11: What can the Glowforge do with metal materials?

[evansd2]

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First the bad news:
In general no Glowforge model is powerful enough to remove metal material, so using the laser to cut or engrave into the metal really isn’t possible in almost all cases.
There have been some cases where it appears that the Glowforge has actually etched into titanium, but I’ve never seen it duplicated so I can’t confirm it. See below for the post about discoloration of titanium for more details.

Now, the good news:
There are ways to interact with metal. I’ll go through the basic categories.

• Surface marking
  You can use a marking agent to coat the metal, then laser engrave that coating, which permanently bonds color to the surface. The most common ways to do that are with marking products (like Cermark or Laserbond) or with some homebrew marking agents (like vinegar or dry moly lube). Even things like mustard have had some success with steel. For more information, try the following searches:
  Search results for 'cermark' - Glowforge Owners Forum
  Search results for 'laserbond' - Glowforge Owners Forum
  Search results for 'mustard' - Glowforge Owners Forum
  https://community.glowforge.com/search?q=marking%20metal

• Color removal
  The flipside to using a pigment like Cermark is to first color your metal and then use the laser to remove that color. The two main types you see here are painted metals and anodized metals. For more information:
  https://community.glowforge.com/search?q=painted%20metal
  https://community.glowforge.com/search?q=anodized

• Discoloring
  Uncoated titanium can be discolored by heat in a variety of hues. For more information:
  WHAAAT!? You can mark uncoated titanium!? - #57 by Hirudin
  Best metal for outdoors - #47 by Xabbess

• Chemical etching
  In general with this method you cover your metal with a barrier material called a “resist”, then use the laser to engrave that protective layer away. Then you submerge your metal piece in a chemical bath that etches the now-exposed parts of the metal. For more information:
  https://community.glowforge.com/search?q=resist%20etching

• Physical deformation:
  The embossing work by @vegandarwin has been really impressive.

So, with these techniques you can do a lot of cool projects by very creative people, here are a few:

Resist etching:

Using spray paint as a resist for etching metal

There have been some great posts here about etching metal, so I tried it out. Finally had the time to write up the process on my blog. [glowforge-etched-brass] Note: copper is reflective! See @martin.anderson’s note below.

Yet another metal engraving

I am really digging this acid etch process. My mother designed the town seal for my hometown, so the town seal is a pretty big thing for our family. I used the same process as the one for the makers mark. .8mm Aluminum Krylon matte black acid resist engraved on the Glowforge. Acid etched, and ink washed. about 6 inches in diameter. [image]

Brass

You can always make a tape stencil then black the brass. [SL1194]

– This one is particularly interesting because it is best done on an Aura.

Aura only project: Engrave mask on copper

I like to dabble in jewelry making projects, and I’ve long wanted to try engraving masked copper pieces, to then submerge the pieces in an etching bath. But you can’t put copper in a CO2 laser, even to engrave off a mask, due to its reflectivity (it can damage the lens). So I was excited to try the project in my new Aura instead. Being a 6 watt blue diode laser, copper has a higher absorption/ lower reflectivity. Although putting copper in the Aura is not endorsed by Glowforge, I decided the…

Paint removal:

Custom Altoids tin

My friend makes these neat silicone anatomical hearts in black altoids tins, and I bought one to engrave the top for Valentine’s Day for my husband! [image] I did a couple test runs on the back of it, and none of them turned out great… Not perfect, but I’m proud of myself for figuring out the settings to get the front pretty decent! It’s the first time I’ve ever done manual settings

Zippo Lighter Engraving

Engraved a Zippo lighter today, my 5th item on the GF. Measured depth/height from inside floor to topside of crumb tray honeycomb. Removed the crumb tray, then zero’d out my calipers, and measured the thickness of my standoff including the Zippo (0.204" in my case). Taped the Zippo in place, then taped a template cut from regular old manila folders (0.040" thick). Imported my artwork, and set the engrave to: 750 speed / 8 power 225 LPI 1 pass - For Manila Template Focus (You won’t use this…

Dry Moly lube:

Knife trials!

So I’ve been reading up a bit on how to metal etch with the glowforge!! Read up on using some Dry Moly lube so i figured why not give it a try! I gave the knife three coats and then decided to use a wallpaper background to see what the final outcome would be. Granted i let the Moly Lube dry overnight before putting it into the glowforge. First image is the knife with the dry moly lube over everything. And my outcome i would say was rather nice!! Gonna work on the other side probably tomorrow…

Cermark:

Another replica electrical antique

Technically this isn’t exactly a replica, since it isn’t an exact copy of a real device. This is something i built as part of a demonstration apparatus for the SPARK Museum. The brass plate was designed in Illustrator & engraved using Cermark. The whole thing was then subjected to abuse to make it look 130 years old. [image]

Laserbond:

Sterling silver and laserbond

Laserbond sterling silver piece I made for a friend. I absolutely love the set focus and the ability to scale my images. This makes life so much easier [20201005_130043]

Embossing:

Engraved paper and embossing metal

Tried several different settings on 140lb paper to make an impression image to press onto aluminum. It finally worked. I used 18 gauge aluminum annealed and a rolling mill to emboss the metal. Finally successfully after several attempts. [20200920_122937]

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[behzod.nuritdinov]

Very informative article, thank you! I was looking for something like this.

[shollg]

There is one special case metal that can be marked by laser. I marked titanium scales for my swiss army knive.

[deirdrebeth]

Yeah, titanium changes colour with heat, and the laser means you can focus that heat in a very focused area!