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mike klein
08-20-2006, 5:00 PM
Can someone tell me if a 12w laser will engrave anodized alum properly. I have a change to pick one up very reasonable but need to know if its going todo the job or not. The current owner never used it for alum. so they can't answer my question. As for cutting, I not to concerned about that, just needing an extra machine to help with the work load...

Thanks
Mike

Mike Null
08-20-2006, 5:19 PM
Mike:
I was able to do anodized with my 25 watt at 100 speed and 45% power.

mike klein
08-20-2006, 5:31 PM
Thanks for the input Mike. I am thinking that in order to engrave the alum., a 12 watt machine is going to have to run somewhere around 80-100% power all the time, which does concern me.

Right now on my 45w, I run at 100sp, and 30% pwr., and that also depends on the material. I have one style of material from the same manufacture that I need to run at 100sp and 20% pwr to achieve good results.

Thanks
Mike

Joe Pelonio
08-21-2006, 8:23 AM
Can't you send the guy a sample and have him engrave it and send back?
Better yet, if local, take it there and do it yourself. Otherwise I agree, that low wattage means running at high power a lot.

Dave Jones
08-21-2006, 8:54 AM
If the machine won't be very busy you can always slow it down and reduce the power, if you're worried about running the laser too hot.

I'm not sure that running a laser at 1/2 power for twice as long is any easier on the laser tube than running at full power for 1/2 the time, if we're talking about raster engraving as opposed to vector cutting. In raster mode the laser is off a lot of the time during the engraving. (I'm assuming you are talking about raster engraving the aluminum)

Michael McCullock
08-21-2006, 9:53 AM
Hi Mike
12 watts will work just fine. This part was engraved with that power. Lens for Pinnacle M-Series. Sorry the picture is so dark, I will repost a better one when I have time.
http://i10.ebayimg.com/01/i/08/19/46/9d_1.JPG
http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif