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Bob Kline
03-10-2006, 4:23 PM
I just experimented (for the first time) with my can of spray CerMark. I tried it on a piece of engraver's brass, the kind that's used on rotary engravers with a drag type cutter. Using the suggested settings for my 25W Epilog, 100% power and 25% speed, I got just a faint hint of engraving (darker than the surrounding brass). Any ideas why CerMark doesn't work on this material or am I doing something wrong?
Thanks

Jim A. Walters
03-10-2006, 5:56 PM
I was running around 2% speed 100% power with my 25 watt Pinnacle using the Cermark tape.

Joe Pelonio
03-10-2006, 6:06 PM
I don't know why the instructions are always given way off. My 45 watt has to be at 100% power 10 speed, yours should be slower than that with 25 watts. Maybe they just want us to waste it trying so they can sell more of it.

Nick Adams
03-10-2006, 10:18 PM
drag and laser brass is typically

Metal(brass)

Clear coat

color coat

Robert Bosworth
03-17-2006, 2:27 PM
I've had very limited success with cermark on any gold substrates. Also, Nick is right that the engravers brass is probably coated with something that is not friendly with the laser. I would suggest you check out Alumamark or a synthetic Romark Laserbrass.

Robert Bosworth
www.usedlasers.com

Peter Vasic
03-02-2008, 7:35 AM
Brass,, Copper, Silver Gold, are amazing heat sinks, they absorb and disperse the heat from your laser so quickly that the cermark doesnt really get a chance to fuse into the surface.
The only way around this IMHO is the use of a much higher powered laser. I'd say 100w and above. These give enormous amounts of energy allowing the cermark to fuse with the substrate.

I've heard of some success with 75W lasers, but like all things..the motto is

"More Power"

regards
Peter

P.S. I stand for correction on this so jump in guys.

Keith Outten
03-02-2008, 10:40 AM
The only times I have ever had what I considered a really good quality mark with Cermark has been when I bead blasted the surface of the material first. When the surface is perfectly clean marking stainless steel and aluminum was pristine and permanent.

You would be surprised how contaminated a metal surface can be from oil and other chemicals that will prevent a quality mark. Clean them with acetone then bead blast with glass beads and the results are amazing. The down side is the additional cost of preparing the surface for engraving, this is why I don't use Cermark much anymore unless the fee warrants that kind of quality level and the labor involved.

.

Mark Winlund
03-02-2008, 2:02 PM
Brass,, Copper, Silver Gold, are amazing heat sinks, they absorb and disperse the heat from your laser so quickly that the cermark doesnt really get a chance to fuse into the surface.
The only way around this IMHO is the use of a much higher powered laser. I'd say 100w and above. These give enormous amounts of energy allowing the cermark to fuse with the substrate.

I've heard of some success with 75W lasers, but like all things..the motto is

"More Power"

regards
Peter

P.S. I stand for correction on this so jump in guys.


You are spot on. My laser is 120 watts, and I have never been able to get a satisfactory mark on brass with cermark. There are times when it looked good, but a fingernail will scrape it off. Stainless and chrome seem to be best. I have done hardened tool steel in a two step process.

Mark (would like to have a UV laser.)

James Stokes
03-02-2008, 2:22 PM
I engrave raw brass with my 100 watt laser. I use 25 speed 100 power. It holds up just as well as stainles steel.

Frank Corker
03-02-2008, 8:16 PM
James the brass stuff you have there looks great. Actually it's really 'bad order' that I have never actually even tried to engrave brass, I just took everyone's word that it had poor results. I think I'll give it a go now that I've seen yours and if it works, great! If not, no great shakes, I've lived without it for long enough. Nice work.

James Stokes
03-02-2008, 9:08 PM
Frank, It works much better with the LMM-14. Using that I can run at 62 speed, 100 power. These were done with the LMM-6000. It takes much more power with that. I also use 400 dpi

James Rambo
03-02-2008, 9:46 PM
I use 25% speed and 100% power and I put a line down each (right and left) side of the graphic(s) to start the laser before it gets to the brass and this has made the 'black' much more stable.
I also ordered the wrong type of brass once. I found this out when cerdec did not create a mark. As a test I lasered the brass with less power and the clear coat raised. I keep it as a reminder of what not to order.