Metal Etching powder - Will it work with our 5.5watt diode laser?

[@benknrobbers]

I used to use a big laser with ceramark paste. We did marking on an infrequent basis so what we would do was mix a small amount of the paste with an appropriate amount of DE, I'm not sure what the shelf life of the paste was after mixing but our bottle lasted for years.

[@mongowildman]

I have been researching this topic for about a week now and something caught my interest. Dry Moly lube. I am also looking at going with a cold galv compound on tiles but with a light coat of grill paint to concentrate heat into the burn as well.. My laser is 5.5W output and I have found that fairly slow speeds are necessary.

[@CNCATHome]

I hope that work well for you. I have found that the CGC works well at lower power and faster speeds compared with the white paint method. It seems more forgiving too. :-)

[@James-zw4he]

More info on speeds + settings please Mongo. I have just purchased my first home last machine, Atomstack P7 30w (5w diode) and am have some Dry Moly spray on order arriving next week so would love to know your settings to get a nice etch. Many thanks!

[@CNCATHome]

@@James-zw4he - I have not gotten this stuff to work very well yet so am still playing with the settings. When/if I get it to provided a good etch on metal, I will put out another video with the results. The issue is being able to get hot enough for this stuff to work without burning it away with the slow speed.

[@mongowildman]

@@James-zw4he A little experimenting recently: Dry Moly lube definitely marks stainless. I did a speed/power test that is included in LightBurn. Best results were 100mm/min at 100% power. 20W laser with 5.5W output. Some lower power settings and faster speeds also did a fair job. I tried out an experiment on my kitchen cleaver, polished stainless. It did well but not as dark as I would have hoped. I'll post a pic after I get home. On to other methods: I got a can of cold galvanizing compound and gave it a shot on the other side of the cleaver. Now this one did an excellent job but I did not try other speeds and power settings on this one. I just hit it with 100mm/min at 95% power. But this is not an etch, nor does it actually mark the stainless. Instead, it made it like a hot transfer sticker that appears to adhere very well. You can feel it on the surface. I have not tested durability yet. That will come from my everyday use in the kitchen, but depending on the end goal, both work on polished stainless. I am planning on doing ceramic tiles in the near future and the cold galv compound is my choice for that, though many people have had decent results with white paint... I cleaned both sides of the residuals with basic naphtha because that was what I had available. Just wet it and rub with my finger and I could see the details come out and darken as I went.

[@mongowildman]

@@James-zw4he I thought I replied earlier today but it seems to have not registered... I ran a feed speed/power level test grid that is included in the latest versions of Lightburn. Best results with dry Moly lube was 100mm/min at 95% power. I used my kitchen cleaver, polished stainless steel, as a test run. It did well enough to mark the metal but not as dark as I had hoped. But it seems to be in the metal, not likely to wash off any time soon. I did the same marking on the other side with Cold Galv and just for simplicity, I stayed at the same power levels, more or less. At first, I could only see gray, until I cleaned it off with some naphtha. (That was all I had at the time). Just rubbing it with my finger and rinsing it, brought out the detail and it was a nice dark black. I have not really done any durability testing, so no info on that yet.

[@Mr81smc]

Painting may be the best way. I know when paint is fully cured it sticks much better. Most paints I've read claim about a month to cure.

[@CNCATHome]

Thank you for the information. It was faster to do it that way and the results were nice. 🙂

[@mikeledee8786]

Have you tried etching on brass? What is the name of the powder you are using? Thanks

[@CNCATHome]

I have not tried brass. The only metal that really seems to etch with this 10 watt laser is stainless steel.

[@SettoStun688]

Honestly I think 5.5w is just not strong enough to etch it properly. Even on my 100w CO2 I have to use 40% power to get a proper etch at a slow 100mm/s

[@CNCATHome]

I agree with you. I contacted the manufacturer about it and they wouldn't say either way. But they specifically do not mention diode/LED laser as something to use. ;-) It was always an experiment and in this case, failed to do what I have hopped it would but performed as I expected.

[@SettoStun688]

@@CNCATHome I've had good success with gold galvanising spray. Cleanup is a bit messy since you have to use Acetone.

[@CNCATHome]

@@SettoStun688 - I don't remember if I have tried CGC on metal. I will have to give it a try to see how that works. CGC will clean off nicely with lacquer thinner which isn't as aggressive as Acetone.

[@ManiacRacing]

If you can find blanks with actual anodizing, they should engrave well. Anodizing engraves easily and permanently with even small diode lasers, Whatever coating is on your blanks is apparently not actually anodizing,

[@CNCATHome]

That would be nice. The anodized aluminum that I have tried has not done anything. I do like to try things so the next time I have something that is anodized aluminum, you know I am going to try to burn it in the laser. 🙂

[@ManiacRacing]

@@CNCATHome I have an Atomstack A5 Pro and it does a beautiful job on anodized aluminum maglites. I engraved my name down the side without a roller and it had excellent detail and brightness,

[@CNCATHome]

@@ManiacRacing - That is very cool! It may be that the anodized aluminum that I worked with was blue and using a blue laser didn't work so well? I have a few Mag-lites and I could try. Great suggestion.

[@RailyardProductions]

I worked in an anodizing department years ago, tried doing it at home with good results. kzbin.info/www/bejne/m6unqKqIorKno80si=_OQT5V2nPSzwv3e9

[@JimHaysTechGeek]

You should clean the metal with DNA before using the etching powder.

[@CNCATHome]

Great tip and all around SOP. I was lazy on this one as there is DNA in the mix, it is like cleaning and applying all in one step. Well, not really. ;-)