Household utensils

Ever wanted to embellish your ordinary metal tags, cardholders, tableware and other household items? LaserPro Application Lab can help! In this month’s Showcase, we would like to introduce you various laser marking machines to add a new luster to your daily using metal articles, such as can opener, metal name cardholder, watch dial plate and so on.

Let’s start with surface-treated metal materials. Most untreated metal materials cause the CO2 laser to reflect, and for this reason most of these surfaces cannot be engraved. However, there are some surface-treated metal materials available in the market that may compensate for this:

1. Anodized Aluminum:

Anodization is the controlled oxidation of aluminum. Aluminum oxide is one of the hardest surfaces known to man. Many beautiful colors can be produced from such electrochemical reactions. Although the unit price might be quite expensive, anodized aluminum is still considered to be one of the most ideal laserable material.

Metal marking on Can Opener

Procedure

• Open an image file with CorelDraw software.
• Put the can opener on the working table of your laser engraver.
• Set the parameter settings as suggested in the following and then print.

Tips:

• To avoid unevenness and imbalance, do not engrave long images onto a curved surface such as the can opener.
• Characters, rather than images, produces better results on curved metal surfaces because most characters are less complex than images.
• Notice whether your customer is left or right-handed, and engrave or flip your images accordingly so that your images shows right-side up when the can opener is being used.

Parameter Settings:

Explorer CO2 60W
Speed	Power	DPI	PPI	Mode
20%	100%	500	Auto	B/W

* Parameters are subject to change on laser types and material dependent.

2. AlumaMark:

AlumaMark is one of the newest types of CO2 laserable aluminum and it is highly compatible with LaserPro CO2 engravers. For more details, please refer to our AlumaMark Report.

AlumaMark

3. Gilded or Silvered Copper:

Reflective metals such as gilded or silvered copper can also be engraved with our LaserPro CO2 engravers. To do so, simply apply a thin layer of Cerdec metal marking paint onto the metal surface. With a CO2 laser, the metal marking solution will soak into the metal surface and create clear and solid black engraving.

Gilded or Silvered Copper

Procedure
After the paint is dry, you may start to engrave.

• Using a watercolor brush or Chinese calligraphy brush, spread the Cerdec metal marking paint onto the metal surface.
• Open the Metal_cardholder.tif or Metal_belt.tif file with CorelDraw software.
• After the paint is dry, you may start to engrave. The engraving will be appear more beautiful on metals that are more reflective.

Sample:

Metal Engraving on Laptop
Metal Engraving on Belt

The engraving will be appear more beautiful on metals

Parameter Settings:

Explorer CO2 60W
Speed	Power	DPI	PPI	Mode
10%	100%	500	Auto	B/W

* Parameters are subject to change on laser types and material dependent.

Tips:

• Spreading the paint evenly on metal surface will help produce better engraving quality.
• The product can be washed with water right after engraving.
• With Cerdec metal marking paint, simple or single-color images will look better than those complex multi-color ones.

4. Powder Coating:

As shown by the sample photo, laser engraving can also be performed on a powder-coated dial plate. Please download and open the Metal_watch.cdr file with CorelDraw software and start to engrave!

Powder-coated dial plate

Tips:

• Different powder coating may have different thickness. The parameter settings are only for your reference.
• Slowing down the laser speed would generally enhance the image quality.
• To avoid inaccuracy caused by the mispositioning of the images, one must carefully calibrate the position first.
• If the watchcase is made of reflective metal, a layer of Cerdec coating is necessary.

Parameter Settings:

Explorer CO2 60W
Speed	Power	DPI	PPI	Mode
20%	30%	500	Auto	B/W

* Parameters are subject to change on laser types and material dependent.

Here are some additional laser applications on items of our daily use:
1. Key Chains

Laser engraving on key chains

2. Can Openers

Laser engraving on can openters 

3. Dining Utensils

Laser engraving on dining utensils