Hi,
When engraving SS tumblers on the rotary that are bare I can produce very nice
color variations, but when using powder coated I get only silver. I’ve tried multiple
passes and speed and power variations but I can’t produce the colors that appear on plain stainless steel. Is there a difference in the steel ? I’ve tried stripping the powder coat then going over it again but nothing seems to work.
I’m thinking possibly the steel under the Amazon bulk tumblers powder coat may not be stainless as it seems to oxidize some.
Any thoughts ?
Does anyone coat the engraved powder coated bulk Amazon after engraving ?
Any tips would be appreciated.
Following along. Interesting subject. Coated tumblers are probably media blasted prep, maybe maybe not ss, (just guessing) and the uncoated ss tumblers are “Brushed” or #4 finish.
What kind of laser do you have… the profile lists two visible light lasers. Are you using visible light lasers to mark stainless?
How we look at this may vary depending on what machine you’re using.
I’d suspect a change of materials/thickness, both of these will effect the color produced.
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Yes I am using a visible light laser to mark stainless.
The laser I’m using on the rotary setup is neither of the lasers in my profile. I used a NEJE A40640Ⅱ - 12w. It has produced good results on the bare SS tumbler with a nice variety of colors that don’t really show up well in the photo’s due to the glare.
I’ve tried a 24w laser on the powder coated tumbler with basically the same results that I got from the 12w, although cranking up the power on the 24w doing a materials test actually deformed the cup.
I think it’s more of a material quality issue than a power issue as Al pointed out. I’m thinking the metal under the powder coat is not the same as the tumbler without a powder coat.
Hitting it hard just etches it and then it oxidizes. I’m wondering if anyone out there is having any success with bulk powder coated tumblers and satisfactory marking. If so are you using higher quality tumblers like a yeti, doing multiple passes with varying levels of power ?
The best results I achieved with these cups was unfortunately, low power and slow speed.
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