Hi. I’m wondering about the Ortur masters ability to engrave tool steel. I see that there are methods involving coatings but the result is more of a stain rather than an engraving and would rub off in time.
We are a Charity and at the early stages of producing products to raise funds. I’m under the impression that to engrave steel we’ll need to spend thousands on CO2 or Fibre laser machines. Money we don’t have. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Any diode laser, or Co2 for that matter will not be able to engrave metals.
They can mark them by chemistry as you already found but is not a enduring mark
A small use of a polish and it will be removed
Is a limitation of the technology itself so will be vertical to all diode/Co2 lasers
Cermark or similar aditives are required to even mark.
Fiber laser is the way to go for metal engraving. And yes although machines been getting a bit cheaper they are still 1 order of magnitude more expensive. Compleatly different tech though.
Please have a look here to see a CO2 laser marking mild steel. I also polished it with Mr. Metal to illustrate clearly that the steel is physically marked.
140W Co2? Sure fine…
i was talking on a rule of thumb
If budget if no objection then sure… but i think you will agree is not a fair comparation a 140W Co2 and a hobby grade machines
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Hey I just heard “I challenge Jeff…” lol
“loads death star laser beam”… 
Well, since we’re getting down to nitty-gritty, let me also beg to differ…
Here are a couple CRC DryMoly on Stainless using a K40…
Even airport baggage handlers couldn’t scrape off this last one!
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I haven’t tried my laser diode so I have no idea how the Dry Moly reacts to the diode wavelength, but just calculating off of optical power, my 30W laser (5.5W optical) would have equivalent energy at 1/6 the speed of the K40 @ 60%, so, theoretically, 278mm/min @ 100% power might work.
Hmmm, something to try when I get home 
Just a thin coat of the dry moly? Nothing else? Fantastic work, that Celtic braid is awesome
Thank you so much for your reply. 
Hello again. sorry to be a pest. I really appreciate your reply to our question and can see that you certainly know your stuff. 
I was wondering if you knew what kind of result an ortur master diode laser would give on a steel that that a blued steel finish. I did see some stuff online but I’m still a bit confused.
Cutting or marking metal with this diode laser is not possible. You can paint a product (several to choose from) onto the surface, then when lasered, a chemical reaction bonds this paint to the metal. You can also remove the finish from a metal surface, such as anodized aluminum or the paint one finds on Stainless-Steel water/coffee containers (think Yeti - https://www.yeti.com/en_US/drinkware or La Tazza Drinkware - https://www.latazzadrinkware.com/).
Thank you for you’re reply. They look amazing. My only concern is that this would rub off due to the rough handling our flint strikers will get.
If you’re marking steel for commercial purposes, you need to retool and add a fiber laser to your business.