Rowmark Nomark

[Joe Pelonio]

A rotary engraving guy wants me to try the laser on some Rowmark Nomark Plus, which is not made for lasering. The text is too small for his rotary and he says the color of the laserable materials won't match what his customer wants.

Anyone tried it before? He thinks it's plastic, not real metal.

[Dave Jones]

I've never tried it. As for the plastic vs metal... The MSDS says:

Ingredient Name -------------------- Typical Wt. %
Acrylonitrile/butadiene/styrene resin - 90-100%
Aluminium Flake ----------------------- 1-5%
Carbon Black -------------------------- 1-5%
Copper -------------------------------- 1-5%

May contain the following:
Mineral oil --------------------------- 0-2%
Tallow -------------------------------- 0-2%
Wax ----------------------------------- 0-2%

============================

It also shows that it may contain trace amounts of:

Toluene
Mercury
Antimony (3+) Trioxide
Arsenic
Cadmium
Chromium (6+)
3.3'-Dichlorobenzidine
Ethyl Acrylate
Formaldehyde
Lead
Nickel
Selenium Sulphide

[Joe Pelonio]

Some nasty stuff, but in small %. Well, I guess I'll try it, he's supplying the material.

[Patrick Licata]

Joe,
It may be hit or miss with the non-laser material.
I have done a couple of name badges supplied to me and what usually is done in 1 pass took 5 or 6 passes and increased depth so much so that the depth guage actually hit the material while lasering. You may get lucky and after enough passes and you may not. Good Luck!
Patrick

[Rodne Gold]

It will work ok for text , the ABS doesnt cut or engrave as well as the acrylic substrates normally used for the laserable lams.
Biggest problems we have had with No mark is that there is some sort of "protective" layer on the top layer apart from the colour , and we have had this delaminate or "chip" even when rotary engraving it. Scraping the edge of the laser cut material makes this problem worse sometimes.

[Bill Cunningham]

Yup. The protective layer is what gives it it's "no mark" qualities. But, not only will it chip as Rodne says, I also found that the layer will flake off on it's own after a period of time.. I have some here that looks like it got a good sunburn, and is now peeling..