Cermark Settings on Speedy 100

[Pat Philips]

Hi Guys

I have been doing quite a bit of Metal marking on stainless steel recently and I have had some good results with text marking.

I am getting a bit of inconsistency with solid logos though.

I have had a look around the web and there is a lot of differing advice, some say 600dpi, some say 1000 dpi, some say maximum power, some say 80 percent.

Any advice would be greatly received.

Thanks

Pat

p.s. im using cermark LMM-6000

[Gary Hair]

This was from a Ferro rep so consider it pretty sound. Highest power and highest resolution will give you the highest power density and the best opportunity for a good mark. Anything less than 100% power just means you have to run it slower to achieve the same power density, same thing with DPI, anything less than 1,000 and you'll have to reduce speed. However - different metals react differently and I have used 500 and 600 dpi with great results. I have NEVER used less than 100% power, no reason for that ever.
The best thing you can do is to run a test grid and determine the best settings for your machine and your particular application - not all stainless is the same, even different pieces of the same type will vary. A test grid is usually comprised of 1/4" squares that you run 100% power and varying speeds from 5% to 100% to get the general speed range then 2% increments surrounding the best result to get it dialed in to the best speed. DPI can be adjusted depending on your particular graphics - if it's small and highly detailed then stick with 1,000, otherwise try 500/600 to see how it turns out.

How to tell what is the best? Laser the test grid and scrub it with a gray scotchbrite pad - if you can remove any of the mark with the pad then it's not done right, Cermark will take some pretty heavy sanding to remove a properly lasered mark.

Make sure you prep right by cleaning with denatured alcohol, and then spray it on very thin and evenly - you almost can't get it too thin! If you can't see the shimmer of the metal under the Cermark then you have applied it too thick.

All of this will ensure you have the best opportunity to create a good mark.

[Dan Hintz]

What Gary said... as a side note, make sure your test grid squares are separated more than your typical grid to prevent heat from one affecting the others. I shoot for 1/8" separation on my typical test grid, but with Cermark I extend that out to at least 1/2".

[Chris Edens]

I have always had the best results engraving real slow at 100 power. Be sure air assist is turned off.

[Mike Null]

Gary and Dan are on the money.

[Gary Hair]

What Gary said... as a side note, make sure your test grid squares are separated more than your typical grid to prevent heat from one affecting the others. I shoot for 1/8" separation on my typical test grid, but with Cermark I extend that out to at least 1/2".

Same thing I discovered marking Titanium with my fiber - the colors I got on a 1/8" square were not the same as the ones I got on a larger image. Ti color is all about heat/temperature and the size/spacing of whatever you are marking makes a huge difference in the results. So much for my test grid on the 1.5" x 1" test parts...

[Gary Hair]

I have always had the best results engraving real slow at 100 power. Be sure air assist is turned off.

I'm not trying to be mean, but that's about as vague an answer as you could possibly provide and completely useless. Since you have a nice stable of Speedy machines you know how blazing fast they are and that "slow" to you is definitely not the same as "slow" to any other machine, and since you have wattages from 30 to 120, you know that none of them use the same settings. So, telling someone to use "real slow at 100 power" is about as useless as... not sure what.

[Jack Clague]

This was from a Ferro rep so consider it pretty sound. Highest power and highest resolution will give you the highest power density and the best opportunity for a good mark. Anything less than 100% power just means you have to run it slower to achieve the same power density, same thing with DPI, anything less than 1,000 and you'll have to reduce speed. However - different metals react differently and I have used 500 and 600 dpi with great results. I have NEVER used less than 100% power, no reason for that ever.
The best thing you can do is to run a test grid and determine the best settings for your machine and your particular application - not all stainless is the same, even different pieces of the same type will vary. A test grid is usually comprised of 1/4" squares that you run 100% power and varying speeds from 5% to 100% to get the general speed range then 2% increments surrounding the best result to get it dialed in to the best speed. DPI can be adjusted depending on your particular graphics - if it's small and highly detailed then stick with 1,000, otherwise try 500/600 to see how it turns out.

How to tell what is the best? Laser the test grid and scrub it with a gray scotchbrite pad - if you can remove any of the mark with the pad then it's not done right, Cermark will take some pretty heavy sanding to remove a properly lasered mark.

Make sure you prep right by cleaning with denatured alcohol, and then spray it on very thin and evenly - you almost can't get it too thin! If you can't see the shimmer of the metal under the Cermark then you have applied it too thick.

All of this will ensure you have the best opportunity to create a good mark.

Wish we had a "like" button this forum, thanks for the post Gary, very informative

[Pat Philips]

Thanks for your advice guys.

I'm getting great consistency (pure black) and results running at 100 power slow speed - 600 dpi

The only issue is I am having warping issues on the stainless steel when doing thicker style logos because of the heat

Is this just something I have to deal with with thicker logos or is there anyway around it ?? bearing in mind the guy said never dropping the power below 100

Thanks in advance

Pat

[Sam Barrale]

I too am getting burn marks and some warping on Yeti colsters and cups.
I'm using Cermark spray and a Chinese 60w laser. Power 100% and speeds around 35.
Any suggestions to get a dark marking without the burn?

Thanks
Sam

Chinese 60w
Roller rotary

[Mike Null]

Increase the speed or lower the resolution. The variable we all have to deal with is the application of the Cermark. Variances in consistency will produce variances in results.

While I prefer to air brush the liquid I have numerous jobs where a sponge brush must be used. I find that I get better results from the sponge brush by using a bit thicker consistency than with the air brush.

[john passek]

I have had good results with 100 power, 30 speed, 1000dpi for text and letters but have to lower the speed for solid items.

[Kev Williams]

I have 4 lasers:
1997 Universal (New Hermes Optima) 25w
2004 Gravograph LS900 40w
2005 GCC Explorer 30w
2013 Triumph 80w

-- the first 3 run Synrad lasers, the Chinese Triumph a glass RECI...

Speed and power settings for virtually every thing I engrave are all over the map. Like my basic Cermark settings
100 power 24 speed for the ULS
100 power 18 speed for the LS900
100 power 15 speed for the GCC
35 power 400 mm/s for the Triumph. (power sounds low but it's roughly equal to 100% of a 30w Synrad)

Resolutions always at least 500 lines per inch, but more often 600 and above.

And there is a distinct difference between the Synrad and RECI beams when lasering Cermark, which baffles me. The short explanation is, I get a nice, smooth, very consistent, near-black image when using any of the Synrads. But the RECI leaves a rough, record-groove image, every path of the beam is visible. I've tried 1.5", 2", 3" and 4" lenses to reduce the groove effect. But if the lenses are in focus, there are grooves. I've found 3 tweaks: One is to de-focus the lens by nearly 1/8". Gets rid of the grooves, but forget any small detail engraving. The second is to lower the power. But when I get satisfactory results, a scrub brush will wash them off. Third tweak is to simply crank up the power. Works great, but the resulting image isn't even close to black. It's more of a medium dark gray with a bronze tint to it. Very consistent too, and extremely permanent. But not BLACK. Fine for some jobs, but not for most. Now, there IS a sweet spot, where the engraving is near PERFECT. And I can actually get very good VECTOR results- BUT with rastering, there's still a catch-22 problem, burn consistency: getting the long X-path "laser-on" expanses of engraving and very short expanses equal in burn results. Example, the letters E, T, L, and F, all have narrow vertical bars and long horizontal bars. What happens is, if I get the long bars a nice smooth black, the narrow bars can be washed off. And if I raise the power enough to get the narrow bars a nice smooth black that stays, the long bars are now the lighter bronze...

Very frustrating. I've tried everything I can think of to get decent results. What seems to be the easy fix is the run the machine very slow so the laser has time to burn the narrow areas. Yeah, but- with the machine running slow enough to even the burn, I can't get the power setting low enough to work and be consistent. I've come to my own conclusion that a lower power tube might work

So any of you getting decent Cermark on stainless results using glass lasers, my hat's off to you, because I gave up trying long ago.

Sorry for the novel, it's just my way of saying all lasers are different!

And btw, stainless warps when you hit it hard enough with a laser for Cermark to bond. There's no getting around it.

[Mike Null]

And btw, stainless warps when you hit it hard enough with a laser for Cermark to bond. There's no getting around it

I disagree with this. If the stainless is thin then warping is quite likely but otherwise there is no reason it should warp.

[Kev Williams]

Heat warps SS just like it does plastics. How much depends on how much engraving there is, material thickness, and how slow you're willing to engrave. Small amounts of engraving won't warp SS much, and thicker SS obviously resists heat.

This is a 20 gauge plate, approx 5 x 3-1/2", this much engraving warps it pretty good...




This is one of my ski lift panels, 24" wide x 30" tall, 1/8" thick, and dead flat when I start. When I'm done, the left & right edges are are over 1/4" off the table. I use weights to keep these flat while engraving...




This is a memorial I did a few years ago, it's 18 x 12" x 3/16" thick, and it didn't warp a bit. The thickness is likely why...