issues with Yeti and cermark

[Jeremy Brown]

The more I think about it, I think my problem before was applying cermark on to thick. I was getting runs in the cermark.

I did get some scrap pieces of stainless at work today. Although they are not brush finished, like the cups are it should get me in the ball park.

Do you guys agree with that, as far as the finish?

[Scott Shepherd]

Get out the sand paper, you've got a couple of bad cups. Sand them off and start your trials on them.

[Bill George]

If you have a sloped cup prop up one end of the rotary until its all level otherwise it will engrave one side hotter than the other.

[Makrel Johnson]

Kev was right about suggesting speeds - I got it in my mind you had an Epi for some reason. I use 10-15 because it works best with my machine and Cermark (don't ask me about the stuff for ceramic or glass, tho )

You're doing what you need to be doing with this stuff: realizing you made a mistake, learning from it and getting better. You can't ask for more than that.

I am curious about your 3 hour run time, though. @ 10s/100p/600dpi on my rotary, I can knock out a 5x5 image on a mug in 12 -15 minutes...

[Neville Stewart]

The more I think about it, I think my problem before was applying cermark on to thick. I was getting runs in the cermark.

I did get some scrap pieces of stainless at work today. Although they are not brush finished, like the cups are it should get me in the ball park.

Do you guys agree with that, as far as the finish?

On top of all the other great advice youve received, I would say a thick coat is definitely adding to your problems. I assisted someone when her laser went down at Xmas, and she was spraying them with an aerosol assist system. It was as thick as latex paint. She said it would take her 30 mins to do one, whereas I get annoyed if its over 3 minutes.

[Kev Williams]

Look around your shop. Surely you have some tools you could mark with your name or initials for practice. In 1997 I had a new 25 watt ULS machine and was able to do Cermark items with about the same settings Kev mentioned.

Everyone's house is LOADED with test subjects-- every kitchen knife, butter knife, fork and spoon is just BEGGING to be lasered!
(just be sure to get your signficant other's permission)

[Gary Hair]

(just be sure to get your signficant other's permission)

I live by "forgiveness vs permission"

[Jacob Meged]

I have a 35 watt machine and the settings I use are: 100% Power, 20% Speed, 500PPI, Image Density of 5. I don't use the spray, I use the Paste and dilute it with denatured alcohol. 1 Part Paste, 2 Parts Alcohol. I just brush it on with a foam brush. I also use Metal Sheets from Home Depot that I practice on. I believe it's the Zinc Plated Steel, but it's been a while since I last purchased it.

[John Kleiber]

Using a 60 watt laser, marking a Stainless cup with Cermark yields nice results with the following RDWorks Settings Min 60, Max 60, Spd 300, Int .07
I usually buy scrap stainless and have it cut to 6" or 12" squares. Works great for testing and customer proofs.
Once you get down to testing with the rotary, you can use cheap Walmart or dollar store stainless cups.

[Jeremy Brown]

Hey guys, I got a piece of stainless from work and decided to do a coupon test

I did a test consisting below
speeds: 30, 25, 20, 15, 10
PPI: 1000, 800, 700, 600
imagine density 4 (even though some of them says 5int)

Note, the more and more I lasered the panel I was getting a slight smile in the panel, so each side was going slightly out of focus. the 20 speed, 1000 ppi looks slightly worse than the 800ppi right beside it. I'm going to chalk it up to the panel warping.

It appears 20% speed; 700, 800 & 1000ppi give me pretty good results, this seems to the least amount on the surface height. the black has a slight tone shift
15 and 10% seem to be the same as looks go and they have a surface height to them, the black color is even and dark.

I did a thorough cleaning and used a dry dish towel to really scrub on it

[Gary Hair]

In order for your testing to be usable you need to figure out a way to keep it from warping. Focus will affect the mark as much as power and speed. After you figure that out then you should use a gray scotchbrite pad to really scrub the surface. Anything that sticks is guaranteed to stay stuck! One easy way to avoid warping is to mark a smaller patch, 1/4" is more than enough to see if it is sticking.

[Scott Shepherd]

Good job on the testing! Based on the photo alone, I'd probably be at 1000ppi and a speed of about 17-18%. From the photo, the 15 looks the best as far as a uniform spot, and I think you can probably bump it up a little from there, so I'm coming in around 17 or so. I'd always do 1000ppi on that. It doesn't add any time to the job and the higher the ppi, the better with Cermark, so I'd stay with 1000ppi. You didn't say what the Image Density was, but 5 works fine, on the rotary, you might be able to get away with 4, depending on the design.

Looks like you are on you way to solving the problem. Good job for that.

[Jeremy Brown]

Good job on the testing! Based on the photo alone, I'd probably be at 1000ppi and a speed of about 17-18%. From the photo, the 15 looks the best as far as a uniform spot, and I think you can probably bump it up a little from there, so I'm coming in around 17 or so. I'd always do 1000ppi on that. It doesn't add any time to the job and the higher the ppi, the better with Cermark, so I'd stay with 1000ppi. You didn't say what the Image Density was, but 5 works fine, on the rotary, you might be able to get away with 4, depending on the design.

Looks like you are on you way to solving the problem. Good job for that.

yes, it feels good to get this far. The imagine density was set at 4, I wanted to start low and work my way up if needed. I may still do another sample group with less varition in setting but try imagine density of 5 then do a time study to see what gives me the best results in the least amount of time.

[Neville Stewart]

What does Image Density relate to? Not sure Ive seen that in Coreldraw.

[Mike Null]

Neville

I believe image density is a ULS term that deals with dpi settings..