Trying to figure out why I keep getting lines on one side of a bi-directional fill when laser engraving through powder coat. See images. They appear to be slight scorch marks?
What happens when you try to clean it with the methods discussed multiple times on the forums?
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This is after cleaning. The majority of the engraving cleans very well with the exception of these lines. It is altering the texture of the metal like it was scorching.
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How many actual watts of power are you using and at what speed?
You are using a Magic Eraser or equivalent? With which cleaning fluid?
What brand of cups are you lasering?
@Doug We are using Goof Off and a microfiber cloth. That has proven to be the fastest method for us. We are operating at 200 spd and between 20-25 on max power, 18 min power on a 130w laser. So 26-32.5 watts max, depending on the color. The bottles are a proprietary model from the client.
On my 60W I run 250mm/sec 22% high and low. I use a magic eraser and LA’s totally awesome cleaner. Sometimes it takes a bit of elbow grease to get it all off.
Have you done a power test specifically on this drinkware? Could you maybe get by with less power? Different drinkware has different coatings and/or thickness of the coating. It seem you are either not getting all the gunk cleaned off or you are using so much power that it is cooking the metal underneath. It is hard for us to advise from here.
You might try a different cleaning fluid and a magic eraser as a test to see if that gets the dark stuff off better than what you are currently using. I use LA’s and a magic eraser with strong buffing. If that isn’t strong enough, I try denatured alcohol. If that doesn’t work, I then try acetone. You have to watch out with acetone and strong buffing. It works fine in moderation but it can sometimes lead to dulling of the paint around the edge of the etching if you do too much.
It is recommended to check whether there are interference sources around your galvanometer. 2: You can change your filling rule appropriately. Try it
@Doug- Thank you for the recommendations, however this is not a cleaning issue. We are able to remove all the residue. A few more notes and info from testing- this was actually cut using a single direction -->, not bi-directional fill. When we use bi-directional fill, we get these same tiny scorch lines on both sides. It appears as if there may be a small burst of power (?) right before the laser stops or drops out while engraving. You can see this in the QR code photo above where there are subtle darker lines just to the left of several of the shapes. Not just the far edges. with bi-directional fill turned on, we get them on the left and right edges of shapes. We’ve done a lot of testing to attenuate our speed and power to be just right to cut through the powder coat. Not sure why we are getting these tiny edge scorches.
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