Laser Engrave Metal

Being able to engrave metal was one of the main reasons, why I got a laser cutter.

In this instructable I am going to show you some of my experiences.

Please share your results and experiences in the comments, I would love to learn more about engraving metals.

A word of warning: The process of engraving metal after applying an agent to the surface is patented. So please inform yourself, before doing so commercially.

In the picture you can see the different things I tried to engrave stainless steel.

1. Just the metal
2. CRC Dry Moly Lube
3. Weicon MoS₂
4. MoS₂ Powder
5. MoS₂ Paste
6. markSolid 114

In order to use the powder I mixed it with isopropyl alcohol until I had a thick paste an applied it with a disposable brush.

As you can see I used different speed and strength setting to see what works best. The first number is the speed and the second the energy percentage. I have a cheap 60 W Chinese CO₂ laser and as you can see some of the setting worked really well.

Out of all the metals I tried to engrave, stainless steel definitely worked best. As you can see in the picture out of all the things I tried, CRC Dry Moly Lube and markSolid 114 gave the nicest results.

"-": didn't work

"(✔)": kind of worked

"✔": worked well

"✔✔": worked really well

Most of the engraving agents I tired didn't work. Only markSolid 114 gave some nice results. I was even able to polish the results. Sadly the engraving wasn't really scratch resistant.

Once again most of the engraving agents didn't work. Only after using markSolid 114 the engraving was still visible. Sadly the result was not at all scratch resistant and was easily removed with alcohol. Overall you can definitely say that the cheap alternatives aren't working for copper and aluminium. Btw. covering the engraving with sealer helped a lot with the result.

Lately I have been engraving a lot of hip flasks. Due to them being out of stainless steel, it works really well.

Start by cleaning it with isopropyl alcohol and mark your focus point. Afterwards place it into the laser, as well as something that helps you to later find the position. Focusing is a bit tricky, due to the bend surface. I focused between the start point and highest point and it worked really well.

As you can see in the picture I used CRC Dry Moly Lube. Cover the surface with it and let it dry for about 5 minutes. Afterwards you can place it back into the laser and start engraving. To remove the residue you can use isopropyl alcohol.