cermark competitor

[Gary Hair]

I guess I fall into crowd who complains about expensive consumables, but that's fine, I'm cheap

Cermark tape seems like it would be easier to use than the spray, but everyone uses he spray? What's easier for a beginner?

Without knowing what laser you have it's hard to tell if tape will even work for you, Ferro recommends 45 watts minimum for tape. The easiest, and best, is to buy bulk, as Mike suggested, and airbrush it on. Spray cans won't get you the thin coating that you need and if they sit on a shelf for too long it will settle and stop spraying. Buy the smallest container you can and thin it between 5:1 and 10:1 and experiment. Make a grid of 1/4" squares and use 100% power and various speeds until you find the sweet spot. Do that test for all of the materials you will use and you'll have no problems marking almost anything.

Gary

[Martin Boekers]

I have seen this all too often about the pricing of Cermark. Most that use it have had success with it
and as they say $100 of it will last forever. Many don't use it enough to justify buying that quantity.

Maybe Cermark should sell smaller sizes for $25-$30 as an intro kit. Just a thought.

[Chuck Stone]

I have seen this all too often about the pricing of Cermark. Most that use it have had success with it
and as they say $100 of it will last forever. Many don't use it enough to justify buying that quantity.

Maybe Cermark should sell smaller sizes for $25-$30 as an intro kit. Just a thought.

I'm with you on this one. I don't do enough to justify the cost, so when I need it for a $20 job and
it will cost me $100 to be able to do it, that's not going to work for me. Now, if I used it all the time
and made money with it, that would be a different story.

I bought a spray can that lasted one job and then clogged and the pressure ran down.
I finally donned a face mask, ballistic apron, gloves and such .. took the can to a bench
vise and started slowly sawing into it with a fine blade hacksaw. No pressure in the can,
so I was safe. Cut it open, scooped out the mud and put it in a container with some
denatured alcohol and now I can spray it on when I need it.

[Peter Jones]

I'm don't have a laser yet, just exploring at this point, but I know I will want to mark metal with it. Thanks for the info, it's helping me figure out what laser I need, and what things cost.

[Rodne Gold]

You can try the alternatives , lots of discussion on these boards regarding other much cheaper compounds that experimentally minded folk have found that work quite well...
If you are solely marking metal in highish volumes then consider a YAG galvo type machine.

[Dan Hintz]

You can try the alternatives , lots of discussion on these boards regarding other much cheaper compounds that experimentally minded folk have found that work quite well...

Yep... and I'm quite happy with the results. My red formula is working out, even if it has taken a while to make useable (though not perfect... yet). Ironically, however, I have not had a need for it on any orders... go figure ;-)

[Bill Cunningham]

One spray can of cermark clogged and leaked. (they replaced it n/c) the second can has lasted me 6years todate, I salvaged what I could from the defective can and mixed it with ordinary methyl hydrate and put it on with a 1"wide brush. I also salvage whatever is oversprayed, and I wash off quantity jobs in methyl hydrate and salvage the residue when the methyl hydrate evaporates and put it back in the bottle. those cans have done thousands of dollars worth of work over the last nine years, and I still have lots left..All in All, it probably the lowest cost/highest profit material I use.

[John Stevenson]

Forgive me but I'm new to this laser lark and this may have been covered before.

Tried engraving direct onto stainless with a 3040 / 40W laser and this is what I got.



Repeated about 7 times but when scotchbrited it soon removed the etching, top one wasn't touched as a reference.

Ran the same test with the stainless sprayed with some dry moly spray and this is the result.



All these have been scotchbrited [ is that a word ? ]

Works on steel and stainless, wipes straight off alloy so I suspect that the laser is burning the carbon into the ferrous metals ?

We can buy the dry moly spray in the Uk from RS [ Radiospares] for about £12 per aerosol

[Dan Hintz]

Yeah, the moly spray has been mentioned in the past... I didn't see as dark of a mark compared to the other options, however.

[Mike Null]

I can engrave directly on stainless with my 45 watt machine but it is not practical due to the slowness of the operation.