Laser Engraving - What You Should Know About Laser Engraving and Laser Engraving Machines

Laser engraving and laser marking are high speed, non-contact methods of permanent marking. Laser etching is basically just another name for laser engraving. Some people just call it laser etching. Others call it laser engraving but basically the technique uses a computer-controlled laser beam to mark a surface. Laser marking is the favored marking method when permanency or aesthetics are desired.

Laser Marking

Laser marking is a process in which material is indelibly marked at very fast speeds (milliseconds per character). Laser marking is flexible, programmable and environmentally clean. Laser marking of glass by Co2 lasers on the fly or while moving can be an excellent addition for many industrial environments and applications for glass marking. Laser marking is also favored when the part to be marked is too small or has too complex a shape to be marked with anything but laser etching.

Co2 lasers can provide excellent results for marking glass and also provide significant reductions in operating costs and cost of supplies. Some the items that Co2 lasers and Co2 laser systems can be utilized for regarding laser marking and etching glass or quartz are float glass plants, manufacturing of glass doors and windows, permanent serial numbering, ANSI safety information, customer logos, decorative or specialty glass manufacturing, manufacturing data related to plant, production date and line, and/or part numbers. Co2 lasers when used to laser mark or laser etch glass and quartz replace traditional methods such as sand blasting, ink pad printing, and etching.

Laser Etching

Laser etching is the process of marking the material without cutting all the way through using reduced power. Laser etching provides a permanent message on an in-process or finished component. Laser etching can be done on many materials including slate, granite, stainless steel, leather, arborite, glass, mirrors, and premium hard woods.

Laser Cutting

Laser cutting offers a superior cut-edge quality with parallel sides and no burrs. The ability to laser cut complex profiles can eliminate the need for additional operations, making laser cutting highly economical. Laser cutting adds high precision, reduced contamination or warping, and a quality finish to industrial cutting applications. The laser metal cutting option can be added to some of the laser cutting machines.

Laser Engraving Machines and Systems

Laser machines and systems are used in a variety of applications and industries including medical device, aerospace, manufacturing, automotive, pharmaceutical, and electronic. A large number of industries, including electronics and communications, glass, medical instruments, tool and die, prefabricated construction and mold making use laser marking machines and systems. Quite a few companies make laser engraving machines, laser marking systems and laser etching equipment.

Laser engraving metal uses the most power especially if the metal is of the harder type. Laser engraving products include wedding giveaways, nametags, table nameplates, trophy engraving, laser wood engraving, etc. Also laser engraving services are available in most engraving specialty stores because it's now the most common type of engraving.

For more information on laser engraving and laser engraving machines, laser marking, laser etching and laser cutting go to http://www.EngravingLaser.net for tips, help, facts, free resources, including information on all types of laser engraving

Laser Welding Technology for the Jewellery Trade

A lot of jewellers think that it is impossible to repair or resize items of jewellery made from metals such as stainless steel or titanium. Well, it is difficult to find someone to repair them but with a laser welder the job is easy.

The problems that jewellers have in resizing rings with soft stones such as coral, pearl, opal and many others is that they will be instantly destroyed by heat from a jeweller’s torch. Diamonds, rubies and sapphires can have a jeweller’s torch actually touch them and they will not break. Of course this is always avoided if possible. But many other stones, even emeralds, will have to be removed from the ring in order that the heat from the torch can be used to solder two parts together.

That presents a further problem when the stones have been bezel set. Bezel setting involves the metal being forced over the stones and pushed and rubbed over. This is a one way action and you cannot prize the metal back, take out the stone, and later after the soldering has been done, replace the stone and push the bezel metal over it again. This metal is now ruined.

So what if you could leave the stone in place and cut the ring and then remove a piece making the ring a smaller size and then solder it back together again? Well, that would be just perfect and you can almost do that with laser technology.

With a laser welding machine which currently costs between $30,000 and $50,000 you can leave the stone in place and make the resize and then weld or fuse the two pieces together. The reason that this can be done successfully is because the laser only makes a tiny bit of heat. You can hold the ring in your hand and laser weld it together.

Lasers can be used on all types of metals titanium, stainless steel, platinum, silver and gold. The laser weld is actually a fusion of the two metal parts so no solder or messy flux is used. The weld is three times stronger than the best soldered joints.

Tiny pieces can be welded together as small as 0.2 of a millimeter and that’s small. Most white gold is rhodium plated to give it that shiny white look but when it is repaired it has to be rhodium plated once again but not with laser technology as the weld is a very localized one.

For me to solder two rings together side by side to make a double band it would take about twenty minutes to do the soldering by the time I made some preparations. Then I would need to leave it in an acid bath and then a de-acid bath and all sorts of other procedures to clean it up, so a lot of time is taken. To laser weld the two pieces together it might take three or four minutes and there is no follow on treatment.

Gary Hocking is an Australian manufacturing jewelelr who has his own website http://www.jewelleryexpress.com.au and will make that special piece of jewellery for you. You may copy this article as long as you leave the live link to his website.