Full Version: Another Cermark question..

From: smitty [#1]
 23 Jan 2007
To: ALL

Howdy all, I just got a can of cermark and have a question. I tried it out on the CO2 laser and it worked great. I then went to try it out on the Yag and it seemed to burn through the cermark and ended up marking the part like normal. Was wondering when it does that, which way do I go? Too much power or too less power? The substrate was Stainless steel and came out great on the CO2 laser but not the Yag. Thanks!

From: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#2]
 23 Jan 2007
To: smitty [#1] 23 Jan 2007

Smitty,

YAG and CO2 lasers have completely different wavelengths, which make them ideal for some applications and poor for others.

YAG is capable of leaving a dark mark on stainless, without the aid of Cermark, which a CO2 laser won't phase.

EDITED: 23 Jan 2007 by DGL

From: smitty [#3]
 23 Jan 2007
To: ALL

Thanks Dave. I was just curiously trying to make it darker yet by spraying the stainless with cermark. No biggy. Thanks for the reply.

From: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#4]
 23 Jan 2007
To: Mr. Science (SEANWEIR) [#3] 23 Jan 2007

Sean,

I gave a layman's response to Smitty.

What are your thoughts on Cermark, in conjunction with YAG laser.

Thank you,

From: Jim (JEARMAN) [#5]
 23 Jan 2007
To: ALL

While I don't have a lot of personal experience using Cermark with a YAG laser, I've done a bit of it and I know of other users who have done it extensively.

Although CO2 and YAG have different wavelenths, 10,600 nm and 1064 nm respectively, both will couple with Cermark and Thermark material. I believe that the biggest difficulty to overcome with YAG is too much power density which simply vaporizes the Cermark coating and then works on the substrate. This occurs because of the smaller focussed spot with a YAG and because peak power with a YAG is increased by Q switching. If you are bound and determined to try Cermark with a YAG then I suggest that you do something to increase your focussed spot size (moving the part out of focus is one way to do that) and operate at a higer Q switch pulse frequency. I have heard that operating in a CW mode with a YAG produces good results. Please bear in mind that I am not speaking from an abundance of personal experience with Cermark.

From: Mr. Science (SEANWEIR) [#6]
 23 Jan 2007
To: ALL

Hello Smitty,

Our product should work just as well on the YAG as it does on the CO2. Most YAG lasers will operate in a pulse mode, and pulsing tends to engave and remove material rather than bond it. If you can, run your laser in continuous wave mode to make the mark. Also, if you can't operate the laser in continuous wave mode, try running the pulse frequency up as high as the laser will allow, hopefully at least 50,000 to 60,000 hertz. This will be effectively close enough to a continuous beam that you should see a mark.

Hope this helps......

Sean

From: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#7]
 23 Jan 2007
To: Mr. Science (SEANWEIR) [#6] 8 Feb 2007

Sean,

I'd like to jump on the coattails of this thread to ask another question....

I saw on the Cermark/Thermark website that Cermark is durable in offshore environments (salt spray, etc.). My question is simply this: How durable is it?

One of my industrial customers puts lots of stainless steel tags on their offshore drill rigs, and they like the look of Cermark on stainless. How would you rate the durability?


Thanks!

Cody

From: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#8]
 24 Jan 2007
To: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#7] 24 Jan 2007

Cody,

There's a lot of red meat on that topic over here:

http://engravingetc.org/forum/index.php?webtag=EE&msg=5305.1

From: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#9]
 24 Jan 2007
To: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#8] 24 Jan 2007

Beautiful.....that answers my question!

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