Hi,
Could someone tell me what parameters would be recommended (speed, power, distance from the laser to the material) to be able to engrave an aluminum plate (I’m not sure if it’s anodized or not) with fill and cut silhouettes and configure them in LightBurn?
I use a 60w laser and a Ruida 644XS in LightBurn.
Thank you very much. 
CO2 lasers can’t engrave aluminium, however it is possible to ‘bleach’ anodised coatings to white or to ablate painted coatings. You can use a specific coating made for bonding with the aluminium, such as Cermark or moly spray.
I use a product called Trotec Alumark, which is aluminium sheet, anodised and coated. You ablate away the coating and are left with the anodised sheet showing through.
My settings are 250mm/s at 25% power, with a scan of 0.05mm/500dpi on ~100W
Distance will depend on the focal length of your lens.
There’s nothing special about engraving coatings on aluminium than any other material, like wood, plastic. Get your speed/power right by going through a materials check.
Hi
I tested first on an iPad mini and so far the results are very good with the indicated parameters @Bonjour!
Great, thanks
Use mustard (those you eat on hotdogs). On a old 12 year 25watts co2 laser I can mark like 1 tenth of mm deep in stailess steel at 1 mm/s if I pait the surface with mustard. I think have something to do with oxigen release whem mustard heats. But do on a smooth surface (like mirror more or less) because on a rogh surface you wont notice the burn part from the natural rough surface. Curious about what a 120 watts laser can do this way
I tested with both Kapton tape and Mustard on a bit of steel plate (50W laser, 80%, 1mm/s).
Both work, but mustard cut much deeper. It was hard to get even coverage with the mustard, so it was patchy. I will put more on next time and test with faster speeds.
I am seduced by the idea of the Kapton tape, I will try it and I hope to share positive results.
Thank you
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
