I used CerMark metal laser marking spray on an aluminum license plate blank, and it looked great until I went to rinse off plate and the engraved area washed away too! Anyone ever seen this?
I don’t use cermark, but it happens when your settings are incorrect - you didn’t fuse it to the material.
Try different settings until you find ones that work.
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Agree with @eflyguy . I spent an afternoon a year ago experimenting with cermark and anodized aluminum. Lots of trials resulting in faint marks where it just didn’t ‘hold’. I found that it’s not just a matter of intensity; a lower power and slower speed had an unintuitive (to me, at least) better result than some high power settings.
Keep at it! Good luck!
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The company says Cermark will not work on anodized or clear coated metals.
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What Rpegg said. I suspect clear coat or some other surface treatment. worst case, try sanding the surface with some fine grit to remove that stuff. or it could be you settings.
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ok well I just tried a few different settings and attached is a picture of what I got this time. Looks like the settings make a huge difference. I scrubbed the plate under running water with a dish brush.
sorry my writing isn’t the best…
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Looks like you are on the correct path there 
should turn out pretty amazing with the correct settings.
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setting up another test, but at 450lpi I probably wont update any time soon…lol its a big picture/graphic and just wanna see if it works on a dummy plate before I waste another
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The thickness of the metal has a lot to do with it. Thicker pieces wick the heat you need away so you need more pews and/or less zooms to get the Cermark to set. Once it’s set, it should last forever. You didn’t say which formula you are using, but Cermark recommends LMM-14 for softer metals such as aluminum or copper, and LMM-6000 for harder metals like stainless steel.
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aha I have LMM-6000. seems to be working just have to slow down to 500 and do at least 450LPI.
hate to buy another can that stuff is outrageous. I want to say it was close to $100 a can. I also bought LMC-6044P for Ceramic and Glass.
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Super spendy. LMM-14 is $62 from the manufacturer. I found that out after spending $84 at Amazon…
when my wife wants to make something that requires it I give her that look like “you better get your own can woman”…
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