Hello all. I have to do 75 of these. None of my current settings in my Library come even close. First question… Do any of you create multiple layers using Scan Angle? All I’ve ever really done is just default. Secondly, when starting a job / color that you’ve never done, where is the general thought process on setting up speed / pwr / frequency…? I have a 50w JPT laser, and these tumbler hurts my eyes because of the color… HOT HOT PINK. I’ve done some pink in the past from this vendor but not this type of powder coat.
I’m not even really sure of where to start. LOL… I use my black tumbler setting, and it diden’t even phase it… Also do you want to keep the laser in focus, or tweak it out of focus?
I’m going to play with my speed. I just finished my aqua and it was 8 minutes per tumbler…. Uggggg
I am a diode guy, but I have also had issues with pink, especially shiny/glossy pink. There is a surprising amount of blue in most pink paint, which seems to be a factor with my blue laser.
Best I can offer is to reserve a sample tumbler when accepting orders. Use that one sample part to discover the needed settings. Small patches for sample tests, rather than the whole design.
For difficult penetration, make sure your beam is tightly focused. I start slow and at high power until I get through to bare metal.
Thanks Jim. I think I found some settings where it won’t take a year per tumbler. We’ll see. I’m not worried about wasting a tumbler. I have a shelf full of scarificial tumblers to use. This is the first HOT PINK. I’m using 2 layers with scan angles of -10 / +10, but different Freq setting on the 2n layer. It’s cleaning up pretty good. Blues, Purples etc don’t give me a problem cleaning because I use a product calle BLU….
Tumbler looks awesome, but I can’t live with that time. I have 75 to do total.
I’m going to make 1 pass tomorrow with speed at 90’s which will work, but the time will be around 8 minutes. I had to use that setting on those freak’n Aqua’s…
Hi Jim. These don’t have a brand. I buy all my tumblers directly from China. These feel like the purple, army green, and blue do. A wee bit of texture feel. The aqua’s are very slick feeling. I wish they all would engrave like my black ones do. 2 minutes and they’re done. When I get back started on them this afternoon, I’m going to setup the machine where it takes 7 minutes to engrave if I have to. That will be better than 15.
I did find this on-line today.
To engrave pink (or other light-colored) powder-coated tumblers more efficiently with a 50W fiber laser, you need to overcome the fact that lighter colors reflect or transmit the 1064nm wavelength more than dark colors, which absorb it readily.
The easiest ways to speed up your 15-minute process are:
1. Optimize Hatching (Eliminate the 2nd Layer)
Using a “Scan Angle” (90-degree crosshatch) on two separate layers is likely what’s doubling your time. Instead, try a single pass with optimized hatch settings:
Hatch Distance (Line Interval): Set this between 0.03mm and 0.05mm. If the distance is too small, you’re “over-cooking” the paint; if too large, you’ll see lines.
Wobble: Instead of a second layer, enable a Wobble (usually a Diameter of 0.05mm – 0.1mm and a Frequency of 500-1000). This vibrates the beam to cover more surface area in a single pass, which often eliminates the need for a crosshatch.
2. Lower Your DPI/LPI
You may be using an unnecessarily high resolution. For powder-coated tumblers, you can often drop to 300–400 DPI (or a 0.06mm line interval) without losing visible detail. This can reduce engraving time by 30-50%.
3. Adjust Frequency and Speed
Lighter powder coats often require more “hit” time than black.
Speed: Start at 2000–3000 mm/s.
Frequency: Keep this relatively low (30–45 kHz) for a fiber laser to increase the pulse energy, which helps “punch through” the lighter pigment more effectively than high-frequency settings.
Power: Since you have a 50W, you have plenty of headroom. Try 30–50% power to ensure you reach the metal in one pass.
4. Cleaning the “Ghost” Residue
One reason people use two passes on light tumblers is to remove the “ghosting” or leftover residue. Instead of a second laser pass:
Use a single heavy pass.
Clean the resulting residue with a melamine sponge (Magic Eraser) and Dawn Powerwash or denatured alcohol. This is significantly faster than waiting 7 extra minutes for the laser to “clean” the spot.
Update: Well, I did some more testing on these Pink Tumblers. Around 2 hours worth. I have finally given in, that it’s going to take me 8 minutes per pink tumbler. I did learn quite a bit of information though which wasn’t a waste of time. I tried a cross-hatch process but it just almost doubled the time, which makes sense, but I did love the results.
