Engraving Platinum with a Fiber

[Bill George]

I have a prospective customer asking about engraving an image on platinum. Its kind of an expensive medium to practice on, has anyone done and what or how were the results?

[Dion Black]

Yes - we have done platinum with a regular 30W fiber (with a Raycus laser source) quite successfully.

[Bill George]

Yes - we have done platinum with a regular 30W fiber (with a Raycus laser source) quite successfully.

Thank you, I think I had a tire kicker but you never know sometimes they turn out to be good customers.

[Dion Black]

I bought a small 30x30mm sheet of 2mm platinum from a supplier for about $80 to experiment for a customer. He bought a fiber from us after that, so it was worth the expense!

[Gerard Mullan]

Dion Black,

Could you share the settings you used to engrave the platinum? I have the same laser and I struggle with precious metals.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Dion Black]

Sure, but ymmv ... We used a regular Q-switched Raycus 30W fiber with a 200x200 lens (fl=330). Speed was set at 50, power 60%, frequency 20kHz - with hatch of 0.005. This gave a decent black engrave. If you want white(ish), you can try speed 500, power 50%, frequency 35kHz - same hatch. Unfortunately I gave the sample to the client and I have not been able to source any more at less than $200, so our new MOPA machine has not yet been tested on platinum ...