that wants me to laser on a 19mm 18k Gold disc. I have not engraved on gold and do not have “practice” pieces...
I have an epilog 40w Mini. Can anyone help me with power & speed settings for Cermark on 18K Gold

[John Lifer]

You can't..... Need a fiber laser for that.

[brian fithian]

Cermark wont stick to it ??

[Mike Null]

Not a chance.

[Trey Tull]

Also.... the odds are that it is gold plated, so a fiber would just eat through the plating, leaving the base metal behind. It wouldn't look good at all. If it isn't gold plated, do you really want to be the one to mess it up?

[John Lifer]

turns pink if it is nickle. And a lot of items are nickle or nickle plated before gold or silver.
I've done several and the clients have been actually "tickled Pink"

[Dave Sheldrake]

There's a good reason CO2 laser mirrors are gold plated ;)

[Jerome Stanek]

There's a good reason CO2 laser mirrors are gold plated ;)

Welcome back Dave hope to learn more from you this year

[Dave Sheldrake]

Welcome back Dave hope to learn more from you this year

Hiya Jerome,

If time allows I'll be around when possible.Lots of stuff going on I mentioned elsewhere but I'll help folks where I can :)

[Kev Williams]

There's a good reason CO2 laser mirrors are gold plated ;)

This one wasn't! For fun I made this mirror out of a hard drive platter, and not the right kind either!
422837 422838
Worked wonderful for about 10 minutes before I noticed the bright flash!

but how about that laser alignment, ay? :D

[Dave Sheldrake]

:) surprisingly industrial mirrors are usually copper but not Chinese "copper" :)