Weird Stuff & Color Fill

[Ricky Gore]

Ok, 1st the weird stuff. I've been using my laser for a couple weeks now, and it has worked perfectly. Yesterday I was vector cutting some luan plywood, about 1/8" thick and I hit stop on the laser, but it didn't stop. The display said stop, but the laser just kept cutting. At that point the display seemed to be locked, I couldn't reset it or anything. After a re-boot it was fine, but that's a little scary when you can't stop the laser. I know I could have unplgged it, but it wasn't vital that it be stopped. Thoughts? Maybe I should update the firmware, but it's a new machine. Hmmm


Ok, 2nd, Color Filling.
If I engrave a coating off brass, and want to color fill it, what type of paint will stick to brass well? This is on the surface of a pen, so it will be touched and handled a lot. Is there a spray paint that will wear well on brass?


Thanks everyone..
Ricky

[Scott Shepherd]

First issue is normal. For some unknown reason to me, when vector cutting, the machine doesn't stop until it finishes that line. Best way to stop it in case of emergency, or it's getting ready to cut something wrong is to open the lid. That'll stop the beam but the motion will continue until it finishes the line.

[Joe Pelonio]

First issue is normal. For some unknown reason to me, when vector cutting, the machine doesn't stop until it finishes that line. Best way to stop it in case of emergency, or it's getting ready to cut something wrong is to open the lid. That'll stop the beam but the motion will continue until it finishes the line.
Correct. If it happens to be cutting a short line it may stop almost immediately, but if it's doing a 14" line it can do a lot of damage before stopping, so get used to opening the lid.

As for the color filling, that sounds really hard, because on a pen the lettering will be so tiny, and with no depth to hold the paint. Normally for painting brass I'd scuff it then prime, but that can't really be done in your case.

[Dave Lyda]

My experience with pens is: oil and grime from hands wears the paint off when they are silkscreened or painted. The lettering would be so small and light that it would not hold up. Metal, colored pens laser nicely and wooden pens are really nice to use and might engrave deep enough to color fill. Not sure I'd want to try and color fill a large order. Pad printing is used to put color on metal pens.

[James Jaragosky]

My experience with pens is: oil and grime from hands wears the paint off when they are silkscreened or painted. The lettering would be so small and light that it would not hold up. Metal, colored pens laser nicely and wooden pens are really nice to use and might engrave deep enough to color fill. Not sure I'd want to try and color fill a large order. Pad printing is used to put color on metal pens.
ok I'm out of my experience level here, but can't you use cermark on brass?:confused:

[Scott Shepherd]

James it normally doesn't work because most brass pens that shine are coated with a clear coat to keep them shiny. Cermark won't work with clear coat. So you have to laser off the clear coat, spray it (in place because you can't move it), and then laser it. Not something you'd want to do once, much less 100's of times.

[James Jaragosky]

i see said the blind man to the deaf dog.
so i need to tell the LOML that i need a yag laser for brass pens.
shouldn't be a problem:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::ro lleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:. hay scott could drop the loml a line and tell her how much i need a yag laser:D.
Seriously thanks for clearing that up for me.
Jim j.