Engraving powder coated tumblers

[windell747 (Windell Tanaka)]

I have a Atomstack V5 Pro laser engraver. Does anyone have experience engraving powder coated tumblers? If so, what power and speed setting do you use? I’ve tried a few from the thrift store and I’ve gotten it to work, but I want to learn from those who already have experience.

[MikeyH (Mike Hembrey)]

@windell747

what power and speed setting do you use

No simple answer. It depends on:

1. The material coating
2. The size of the laser beam
3. How well the focus is set
4. Whether it is an image or a vector design
5. If image, the quality of the image itself
6. Is air assist being used
7. Ambient temperature around the laser
8. Whether or not a UFO is hovering nearby

In other words, what works for someone may not work for you. If you intend to produce items with the laser, plan on a lot of testing and assume there will be scrap pieces.

@windell747

tried a few from the thrift store and I’ve gotten it to work

You are already ahead of the curve. If you are not satisfied with the results, please say why and include a few images to show what you mean.

@windell747

want to learn from those who already have experience

They got experience by testing with their machine. The best you can hope for is to get some settings that get you in the ballpark when starting with a new material. Then it is up to you to adjust for your specific application.

Use Lightburn DOCs and videos, Lightburn Forum postings, Google, and YouTube videos for ideas. But be aware the YouTube videos leave out the hours long parts that did not work.

Finally, welcome to the Lightburn Forum. When you have a specific question or problem, post it as a New Topic and wait for answers. There are lots of patient people, mostlu users like you and I, willing to help. Just like they got helped when starting out.

I am including a PDF settings chart (remove the .txt part of the extension), but it is for a 10w laser. I did not see any for a 5w laser, but just assume a 5w is about 60% as powerful as a 10w unit. Not exact, but it will get you close.

10w Settings Chart.pdf.txt (3.6 MB)

[bLouChip (Lou Cipriano)]

I’m getting excellent results ablating powder coating on stainless steel tumblers. I have yet to find a brand or color of tumbler that does not yield good results. There are a couple keys to success,

1. use the least amount of laser power as possible, as too much power will tarnish the stainless steel reveal.
2. dial in your raster scan (Fill) settings, or use a sublayer to outline the raster scan shapes to sharpen the edges.

Yeti tumbler etching

After etching several dozen powder coated tumblers for various brands, I’m using the same settings for all brands and colors. My settings and cleanup process are revised slightly, but general guideline is the same, less power in this etching application is better than more power. Too much laser power tends to leave “laser tracks” on the stainless steel that do not clean off. This may be why some claim that 15W dual and 30W quad diode lasers can etch (using high power) onto bare stainless steel,…

I have since gotten my CNC laser dialed in with LB’s ‘Scanning Offset Adjustment’ feature such that the edges of 0 deg angle (X axis) raster scans (Fill) are crisp and smooth where I no longer use a finishing sublayer Line pass to outline the raster scanned shapes. The dial-in settings also eliminate the need to cross-hatch Fill.