Backing into Fiber settings to match another engravers annealing

[John Kleiber]

Yesterday I ran a anneal job which consisted of (2) 5' Long x 3/4" Thick x 3" Wide Stainless Steel (donor/in honor of type) hand rails. Problem is there were existing annealed boxes and names on the rails....and lots more needed to be added.
I got the job because the other engravers fiber had failed. Unfortunately no one knows any of the power, speed or kHz settings the engraver used originally. To be honest, I don't think the original engraver does either.
I tried roughly 100 tests on various stainless scrap and even a brushed stainless plate similar to the rails. I finally got it close enough that when looking at the annealing head-on, it matched the original.

The problem was however that when the annealing is viewed from different angles and depending on light source the look would change. Compounding the problem, I am 100% sure each rail was annealed using different settings because the annealing is sharper on one rail and it has a similar look when viewed from an angle like our annealing.

I looked via our microscope the other annealing and the letters were, really nasty looking, while the annealing we performed was sharp.

I concluded that possibly the laser the other guy was using had some sort of failure going on. I never could make my annealing as crappy as theirs.

Theirs IMG_2126.jpg

Ours IMG_2129.jpg


Once they are installed, there is a substantial amount of light from a solid glass wall. Natural light seems to offer the best results.
01.jpgIMG_2143.jpg02.jpg

[Kev Williams]

Based on the small version of the 'theirs' pic-- my bet is they used wobble, you didn't...

They also should've used Cermark and a C02 on that job-- but that's just my opinion

[John Kleiber]

I have never used wobble. Did a text search in my EZCAD manual and wobble not found, so I guess it does as stated, wobbles from side to side as it goes.

If the goal of wobble is to make a butt ugly mark, mission accomplished.

Why would someone use wobble?

[Kev Williams]

When you get it right, it can work well for you...

"Wobble" isn't exactly what it does-- what it does do exactly, is engrave a continuous spiral... you choose the diameter of the spiral and the spacing between them.

This is a 1x3 piece of SS-- What's engraved is a simple straight line I drew, measures about 1.44"/36.75mm long.

The bottom wobble is set for a 3mm diameter with 2mm spacing. I measured, it's exactly 3mm wide and 2mm between the spiral centers--

The middle wobble is reversed, a 2mm diameter with 3mm spacing...

The top represents what my EZcad manual states is it's purpose- to make thick lines out of thin lines!
I went back to a 3mm diameter, but went way down to .02mm spacing. And it made a 3mm thick line!
wobble.jpgwobble2.jpg

The problem is I ran it way too slow, at 100mm/second (100 power/40khZ) - It took 2 minutes/37 seconds to engrave that straight line! And, as you see in the close-up, the laser was literally melting the metal, leaving the rough, mottled surface--which resembles "their" engraving, which is why I suspect they used wobble...

Ok, so I ran the same thick wobble again, only this time at 2000 speed, 60 power and 40khz-- this only took 9 seconds, and looks completely different (and better) than the first roast job!
wobble3.jpg

The trick is, figuring out how to put the wobble to practical use! One thing I've found is, because it's constantly spiraling, there ARE limits to actual speed based on the wobble. I'm not sure if power is reduced accordingly if speed entered is higher than speed attained...

From my user's manual:

Wobble: it will make bold when you mark singlet line and need it to be bold. It will save
time.
Diameter: the diameter of spiral circle while spiral marking, mean the width of the line with
wobble mode.
Distance: the center distance between two circle when spiral marking. Too big value will
make shading, too small value will make too much marking time.

[John Kleiber]

Enhancing speed would be a plus for sure as long as the mark did not suffer.

On a side note, I just received an email from the customer, they are very happy, rails are installed and they are interested in us doing other projects.
I am my worst critic and constantly worry if I am doing the best possible.
I mis judged a start point and a name was marked 1/32" off center, I was pissed.
Then when I went to pack the rails, and it took me a minute to find the issue.
Why do I worry about stuff no one is ever going to notice.... argh...

Thanks Kev for the explanation, I will experiment.

-John