Engraving Ipod Classic with polished back?

[Larry Bratton]

I have a 160gb Ipod Classic I would like to engrave. The back on this thing doesn't appear to be aluminum. Has anybody engraved one of these? If so, what precedure and power settings did you use?

[Mike Null]

Larry

I engraved some iPhones last week and I didn't think they were aluminum either but my customer did so I engraved the with my anodized alumium settings and they turned out fine.

[Frank Corker]

Larry if it has a battery, try removing it and having a look to see if there is a small area at the back which is the same as the front, that you can do a test run (engrave the serial number) it'll give you the best indication of what your settings should be

[Larry Bratton]

Larry

I engraved some iPhones last week and I didn't think they were aluminum either but my customer did so I engraved the with my anodized alumium settings and they turned out fine.
Mike;
Did it look almost like polished chrome?

[Larry Bratton]

Frank,
I'll check. Thanks

[Mike Null]

Larry
No these looked more like anodized aluminum but didn't sound like it. I thought they were plastic, but couldn't be sure.

[Mike DeRegnaucourt]

Hi Larry,

I have an iPod myself with what looks like a polished chrome back. If it's not the anodized aluminum variety, you might have to go with Cermark to engrave them.

[Pete Thomas]

Ipod's engrave very nice, use cermark. See attached image.

[Doug Bergstrom]

We just did our first of the new generation Nano's. Very small and thin! Had a mirrored back so we used ceremark. Worked great.

[Larry Bratton]

Thanks guys, I kinda figured I was gonna have to use Cermark. Anybody know what that back is, is it stainless steel.?

[Adrian Canoso]

The Front is anodized aluminum and the back is polished stainless steel on the classic and new nano (3rd generation). If you dare (tight tolerances), use the standard anodized aluminum settings for the front. The back is very thin, if you use too much heat you can deform the cover and it can potentially separate from the rest of the ipod. As for the electronics and battery, I have never had an iPod or other gadget fail because of lasering, they are pretty durable (luckily!).

I would only recommend LM 14 cermark (aerosol, or airbrush it on), because it requires less heat than other types including the cermark tape...

Here is a sample of an ipod I did for one of my clients, I was definitely a bit nervous doing this type of ipod for the first time!

BTW I love you guys, these forums have helped me so much over the past few months!!!


There are other examples at:
http://engravee.com/gallery.htm

[Mike DeRegnaucourt]

Looks great Adrian!

I checked out your link and they all look great. How did you achieve the colored look on the one with the tree design? I really like the look of that one.

[Bob Cole]

Wow. That is impressive. My first go at an iPod was not so successful. Didn't get the cermark on even enough so part of the design wasn't there. I was naive enough to think I could line it up again and run it (was a simple design. I was wrong.

I ended up covering it up with laser foil. This was one of my first things I've done so be nice :)

[Keith Outten]

Here are a couple links to Epilogs web site that cover the subject of engraving ipods and a macbook.

http://www.epiloglaser.com/sc_ipod_shuffle.htm

http://www.epiloglaser.com/sc_iphone.htm

http://www.epiloglaser.com/sc_macbook.htm

[Adrian Canoso]

Thanks guys,
Mike, the "color" is done by simply lasering the metal with no cermark at a slow speed, on m 45 Epilog mini, I think my settings were 10 s 100 p But remember that this is a bit risky (due to the heat) and the area should be small. I think this anneals the metal, turning the iron with the steel to give cool, chaotic colors...

Bob, I never tried the foil, it looks great, I'll have to try that!

[Bill Jermyn]

I did an iPod touch the other day, no Cermark, 100 speed, 3% power on my Epilog Legend 32EX 75 Watt. The picture doesn't show it, but it came out whitish, not as white as the factory engraving though.