Check out our newest Academy article to see how our community member Steven Theiss brings stainless steel to colors with 40W laser module. Get the key parameters for creating stunning stainless steel color engravings. Don’t miss out:
I guess I need to get some SS sheets and experiment. I’ve been doing 3D printing exclusively for the last few months, so I haven’t even used my 40W laser yet.
Are some of the speeds really 20500 mm/min ?
Yes, those numbers are correct. Most are much slower.
If the laser size is 0.1mm, how does it work with that high resolution shown in the picture?
The laser spot size is definitely smaller than 0.1mm. The numbers in the photo correspond to the spacing between laser raster lines. Since the laser “spot” is more of a gaussian curve than something with sharply defined edges, you can get different amounts of integrated laser power in a specific area by controlling how much the sloping sides of the “spot” overlap previous lines.
I’m curious on the thickness of your materials. I have 85mm x 55mm x 0.8mm thick stainless steel cards I use to make business cards with marking ink and I’ve tried using them to create colored images. The biggest issue I run into is heat causing warping of the card. If I try anything over 30% power it seems like it’s too much. Could you so kindly share your tips and tricks for keeping the heat/warping minimal?
I clamp all my pieces down with flanged screws on all sides. I have some large diameter washers that I can use with the screws if the size doesn’t match the spacing of the threaded holes on my hold-down plate. If you look at the beginning of the Academy article, you can see a picture of the aluminum hold-down plate I use.
This doesn’t prevent all warping, but it does reduce it by a lot. The I usually do the rest by bending it back to (mostly) true by hand.
The article talks about using frosted stainless steal. I am interested in engraving the blade of a knife. Do I have to be concerned that the shinny finish of the metal will reflect the laser?
