[Bearhawk LSA]

Hello All,

I have a need to etch a logo in black anodized aluminum and I am curious if a Blue Laser Diode machine will work. Has anyone tried this and if so what was the power rating of your laser. There are a few machines in the 2w to 5.5w that have caught my eye and curious if it will do the job. There is a 10W Blue laser machine (bit pricey) that can do it for sure and even mark stainless without thermal paint so my guess is some lower wattage blue laser should also work for me. On the super cheap side, would one of the simple $100 1w desktop machines work? My parts are small so the 38mm square envelope will work just fine.

Also I may consider a larger machine to cut paper patterns as well as maybe engrave a photo or pattern in Leather.

Or I just buy a K40 or similar CO2 laser.

Open to any and all suggestions.

Marc

[Bearhawk LSA]

Hello All,

I have a need to etch a logo in black anodized aluminum and I am curious if a Blue Laser Diode machine will work. Has anyone tried this and if so what was the power rating of your laser. There are a few machines in the 2w to 5.5w that have caught my eye and curious if it will do the job. There is a 10W Blue laser machine (bit pricey) that can do it for sure and even mark stainless without thermal paint so my guess is some lower wattage blue laser should also work for me. On the super cheap side, would one of the simple $100 1w desktop machines work? My parts are small so the 38mm square envelope will work just fine.

Also I may consider a larger machine to cut paper patterns as well as maybe engrave a photo or pattern in Leather.

Or I just buy a K40 or similar CO2 laser.

Open to any and all suggestions.

Marc

Wow no replies. I cant be the only one to try this... Anyone with a Blue laser setup willing to test this?

[dharmic]

I have a 3.5w laser module on my mill.

No, it won't touch metal.

If you coat the metal with some kind of plastic it might engrave that.

[Bearhawk LSA]

I have a 3.5w laser module on my mill.

No, it won't touch metal.

If you coat the metal with some kind of plastic it might engrave that.

Hello Dharmic,

thanks for the reply. I am not trying to etch metal, but ablate (blast away) the anodize thus leaving a silver color logo behind where the anodize has been ablated. Did you ever try that? Usualy its done with a raster setup. With a 10w blue laser it can etch letters in raw stainless so my guess is with 3.5w it should be able to ablate the anodize off in aluminum.

Marc

[robertk925]

I have a 50W CO2 laser (also from eBay) and have etched black anodized aluminum, but it is a little bit hit or miss (i.e. sometimes nice and white or ugly gray) depending on the anodize quality. I believe I had to use maximum power though, so I would be surprised if you could get a good etching with only 10W. I believe Epilog has settings on their website and they were pretty close to maximum for their machines, which typically start at 25W on the low-end. And I am really surprised if you can etch stainless, since you typically need to use a coating (like Cermark) to etch unless you are using a fiber laser.

[Bearhawk LSA]

I have a 50W CO2 laser (also from eBay) and have etched black anodized aluminum, but it is a little bit hit or miss (i.e. sometimes nice and white or ugly gray) depending on the anodize quality. I believe I had to use maximum power though, so I would be surprised if you could get a good etching with only 10W. I believe Epilog has settings on their website and they were pretty close to maximum for their machines, which typically start at 25W on the low-end. And I am really surprised if you can etch stainless, since you typically need to use a coating (like Cermark) to etch unless you are using a fiber laser.

Hello RobertK925,

Have a look at this laser. It can ablate the Anodize and also mark stainless. It is also available on Aliexpress for much less and there are videos showing it marking steel and etching logos in anodize.
10W AS5 USB Personal CNC Laser ENGRAVER DIY Metal Marking Machine for Steel Iron | eBay

Marc

[robertk925]

Wow, I am really surprised it can make legible marks on stainless. That's pretty cool! I guess these solid state lasers are more like fiber lasers than CO2 lasers?

[Jorge-D-Fuentes]

I have sheets of aluminum that I am to test engravings with my Fibre LASER 20W.
I know I have engraved the aluminum (mark it first with Dry-Erase Black Marker), but I am uncertain of the difference between it and anodized.

Will see about maybe putting up some results next week?