Hello,
I wonder if anyone has already tried to laser engrave nickel snap buttons?
Would highly appreciate your feedback!
Ciao,
Carol
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Nickel doesn’t mark by itself.
If it’s painted maybe. But bare nickel shrugs the last off.
Hi, thanks for your reply!
I successfully engraved anodised aluminum before, but wasn’t sure about his one… Thanks!
Yeah your blasting the color away in the anodized layer there. Polished nickel doesn’t have that going for it.
Plain aluminum won’t mark either.
Search the forum for cermark or laserbond, it’s not cheap but it might be your ticket.
I’ve spray painted nickels and then lasered the paint away, alignment is tricky but the end result was pretty cool.
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Thanks, I will definitely read up on carmark, laserbond…
*cermark
Photos? I don’t remember that!
Because I never posted them 
I think I have some but I’d have to like look and stuff. Ugh.
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Oh hey I found the old nickel experiments. They’re dinged up and dusty because I threw them on a shelf and forgot about them.
Also I didn’t prime then so the paint chipped a little… in fact on the spiral and the “painted heads” you can see I scrubbed the paint off as a test of its durability. (Not durable. Decision: prime first… but I never came back to the project)
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Doing snaps is an interesting idea–as I use a lot for my wrist bands.
But since the cap gets deformed slightly when pressing the cap to the socket, I wonder if any paint you apply to it (even if primed) may crack and chip off (eventually). I’ve sometimes used manufacturer painted caps–love the colors, but they can chip, and I don’t like selling something that can chip so quickly/easily either after a person buys one of my items, or worse, while it’s in my inventory…
But might be worth testing! Would be a great way to add additional design or logo…
Do you think the paint would hold if you prime first? And what would you prime it with?
It is an interesting idea, isn’t it, if only because personalised snap buttons cost a lot and companies require such high MQO…
Not sure. Maybe model primer? Tamiya brand maybe?
Thank you so much, will look into that! 