I have been working with some Rowmark engraving plastics with a red core and having some difficulties. The first one I tried was Rowmark 800 series textured. I started out engraving it at what the Epilog manual recommended for laserable plastic. I recall from memory that it was like 100spd/40pwr at 600dpi. That did not work at all on the first pass,didn't get through the cap.I finally figured out that particular product has an .007 cap instead of the more common .003. So, after several attempts, I finally got through it at 100/100. It was white/red and looked decent.
Next was some Rowmark Metalgraph Plus 316 Brushed stainless over red. This has an .003 cap. I'm expecting to get a nice red on the first pass with the recommended setting. No luck. So I increased power etc., slowed speeds etc and it finally showed me the red..it looked more pink than red. I definitely got through the cap and then some but the red was quite dull, no pop.
I need an outdoor material with red letters, for a sign I am making ,thus the selection of these products. My laser is a Epilog 40 watt Legend EXT. Could I get the benefit of the forum's experience with red core plastic and engraving of plastics in general. I have engraved a lot of plastics with rotary but I am new with the laser. I'm a bit frustrated with my results so far.
Epilog EXT 40w, Vision 16x24, |