CerMark on Ice Bucket

[Tim Bateson]

I have the following request to price Cermarking 5 of these with a fast turn-around: 3-Double wall semi-brushed stainless steel champagne/wine cooler with straight sides and no collar. Smooth, seamless welds. High polish. Classic ring handles. 1.3 mm thick walls.1-1/2” high raised pedestal. 8-3/4” high, 9-1/4” dia. at top. 4 qt., 4 oz. Rim-full capacity. Weighs 2 lbs.

Anyone done these? Any issues I need to be aware of? With Cermark, I'll only have 1 shot at each & these are not cheap.
IceBucket.jpg

[Mike Null]

Tim

Not suggesting you follow my lead but I wouldn't take the job unless I had a rotary device for my laser. If you do then it should be relatively easy. I would certainly test first using blue tape or transfer paper.

If you do have a rotary device will it still clear with that diameter?

[Dan Hintz]

Do a test spot to make sure there's no coating on it...

[Tim Bateson]

Do a test spot to make sure there's no coating on it...

I'm going to do a test on the bottom.

... If you do then it should be relatively easy. I would certainly test first using blue tape or transfer paper.

If you do have a rotary device will it still clear with that diameter?

Measuring that clearance is on my to-do list prior to quoting.

[shawn zumbrum]

Tim
Make shure it is not clear coated i just had an ice bucket job come in and it was clear coated cermark will not work on clear coated stanless.
you could not see the clear coat on the out side of the bucket but on the bottom I was able to see it .

[Tammy Larrabee]

I turned down a regular customer that wanted an ice bucket, I have a rotary tool, I'm just leary of cermarking something like that (I'm chicken)

[Tim Bateson]

Tim
Make sure it is not clear coated I just had an ice bucket job come in and it was clear coated Cermark will not work on clear coated stainless. You could not see the clear coat on the out side of the bucket but on the bottom I was able to see it .

This is my biggest fear. Another item I had done in the past had a clear coating. The Cermark didn't stick, but it did leave a ghost image.

[Gary Hair]

This is my biggest fear. Another item I had done in the past had a clear coating. The Cermark didn't stick, but it did leave a ghost image.

Acetone will remove any clear coating then all you have to worry about is whether the Cermark will stick to the shiny surface.

Gary

[Frank Corker]

I have to be honest the thing that would probably trouble me the most would be slippage on the wheels of the rotary, you have to be wary of that and I would recommend you putting masking tape on the areas that come into contact with the rubber wheels. I don't think I would be eager to remove the surface coating either, it might result in the bucket becoming tarnished in the future. If it were me, I would tip the bucket over and do a very small dot on the base of the bucket, you should know for sure if it will take properly. I'd also put tape over the piece when it's in the rotary and run a very low power run just enough to mark the paper to see if your alignment is right. Take a photo to show us how you get on with it.

[Dan Hintz]

I would let the laser remove the clearcoat... it's two steps in the laser, so a bit slower, but you guarantee (assuming you can realign properly) only the needed clearcoat is removed.

[Mike Null]

Dan

The laser doesn't do a good job of removing clear coat finishes. Way too many failures reported here and on other forums. If it has a clear coat, which I doubt if it's really stainless, then I would turn down the job.

[Dan Hintz]

It looks chromed...

[Mike Null]

It does but I've done some flasks which were highly polished that also looked like chrome. I've also done aluminum ice buckets that were, in fact, chromed.