Ken,

I don't know about the laserable plastic, but Rowmark makes a finish for their metal-ply (metallic) plastic and call it "No Mark."

Resistant to scratching and the finish more closely matches that of standard trophy brass.

I imagine that finish could be used on laserable material. <shrug>

David "The Stunt Engraver" Lavaneri
DGL Engraving
Port Hueneme, CA

They also have "no mark" on some of the LaserMax colors. I was thinking finger print resistant, but scratch resistant is even better. Unfortunately I don't think its an option on many of the colors including the white cap/black core I was using for photos.

The catalog also says not to use the colors with no mark outside. My application is not for outdoor use, but I look to that as a limited measure of durability.

We had a problem with no mark in that it seemed to have a sort of coating which flakes and in time develops a sort of crackle effect.
Im not sure if that is still the case or that issue has been resolved , if you ran your fingernail across it with some pressure , you saw the coating sort of delaminate. rotary engraving it was worse , the coating was coming off at the edges of letters.
The metallic lams seem to deteriorate over time as well , we have some gold flexibrass we laser engraved a few yrs ago and its looking dreadful and it isnt even handled
Some of the romark gold laserable and the flexi is demonstrating a sort of tarnishing after a year.
We dont use any of that material for anything that requires long term duragility or is subject to any harsh environment etc
Any one else noticed anything like that with theirs?

Rodney,

I've only used Rowmark (no mark) metal-ply for rotary engraving of indoor signage. Haven't seen the anomoly you've depicted.

David "The Stunt Engraver" Lavaneri
DGL Engraving
Port Hueneme, CA

Ken,

I am sorry to hear that you are not pleased with the LaserMax product. It is difficult for me to understand exactly what you are experiencing when you say scratching. I don't want to speculate on anything but I do invite you to contact me at Rowmark tomorrow and we will do our best to help.

I can be reached at 1-800-243-3339, please have them page me if I am not at my desk.

Thanks,

Phil Noakes

Rodney,

I ask for you to please call me too. It sounds as if I need to bring in our quality department to work with you. Please call me at your convenience and we will see if we can help. Please call me at 1-800-243-3339.

Phil Noakes
Rowmark

Yesterday I had a problem with the No Mark Silver product. The No Mark coating half flaked off with the pressure of the nose cone. It would flake with a light application of a fingernail. It was an absolute first time for me. My employee said it has happened a few times lately.

It is a new batch of material bought from Ability Plastics maybe two months ago, that finally has worked its way into production now. I was absolutely shocked that there was a problem with a Rowmark product. I have been using it for 20 years and only had a problem with the blue once that it was too brittle to shear properly.

Naturally this was a custom piece and my cutting area was 75 miles away and the customer was going to return in 15 minutes. A rubbing with Brasso removed most of the visible difference in the finishes, coated and uncoated, but I felt bad about the delivered product. I wish there was a way to identify which sign blank was from which shipment of sheets to be able to cull out the bad ones, but...

I still regard Rowmark as one of the finest suppliers, everyone has a problem at times.

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

Harvey's Sub Page When you finally understand it completely... it changes.

David,

I use the "No-Mark" on all my gold metallic plastics, I haven't seen the flaking as Rodney described, but I do still get scratching on the rotary machine even after I polish the spindle foot. So the No-Mark is more expensive and not that much more durable in my opinion.

John,

On metal-ply stock, I always use a light coating of WD-40 on the surface and extra light downward pressure on the spindle.

No mark isn't bullet-proof, by any means. I think the finish looks more like lacquered brass than like materials without the no mark coating.

In any case, we're fortunate, in that, Phil Noakes (Rowmark) is here to see the feedback.

David "The Stunt Engraver" Lavaneri
DGL Engraving
Port Hueneme, CA

I have totally eliminated scratching of plastics from nose rub. It is worst after doing aluminum. The aluminum sticks to the nose and will scratch plastic.

Get a few melamine sample chips from any hardware store. On the back engrave a 3 line Roman 'M' as large as you can. No bit and two passes. This wears off the aluminum very well.

If any scratching still occurs, get some 600 grit watersand, (like sandpaper but can be used with oil or water), and round the outer edge of the nose just where it hits the flat of the nose. After long use the nose wears a little and you get a slightly sharper edge that will grab chips and drag them. The faint rounding as in a new nose prevents this.

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

Harvey's Sub Page When you finally understand it completely... it changes.

I called Phil today as per his request. I'm glad I did; learned a lot. (We discussed other projects I'm working on. I still wish Laser Mag came in black with white cap.)

Regarding my original issue that started this thread, it doesn't look like engravers plastic will work as the substrate, at least not without another material added to cover/protect it. It's going into an environment where metal objects will be banging and rubbing against it. In a photo where little "islands of cap material" make up the image, they get scratched off. The no-mark coating might help if it were a text engraving.

Harvey,

I too am sorry you experienced a problem with our No Mark product. I can't begin to speculate what might be the problem. All of our sheets have a bar code label on them but, if they are cut in quarters the bar code may not be available for the engraver to see.

If you have the bar code it would sure help us identify what lot of material we were using and any other conditions that may have been present at the time of manufacturing. Our QC Manager would appreciate samples, if available.

Thank you for the feedback, at Rowmark we view feedback as a gift. We want to get to the bottom of this if possible. Please call me at 1-800-243-3339 and let's please chat about this further.

Phil

Phil,

I owe you and Rowmark a bit of an apology.

As you requested, I checked the barcode, which I always leave as the last piece to cut. It was manufactured 5 years ago. If that is the only problem with five year old product, (and it is), it is a very fine product.

I thought it was from the new batch, apparently not. It was an end that just got left through a few new batches somehow.

Thanks for taking the time and talking on the phone with me today.

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

Harvey's Sub Page When you finally understand it completely... it changes.

Ken,

That is a difficult question to answer. Our suggested shelf life is 2 years. Now you may say there are a lot of name badges, signs etc, that are a lot older than that. That is very true but they are not being processed.

Most of our products will be servicable a lot longer than 2 years but that is my rule of thumb.

We use different materials to make our products, some are all acrylic or abs or XT. All of these materials will perform differently under different conditions. Some of them are hot stamped with a foil, some are co-extruded, some are laminated and some simply have a finish pressed on them. Different levels of color concentrate have an impact on the life expectancy.

Thus it is not possible to say how long the product will remain servicable to the engraver.

I hope this sheds some light on this. Please call me anytime you have a concern or feedback for us.

Phil

Harvey,

It is always a pleasure to chat with you. Please don't wait until you have a problem to call me. We need the feedback from professional engravers like you. Please tell Dee the Rowmark "gang" said "hi."

Phil