EDIT: Cropped and increased the size of the pictures to give you a better look.
EDIT again: I should have mentioned that I am using the spray-on LMM6000 Cermark.
I have a couple of projects that I am working on for my parents, so I decided to test Cermark on some .02" thick aluminum engraving tags. Through multiple iterations, I seem to be getting the best results using 2 coats of Cermark at 600/Full. At slower speeds, there seem to be some artifacts created.
With 1 coat of Cermark, I had to use 300/Full, but did not get a picture of it, and while it was acceptable, it wasn’t quite as dark. 1 coat of Cermark at 600/Full creates more of a greyish text that is just barely readable from a distance.
Here are my latest test runs before cleaning off the Cermark:
Just a guess, having not done anything with aluminum yet: Is that plain aluminum or anodized? The shininess of the slower speed looks like it may be etching away the anodized layer rather than just activating the Cermark to mark the surface.
It’s possible, but I don’t think so. I think it was just the way that the Cermark reacted at the slower speed. I didn’t get those artifacts with 1 coat of Cermark, but as I mentioned, the results were not quite as good as with 2 coats. I think I saw some Cermark spark off of the material at the slower speed, but I’m not 100% sure.
