How did they do that???

[Phil Horne]

Im not sure how you wold accomplish this with a laser but they are some how... I was wondering if anyone knew how they do it?
It looks like this company uses a yag laser?

I didnt think it was possible to do what they are doing with polymer's. They have a few other videos that actually show something being lasered but for th elife of me I cant figure out how they pull this particular trick off.



Phil

[Ronald Erickson]

It was talked about in this thread:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...3570-digi-camo

[Rich Harman]

Hydrographics.

[Phil Horne]

Thanks for the link to the other thread.. I guess I should have tried a little searching around.

[James Brown 1]

http://www.EZdipkits.com/

[Martin Boekers]

I think it may be a bit deceptive on their part...... maybe the laser was used in cutting the "liquid decal" as this is a photo I found on their web page and I have never seen a laser be able to engrave the tops and sides as this is shown...esp for under $25!

http://sureshotprecision.com/webstor...&product_id=70

[Joe Hillmann]

I would assume they use a yag laser, no decals involved. The plastic used on my guns engrave anywhere from black to white to gold depending on power. Also, with a galvo head the beam always comes from the same point and the farther from the center you are the greater the angle is which means they don't need to use any type of template to get it to warp all the way around. They just mark a patten that is larger than the part and once it gets over the edge it no longer marks. Whereas with a flying head laser (like on mostCo2's ) when you get to the edge the engraving would be very sloppy around the edges unless you had perfect placement and a file that matched the the shape of the part.

If you look at the photos that show the narrow sides of the magazines, the pattern on the faces don't match up at the corner but they also don't bleed past each other as they would on a CO2. Also due to the size of the mags they are using a long focal length lens which also allows them to do curved mags without running out of focus.

Once you had your patterns made it would only take a minuet or two per side to engrave the mags.

You can also see the laser marks in the lightest areas of the engraving.

[Martin Boekers]

Here is a photo off the page that says it's laser, I have a hard time seeing the laser do these sides easily.

[Phil Horne]

Just like Joe said, it was not done with a CO2 laser. I have actually seen it done at this point... Now its time to save money for a Fiber/Yag laser!

Phil

[Joe Hillmann]

Here is a photo off the page that says it's laser, I have a hard time seeing the laser do these sides easily.

It would be nice if they had better pictures of how the corners meet up. You have to keep in mind that they are using a galvo yag or fiber the geometry of where the beam comes from is totally different then a CO2. Depending on where you have your part placed you can over shoot a corner and the vertical side wont be touched. Or if you put the piece so it is not centered you can do a vertical side and a horizontal side all at once. Neither of those operations are possible with flying head.

[Joe Hillmann]

I just did a test and it looks like in order for the corners to turn out even I need to have some type of stop on the y axis due the slightly rounded corners.

[Dee Gallo]

Maybe they have a remote controlled rotary device they can use to turn the piece 90 degrees when they want to while the laser is firing...

[Martin Boekers]

They must have something and that's why they won't show the engraving. I guess I didn't look close enough to the Fiber (Epilog) as it looked the same as CO2. Will have to ask questions at the NBM Indy show. Playing with lasers for over 7 years and still so much to learn. Thanks Joe for pointing out some differences!

It just amazes me that they figured out a way to do this on a variety of recivers for only $25 amazing.

Dee you may be right, they may have designed their own rotation device. Something like the girl from Germany did (laser origami)
I plan on bringing this image to Indy and see what others think on the process.

Joe, a question on YAG and Fiber lasers. Are they more similar are different? Do they give similar results?

Thanks for a bit of training here!

[Dan Hintz]

Dee you may be right, they may have designed their own rotation device.

Maybe, maybe not. I'm not going to say if they use one at all or not, but plenty of laser systems on the market are multi-axis. Miyachi Unitek makes 4- and 5-axis machines for a not-too-terrible cost (for fiber machines), and all is required is a 3D model of the item to get a perfectly focused beam the entire way around.

[Martin Boekers]

They don't charge very much for engraving, even with a specialized laser.


Actually I am think about sending them a piece just to see it...