Im building Elmer's 46 Comber. In the process of laying out the cam per Elmer's instructions I found out how old Ive become as essential tremors and degraded eyesight made hand lay out of the cam ID extremely frustrating, especially when it came to dividing the 180 degree, .250"R arc into 12 equal arc segments. Thinking I could draw this all day long in CAD I began to wonder if my little 10W laser would mark the steel. I put the HRS plate coated with blue layout dye on the laser and in a corner that would eventually become drop I ran the laser to scribe a 2mm circle. To my amazement the mark was crisp and clear against the layout dye. As glass is laser etched by first spraying the glass with black paint I assumed the layout dye was responsible for the effect on steel as well. Flipping the plate over I ground off the mill scale (which I hadn't done on the first side) and used layout dye. The marking now left by the laser was faint, barely visible. As it turned out the laser was etching the mill scale. I cut another plate, leaving the mill scale and using layout dye (for contrast) I got this result. Im moving forward again. FWIW.
Laser Scribed HRS
- Thread starter SwarfMule
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Help Support Home Model Engine Machinist Forum:
Very slick way to work around a problem!
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What type of laser ist that? I had a look at 20-30 W lasers with 1065 nm, but they are quite expensive and I must admit I find them scary.
( no enclosure whatsoever)
Greetings Timo
( no enclosure whatsoever)
Greetings Timo
Hi Timo
The laser is a Creality Falcon 10W. My wife got it for me as a gift a couple years ago when I was scratch building r/c airplanes. Ive tested it on metals periodically over that time with the intent of only marking parts... with disappointing results. This is the first time Ive seen useable results, but remember this only appears to affect the mill scale on HRS.
Theres nothing to be afraid of. Cardboard will block the light. It is a burning process so dont leave it unattended.
Pete
