Cermark on Brass shell casing

[Kev Williams]

These may not look like bullet casings, but -- they kinda are!
The brass used is to plate them comes from the Norwegian Army, the shell casings used during practice shooting...
Cermark works pretty good, but I WILL say, you need some serious wattage...

bell1.jpgbell2.jpgbell3.jpg

-- My 40w LS900 would give me varied results, and usually the Cermark wasn't fused very well.
--that's part of the reason for the clearcoat. (the other part is, it looks good!)

Enter my 80w Triumph, and I've had no problem with Cermark fusing. The Triumph did these bells.
Focus can be an issue because power is an issue...

[AJ Chabot]

Bumping an old thread... I need help. I have been reading up and I'm still having issues. I just ran my last test run and I can still scrap the CerMark off. 30w Explorer II. I have sanded the Brass down, I'm 98% sure there is nothing on it. This was 100% power and the speed was at 2. I have done stainless Steel with 90%/25 speed and no issues. Would that Cold Galvanizing spray work any different? I'll upload a photo as soon as I can get it off my phone.

Thank you
AJ

[AJ Chabot]

This is the Piece I'm trying to mark.
20190318_164136.jpg

[Randy Walker]

Hey Al
I haven't used that process since 2010 when I posted it. I wish I could give you some additional insite but I don't have any. I would tell you to just give it a try. The cold galvanize spray isn't terrably expensive, and it realy did do a good job for me.

Randy Walker

[Kev Williams]

30 watts won't reliably fuse Cermark to brass. I have the same machine you have (only older), it won't do the cowbells above. My 40 watt machine will, but so slowly that it's counterproductive. My LS100's tube tested at 47 watts, it does pretty good. My 80 watt Chinese machine fuses Cermark to brass like gangbusters. With brass, it's a power thing...

[AJ Chabot]

Hey Al
I haven't used that process since 2010 when I posted it. I wish I could give you some additional insite but I don't have any. I would tell you to just give it a try. The cold galvanize spray isn't terrably expensive, and it realy did do a good job for me.

Randy Walker

Thank you.

30 watts won't reliably fuse Cermark to brass. I have the same machine you have (only older), it won't do the cowbells above. My 40 watt machine will, but so slowly that it's counterproductive. My LS100's tube tested at 47 watts, it does pretty good. My 80 watt Chinese machine fuses Cermark to brass like gangbusters. With brass, it's a power thing...

Thank you. Think the galvanized spray will work? Or just slap it on the cnc and use the drag bit?

[Randy Walker]

Yes power is my biggest problem too. When I do any of these chemical marking compounds I must run sllloooowwww, like below 5% speed and at 1000ppi. I try to steer away from that kind of work if I can.

Randy Walker

[Chris DeGerolamo]

Ditto on the laser power on Brass. 30W won't do it. You *may* be able to vector the snot out of it to fuse better...YMMV