Laser engraver for pcb making and frontpanel labeling

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Michael Tibes

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 5, 2004
Messages
882
Location
Berlin, Germany
It might be old news, but I just bumped into this video: https://youtu.be/1hFNj86L7sk This machine looks pretty useful to me. I don't have the time to experiment with these things at the moment, but maybe it is interesting to anyone? Proper looking labeling has always been a time consuming issue for me, it would be great if this worked.

Michael
 
I bought a 5W Laser engraver, and even considering it’s a toy, I’m quite happy with it.

It marks pcbs painted in black, engraves anodized aluminum... it’s nice, even more keeping in mind it cost me 200€.

Right now I’m finishing the manufacturing process of pcbs, which evolves a laser machine and a small cnc router. My idea is to make a thread about it during this month. It’s a bit complex, but I think it’s affordable for DIY and can give consistent results in a reasonable time.

 
dirtyhanfri said:
My idea is to make a thread about it during this month. It’s a bit complex, but I think it’s affordable for DIY and can give consistent results in a reasonable time.

That'll be great!
 
gyraf said:
Very interested. Just recently discovered laser+anodized, want to try going there. Especially if 5W is enough!

Jakob E.

I am interested in that also. The video seems to show it only with black anodised aluminium. I wonder if it would work with plain anodised aluminium?  Seems to me you could use not only to engrave front panels but also to mark drilling centres and hole diameters.

Cheers

Ian
 
Me too. I like mechanical engraving but having a box that fits on a desk top and is $1500. Is very attractive. I started out wanting a setup that could both mill and engrave. I’ve come to the conclusion that would be too large, too expensive and too time consuming to get going. With a laser engraver I could mark where the holes need to go and hand drill them. Mostly I need round holes for rotary switches.  Larger and more complex holes will be a problem but I don’t need those often.
 
ruffrecords said:
I wonder if it would work with plain anodised aluminium?
The lasermarks on anodised aluminium are always white.
This is independent of the anodised color.
I use MarkSolid LMM 6018 tape for black on plain aluminium.
 
[silent:arts] said:
The lasermarks on anodised aluminium are always white.
This is independent of the anodised color.
I use MarkSolid LMM 6018 tape for black on plain aluminium.

I was thinking more of black absorbing the laser light and the plain perhaps reflecting more than absorbing.

heers

Ian
 
ruffrecords said:
Do you really mean 50W??
Yes. But for black anodized aluminium I only use 15% (Speed: 60mm/sec), for blank with MarkSolid tape 20%.
But as far as I know you can't compare the output of different laser types (CO2, Fiber, Nd:YAG) by wattage.
 
[silent:arts] said:
Yes. But for black anodized aluminium I only use 15% (Speed: 60mm/sec), for blank with MarkSolid tape 20%.
But as far as I know you can't compare the output of different laser types (CO2, Fiber, Nd:YAG) by wattage.

Silly me, I missed that you have a CO2 laser so the efficiency will be different to a laser diode one. I am still not clear how you engrave plain anodised aluminium (not coloured). Do you engrave it directly or do you have to cover the surface with something?

Cheers

Ian
 
I can laser mark the plain anodised aluminium, but the marking will be white.
To get black on Metal there are different solutions available:
http://www.thermark.com/content/view/28/79/
I use LMM6018 tape. Just stick it on, laser it (I use a little more power), and remove the tape. Isopropanol helps removing sticking small parts.
Some people say it is expensive, but compared to silkscreening low quantities it is fine for me - and I can do custom panels.
 
[silent:arts] said:
I can laser mark the plain anodised aluminium, but the marking will be white.
To get black on Metal there are different solutions available:
http://www.thermark.com/content/view/28/79/
I use LMM6018 tape. Just stick it on, laser it (I use a little more power), and remove the tape. Isopropanol helps removing sticking small parts.
Some people say it is expensive, but compared to silkscreening low quantities it is fine for me - and I can do custom panels.
That looks to be rather clever stuff. The reason I am so interested is that I use a lot of Fischer modules in my build. Unfortunately you cannot buy them without front panels. I always need a custom front panel engraving  so I end up ordering from from Schaeffer and there is no cost advantage in shipping my blank front panels out to Germany so I get left with lots of plain aluminium front panels. So a low cost way to engrave those myself would be great even if only for prototypes.

I wonder if I could just get a laser to fit on my existing CNC machine?

Cheers

Ian
 
Do you laser mark the panel first and then mill it after by lining up a positioning mark on a CNC mill?
 
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