Gun receiver

[Terri Heskett]

Has anyone engraved a gun receiver? If so, what is the process and are there any risks to the gun or laser engraver?

Thanks,

[Gary Hair]

Brand, model, metal and finish would be helpful for any real advice. But to answer your questions - Have I? Yes, the process? it depends, risk to gun? not really, risk to laser? no.

Gary

[Tim Bateson]

Yea, what Gary said. I'll add, that some Receivers such as the AR15 are not all the same, so your jig will have to accommodate the differences. These pay very well and if you do a good job, word spreads fast. However, mess one up and that word will spread just as fast. I do Zero advertizing - don't even mention this service on my web site - only word of mouth, and I get weapons of various types (Receivers, Slides, Back Plates, Gun Stocks, and knives of every shape and size) from as far way as Alaska.

[Earl Cox]

This what you mean?DSCN0412.jpg

[Jeff Greer]

I was a little nervous when I did this job. But the more I do the more I like it. I have another job I did on the side of a Henry 44 magnum receiver for a retirement gift. Those were both diamond drag. I have lasered a few lower receivers with id information too. The diamond drag is a scary job - no practice but the laser is really simple.

What do you guys charge to laser a receiver?

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[Mike Null]

Jeff

will they re-blue the diamond dragged area? Nice vise.

By the way, I re-named my dd process and now call it diamond scribing. To me it sounds better.

[Jeff Greer]

Jeff

will they re-blue the diamond dragged area? Nice vise.

By the way, I re-named my dd process and now call it diamond scribing. To me it sounds better.

The vise is leftover from my toolmaking days. It is actually a sine vise that I am using flat. I am leaving it up to them if they reblue it or not. I like the new name alot!!! Sounds way better!!! I am stealing it!

[Mike Null]

Jeff

The name is a gift. Actually I found it on an industrial site which doesn't do nearly as nice work as we do.

[Terri Heskett]

Brand, model, metal and finish would be helpful for any real advice. But to answer your questions - Have I? Yes, the process? it depends, risk to gun? not really, risk to laser? no.

Gary

Gun in question is Scar 16S. The receiver is made of hard-anodized monolithic aluminum, matte black. Is this enough info to give me an idea of whether or not I can laser engrave the gun and what the process would be?

[Scott Shepherd]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but hard anodizing doesn't do well, I don't think. I've seen it once and I had to burn and burn and burn it and I don't recall if it ever turned whitish. I think I probably just kept engraving down to the metal. I don't even recall what it was I was engraving. But I know it's not at all like normal anodizing.

[Gary Hair]

I have never had a problem with anything anodized so I would say you can do it. I run full speed at 600 dpi, and somewhere between 40% and 90% power with my 30 watt, 80ips, machine. You should use whatever settings have worked well for anodized aluminum, this is nothing different.

Gary

[Gary Hair]

That's not my experience Steve. I have a rather large client that I have lasered thousands of hard anodized parts for and they came out very white, so white that they asked me to find a way to tone it down a bit...

Gary

[Dan Hintz]

Without your experience to the contrary, Gary, I would have agreed with Steve... I tried a single hard-anodized part and I simply couldn't get anything remotely useful from it. Sounds like you're one of the lucky ones...

[Gary Hair]

I know there are big differences in the color, even from batch to batch, so I would assume the same would be true for different companies doing hard anodized as well?

Gary

[Tim Bateson]

Correct - Hard anodization can be very different depending on who is doing it. I too have had pieces that were nearly impossible to laser. Weapons tend to be on the thinner side and I've never had an issue with it.