How to Engrave Metal With Laser Making Machine

How to Engrave Metal With Laser Making Machine

For almost any metal material, laser machines provide readable marks quickly and efficiently. They’re ideal for engraving all types of metal surfaces. Examples include aluminum, anodized aluminum, steel, stainless steel, magnesium, lead, and zinc.

Laser machines are low maintenance, use no consumables, and create high-contrast marks. You can use them to permanently mark data matrix codes, QR codes, serial numbers, barcodes, logos, and more.

Metals are durable, workable, thermal resistant, and aesthetically appealing out of all other materials being used. Because of their extensive use in the industry, engraving metals has become critically important.

Be it information display, traceability, aesthetic designs, or profile making, laser engraving is the go-to technology. Laser engraving machines for metals have totally transformed the display arena of industries.

The popularity of metal engraving machines has made them reach big industries as well as cottage industries, too. There are laser engravers of the varying price ranges with exclusive workability rendering it easier for almost everyone to buy them.

How It Works: Laser Processes for Marking Metals

Once you get your machine, it’s already been configured by our experts with a specific marking process. Its configuration is mostly based on the metal being marked. For future applications, the same machine can be configured to mark different metals. 

A machine’s configuration depends on its laser parameters. Examples of parameters that can be modified are laser power, movement speed, pulse duration, and the number of laser passes. Here are the possible marking processes resulting from these configurations.

Laser Etching 

The laser etching process is somewhat a child of laser engraving. In this technique, the heat of the beam creates indentations in the substrate material. Decent depths can be achieved through etching but certainly not more than engraving.

Etching also changes the surface behavior of the metal like the contrast and hence the reflexivity. The etching is best suitable for plated metals but the scope is not limited to metals only. It engraves ceramics and polymers, too.

Laser Engraving 

Laser engraving removes the substrate material at relatively higher temperatures hence high powered laser beam is used in such techniques. This high temperature vaporizes the substrate metal. It is very quick and creates deeper indentations as compared to the other two techniques.

Laser engraving is not recommended for parts that are critical to safety rather for parts that are subjected to wear and tear. It can be used to create indentations on materials other than metals like wood, plastic, leather, and glass.

Laser Marking

Laser marking can be done with relatively low-powered laser devices. Since the beam is low-powered, it doesn’t raise the temperature of the substrate metal as high as in the case of the other two techniques.

The four major types of laser marking are annealing, foaming, carbon migration, and coloration. This laser technique is less common as compared to engraving and etching.

Conclusion

Laser technology is second to none when it comes to engraving on metals. Laser technology is more efficient, speedier, reliable, precise, and maintenance-free. As can be seen from the information above, laser engravers are almost universal engraving machines that can be used on metals, non-metals, and organic materials as well.

If you are working in an industry which deals with metals only, you should definitely go for laser marking and engraving machines. The dot peen machines are good but not as good as fiber laser machines. These laser machines do not tamper with the surface of the metal unlike dot peen marking machines.

Forget about the conventional methods for traceability and information scribing on metals. Take one step into the future and choose laser engraving machines for metals. Not only do these laser engravers process your products timely but they make them look stunningly professional.

Although all types of laser engraving machines are great fiber laser is the latest of all and hence boasts some great features. The speed, depth, precision, and accuracy of fiber lasers have no match yet. They can make the engraving look so easy and take off the burden of the worrying activity of transferring information on your product.

Know your metals and choose the right kind of laser engraving machine for your business. It’s time to lead the business like a perfect professional.

Tags: cnc engraving machine for metal | desktop metal engraving machine | dot peen metal engraving machine