I'm so PO'd right now-- I ordered a crap load of operator panel blanks cut to size and anodized, this year my customer wanted me to buy the whole year's worth up front so there'd be no delays in fabrication. Projections put it at 270 panels-! Ok, we can do that-
And I've had issues with the anodizing for the past couple of years, so I changed shops. I had a sample panel made and anodized, I was happy, for the most part.
So what's happened since, is that 270 of these panels just fubar'd the new shop's normal routine I guess, they've had my panels for over a month, getting small batches done to keep me going, so that's good.
I've gotten 3 batches now, the latest batch yesterday, 120 panels. And why I'm PO'd is because all 3 batches, while looking the same, don't engrave the same at all.. the test panel and first batch engraved fairly bright, but had to watch the power so as not to blow thru to the metal. Second batch wouldn't get near as bright. I found with this batch that 'less is more', I got the brightest marking at half the power I normally use.
but this 3rd batch- No matter what settings I've tried I can't get it to engrave anywhere close to 'bright'. A light dinjy blue is all I can muster, regardless of machines and power settings...
I've spent over $5000 on this material, and as far as black anodizing looks and 'performs', they're all a good match and look great. But it comes with no warranty on what happens when you fire laser beams at it! Which I understand.
So-- once I'm out of the first 2 batches (still waiting on final batches) I'm stuck with blue engraving and MY customer will likely have issues with it. My recourse would be to fiber laser the things. But with a galvo the working area size becomes a problem. However, most of the panels are 15" or less in height or width, and a 300mm lens provides over 16-1/2" of work area. But almost all panels are well over 16" in height or width depending. Many panels would only need 1 reposition to complete, and 99% of the engraving requires no graphics joining, the one exception being 1/8" wide border lines that run out to around 20", but those aren't hard to line up (love the LEDS!)...
In examining my ebay2/cabinet laser, there's oodles of room to accommodate even the largest panels I make, as far as room under the lens and tower goes... And in most cases I could probably reposition the panels manually, provided I get the base table squared to the machine's output. And actually, that can be done in the software. But I've watched Triumph's motorized XY table do its thing with a galvo fiber, and having the software do all the repositioning automatically would be wonderful! But, Triumph's is the only one I've seen work, and it has a 300x300mm XY move distance. Nice, but a 400x400 (12x12"-ish) move would mean I could run every plate I make without moving the actual plate, using a 300x300 lens....
That's what I'm after, but I would definitely consider a manually moved XY table, if for no other reason than cost. And I'm sure a 300 lens will take care of anodized aluminum, just curious if anyone's been using one and how it works-