Material for Electrical Tags

[Mark Tromp]

Hi All,

I recently had a meeting with a Customer (Mechanical Contractor) requesting for some outdoor tags. The most important requirement was the material life span for the outdoor tags. The Electrical installation has to last for 10 to 15 years and also the tags. I just want to know and make sure if such material like Texture, Lasermax, Metalgraph Plus or Metalgraph, which has been suggested by Rowmark, will meet my Customer requirements. Or maybe the are other engravable you folks use for Electrical Tags.

I appreciate any help and/or recommendations.

Best Regards,

Mark Tromp

[Mark Winlund]

When I was doing these, the requirement was phenolic. A very hard, non flexible material. Better suited for rotary engraving than laser. Johnson sells it in various colors. For exposed locations, metal photo works well and lasts for many years.

Mark

[Mike Null]

Phenolic was a specified material in electrical applications but not for outdoor use.

If it's just for labels and/or signs where conductivity is not an issue then Rowmark's suggestions should be ok. If conductivity is an issue then you might talk to Rowmark about Saf T Mark.

[Scott Shepherd]

I've not seen any laserable plastics that can stand 15 years in the weather. I've used metalgraph, but I wouldn't bet my paycheck it will last 15 years.

Cermark and metal, or some alumamark premade blanks might be an option. Then it's marked on metal. I'd think cermarked stainless would outlast lasered plastic.

[Mike Null]

Steve

Alumamark is not an outdoor material. I speak from experience.

I will also amend my earlier remarks in that I don't think plastic will survive 15 years in presentable fashion. But several years for sure.

[Larry Alles]

I have a set of address numbers on each side of my mailbox.
Made them out of black/white texture material (Rowmark).
The original mailbox rusted out, and I put the plates back on the new
mailbox. They didn't fade at all.

[Rodne Gold]

Laser engraved perspex will work
Traffolyte or the phenolic resin often specified gets very brittle with age and does deteriorate , especially outdoors.
The specification of this is a sort of legacy thing , there are other plastics and substrates that are far better , but cos phenolic has been specified for the last 678 years , it just continues to be the spec.
Phenolic or traffolyte is VERY laser engraveable , but its not that good for cutting.
biggest problem with pex is that its generally too thick at 3mm or so. Problems with some other sandwich plastics is that for durability , the top cap is generally pretty thick which makes for less than stellar laserability.
We actually use Formica for a lot of this work, its dirt cheap , its really easy to laser and paint fill and its easy to cut. We spray the back with a clear laquer to stop and possible water swelling etc. Problem with formica is that it doesnt engrave "black" so mostly needs a fill for cosmetic reasons , but we use cheap gilders type waxes (similiar to rub n buff but a WHOLE lot cheaper and easier to use , most craft shops have it in any colours , including all the metallics) for the fill and use a cloth moistened with turpentine to remove excess (we brush it in with a toothbrush)

[Scott Shepherd]

Thanks Mike, I'll make a note of that.

Rodney, I have a sheet of Phenolic I got from gravograph. Black/white. The white turned brown when I engraved it on the laser. Brown enough to notice it was brown now and not white. Can you recommend how to cut that and keep the core color clean?

[Rodne Gold]

We engrave it at about 100% power and 20% speed which is quite slow , 30w
Iv'e never had the brown problem , but when engraving it gets a lot of the resins on the surface , warm soapy water or some handy andy kitchen cleaner does the trick to remove it.
As to cutting , we havent got that right yet , our edges do discolour but a quick twirl of a deburring tool solves all that. Deburring tools solve a LOT of issues.

[Mike Null]

I have engraved phenolic at lower power and 2 or 3 passes to keep it from discoloring. As Rodney says, you can't cut it with a laser.

Another word on Alumamark. One of my customers ( a nearby town)wanted to present citizens who had outstanding gardens with a plaque they could put in their garden. They didn't want to spend for bronze and didn't like anodized so I put them onto Alumamark. Before the year was out I replaced them with anodized as the Alumamark couldn't tolerate the uv.

After that they went to a gold tone zinc.

[Keith Outten]

Mark,

Once again I will recommend Dupont Corian. You could use 1/4" thick Corian or resaw 1/2" and get two 3/16" thick pieces. Corian is good for 30 years exterior service and is very easy to engrave about 1/32" deep and paint fill. Even if the paint fell out you could still read the tag.

You should be able to get Corian scraps for free, if you can't find it locally I can provide the tags for you cut to size and ready to engrave...and I will bet my paycheck that Corian tags will last way longer than 15 years

.