I have a very straightforward question I hope someone can give me a definitive answer to. will this laser Onefinity J Tech 7W+ Laser Engraver engrave 6061 aluminum?
I know I brought you down a heck of a rabbit hole earlier in the week, so I’ll try to be succinct.
The Jtech laser will not directly mark on bare aluminum, no diode laser in the 450nm frequency range will.
The JTech 7W will probably mark if used with marking spray. Where the laser strikes, the marking spray it is bonded to the metal and you get a good quality almost powder coated like mark. The mark will be above the surface not etched into the metal. At 7 watts I’d be concerned if machine time is important.
Reference to why a diode laser will not directly mark aluminum: Can you laser mark aluminum?
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thanks, you just saved me hundreds of dollars lol
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ok i have decided i will engrave my logo on the clamps using the old school method of cutting it in with my CNC. I will experiment as soon as I get the gen2 up and running. A fiber laser would be more money than I can justify at my present level of sales. all i need now is to do afew tests to see how long it will take to engrave each one. then decide if it is worth doing.
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Have you considered engraving using a diamond drag engraver?
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That’s a great suggestion. A quick check over in the jungle the bits seem to be around $70, so depending on longevity, those could be a great solution to creating a permanent mark in a timely manner.
They also seem to be able to get some pretty fine detail as well.
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Here is another video I had saved prior to trying diamond engraving.
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that is pretty cool, and it might work for what I want to do. So another question is do you set your rpm’s to zero when using a diamond drag bit? I have never use a drag bit so I never knew that was possible.
Most toolpaths - other than probing - must have an RPM value greater than zero.
I use trace/engrave in Fusion and just edit my gcode to comment out the M3 command.
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Diode lasers have some limitations and marking aluminum is one of them. You could use something like Cermark spray. There are other options/brands and some DIY solutions. Diodes generally do really well in organic material. Clear and reflective materials need work arounds.
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