Ceremark and Copper

[Wil Lambert]

Anyone have luck with Ceremark and Copper. I buffed the copper first since it was a scrap piece. Washed good to degrease. Ceremarked it and lasered. My setting were 100power and 10speed but it washes right off. I can get it to stick with 1 speed and 100 power but wow is it slow. 20 minutes for a 1.5" square graphic. Does this sound correct for a 60watt machine?

Wil

[Mike Hood]

I'd guess the copper was dissipating the heat so quickly the Cermarc was having problems getting the heat up?

[Wil Lambert]

That's my guess too. I was thinking of "pre-heating the copper some then trying to mark it. I don't know if it will work or how I will do it yet but it is worth a try.

Wil

[Mike Hood]

That's my guess too. I was thinking of "pre-heating the copper some then trying to mark it. I don't know if it will work or how I will do it yet but it is worth a try.

Wil

I've had to do that to TIG weld heavier copper in the past. It's an iffy proposition :)

[Dave Jones]

Did you put the Cermark on extremely thin? Apparently the thicker it is the more power it takes, and I guess copper is such a good heat sink that it takes a lot more power anyways.

[Dave Jones]

Any chance the copper had been coated with laquer? Maybe you should hit part of it with fine sandpaper?

[Scott Shepherd]

Thermark's site indicates it works on copper. Here's the link to the page with it, that has the settings.

http://thermark.com/web-content/Applications/On_Copper.htm

[Wil Lambert]

Any chance the copper had been coated with laquer? Maybe you should hit part of it with fine sandpaper?

I thought about the laquer on it. I first buffed the copper with a rouge to give it a mirror finish. After that I de-greased it then washed with acetone. No luck.

I talked with Ferro and was told to try and wash it first. No luck. I talked with Epilog and was told the Cermark was possibly old. Ferro begs to differ. I am at a lose. I can get it to stick at 1-2 speed but it is unexceptable. 45-50min for a 1.5" square. No way to profit from that.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Wil

[Bruce Boone]

Copper is a near perfect reflector of infrared. That combined with its heat dissipating properties make it very tough. If the part has any thickness to it, it will absorb the heat like a sponge. I wonder if blackening it with a Sharpie pen before coating might help.

I was just thinking back to when I worked on a 1500 watt laser. They had polished copper mirrors. They would reflect everything the laser had to give it although the beam was still about the size of a quarter at that point. You will have to be at a perfect focus and need to try to limit the reflection. It might be worth trying a black Sharpie even before coating it with Cermark just to try and pit the surface. On my laser, I had a rubber wheel burn from a reflection from a polished tianium ring. I got some thick aluminum foil duct tape and put it around the underside of the laser carriage. It solved the problem. With copper being such a good reflector of infrared, you might consider doing the same just to keep from damaging your laser components.

[Wil Lambert]

Copper is a near perfect reflector of infrared. That combined with its heat dissipating properties make it very tough. If the part has any thickness to it, it will absorb the heat like a sponge. I wonder if blackening it with a Sharpie pen before coating might help.

I never thought of that. Plus me polishing to a mirror finish probally doesn't help matters. I will try it in the morning.

Thanks,
Wil

[Rodne Gold]

Even if you do mark it , metal that tarnishes is problematic as things that clean the tarnish tend to remove the mark as well as the tarnish.
I dont waste my time trying to mark these.