Need Help with Chinese 40W Laser

[Ryan Barila]

After changing parts out I finally got my laser machine up and running. I have an issue I am experiencing. I have someone that wants me to engrave plastic badges. I was using one as a sample to get the settings right no matter what I do not working (looking nice).

I tried
power from 12.5-70% It either didn't engrave the gold off or it burned through.
Speed was at 320-420mm/s.
DPI 250-1000

I am using CorelDraw...Results weren't good looked burned and had a bunch of dots wasn't nice and smooth.

I tried putting masking tape over it.

Thoughts/Ideas that I can try? There is about 4-5 inches from laser head to plastic badge... Unit does have air assist... I am not looking for deep engraving just basically scratch the service of the plastic to remove the gold to expose the black under it, nice and smooth look & feel. I also tried multiple runs with very low power... We are looking to achieve a look with logo and text like this:
http://www.naagtag.com/name-tags/engraved-pocket-name-tags/engraved-pocket-name-tags-logo-up-to-2-lines-of-text

This RILLA was already engraved by another company. I am using the back of it to test.

[Dave Sheldrake]

"Rilla" version looks like it's been mechanically engraved. If that isn't laserable plastic you will be pumping toxic and dangerous fumes into your machine, the reflective surface "looks" like very thin metallic plate (metalised) again that will destroy the lens's and possibly the tube with back scatter as well as providing unreliable results due to phase cancellation.

[Ryan Barila]

"Rilla" version looks like it's been mechanically engraved. If that isn't laserable plastic you will be pumping toxic and dangerous fumes into your machine, the reflective surface "looks" like very thin metallic plate (metalised) again that will destroy the lens's and possibly the tube with back scatter as well as providing unreliable results due to phase cancellation.

Outch I hope I didn't do damage... The person that gave me the sample told me it was laser engraved. I am newbie. Any way I can check to make sure I didn't do any damage like you said?

[Bert Kemp]

search on here for the copper wire test to see if it a PVC. one other thing you said laser was 4 to 5 inches from material. I think thats way to far away. do you have a focus tool and did you use it.
Looks like your material might be LaserMax by Rowmark

[Steve Morris]

RILLA is mechanically engraved, not lasered. Your material does not look like a laserable one at all, there are loads of mechanical only materials that look identical to the laser ones. That 4-5 inch lens gap sounds like you need to run a focus test for the lens. Engraving should not need air assist.

Where are you someone local might be able to help with the material?

[Kev Williams]

Concur that 'rilla' was tool engraved. The giveaways are: no raster lines on the edges, there are faint circular marks in places caused by burrs on the tools, and the edges of the cut in places have a slight 'fluffy' burr. The "A" is the most telltale...

The other material looks like New Hermes brushed gold Metallex, I have a ton of the stuff here. The non-laserable version is essentially ABS and just meYou can get the same exact-looking stuff that IS laserable.