White Engraving on Black Powder Coat - Galvo Laser

[jez_9540 (Jeremy Chappel)]

Hi All,

I’m trying to get as close to white engraving on a black powder coat finish. However the closest I can get is a slightly beige finish that my customer is not particularly happy with. Any advice for getting a whiter finish.

Current settings are:
Speed 2000mm/s
Power 25% (30w machine)
Frequency 20khz (Max is 80Khz min is 20khz on my machine)
1 pass
45degress angle
Cross hatch
Line interval 0.05

Any advice on where to go from here would be much appreciated! Thanks

[Albroswift (Al Fernandez)]

Aluminum or steel? This is for 175x175, 60W M7

My white on steel is same settings but drop the power down even more, like 10% or 11%
I would try multiple low power passes to remove the powder coating so you don’t burn the metal beneath.
Good luck!

[jez_9540 (Jeremy Chappel)]

Hi, thabnks for the reply. The base metal shouldn’t make a difference as I’m only looking to etch the surface of the paint and not remove it so it still protects the aluminium below. I’ve had good success with anodized aluminium but not really tried powder coat until now.

We make the components in house and they are currently UV printed, but we want to see if we can keep the process in house for ease especially where time is concerned. But obviously the customer needs to be happy with the result!

I will have a try on your settings later and see if any of that helps. My machine does not have Qpulse settings if that is going to make any difference?

[Albroswift (Al Fernandez)]

JPT sources are 200QPulse I believe for the LP / LP+ fixed pulse MOPA machines. The Raycus are between 90 and 130 depending on the machine (Going from memory). I use 200 as a default, works for most things. It could make a difference though. The White setting works with raw and anodized, haven’t experimented with powdercoating. Wish I could be more help. Good luck and post back results!