Laser engraving metal is materials which can be made for engraved craft. Metal engraving or metal etching is the production of a depressed design on a metal plate. In this case, an engraver machine is equipped with laser to help the production process. Laser engraving metal is used for a variety purposes, jewelry, gun embellishment, industrial stencils, and circuit boards.
Anodized Aluminum
This laser engraving metal is usually engraved with a carbon-dioxide laser. This metal comes in various colors. One of them is black. Anodized aluminum with black color is best used since the color will turn white when you put it on laser process. This black anodized aluminum provides the most amazing contrast of all colors.
Some colors do not change into the color white when they are in laser engraving process. This color, among others, is: red. You will get a light pink laser engraving metal after the laser engraving process or red anodized aluminum. You may have the second process on this engraving metal. However, you will still get a slight hint of pink on the metal.
In addition, it is better for you to etch or engrave an anodized aluminum at high speeds. Another suggestion, don’t engrave anodized aluminum with maximum power as you may distort the engraving and fail to get the images. Instead, low power is needed for this laser engraving metal to gain crisp and clear images.
Painted Brass
You might not be able to engrave uncoated brass with laser. However, you are still able to use coated brass as laser engraving metal. Painted brass will be excellent for this kind of engraved craft. The laser then will remove the coating (the paint) and expose the brass surface.
Brass-coated steel is considered as the most popular brass which can be engraved. If you want to know the process, firstly, the steel surface is coated with a thin layer of brass. For finishing, the brass is polished and coated by a lacquer. After that, a paint coating is applied on top of the lacquer for the final process of this laser engraving metal.
You are actually removing only the paint and exposing the polished brass coating while you are engraving brass-coated steel with laser. The lacquer prevents the brass from oxidizing and the bright reflective surface will stay bright for years. You might be unsure about this material you want to engrave, whether it is brass or brass-coated steel. Then you can test this laser engraving metal with a magnet. Magnet will stick the one which contains steel.
Bare Metal
This material is also an excellent laser engraving metal. You need a laser engraving machine with minimum power of 25 watts and use a metal marking spray, such as Cermark, to engrave on bare metal. Cermark creates black engraving on metal using CO2 laser. The Cermark spray is heated during the process. This spray will change its color and soak into the metal substrate. You only need 15-20 minutes to see the changing of color from the solution.
Comments on this entry are closed.