Engraving .063" (14 Ga.) Aluminium Blanks

[AhnoldZ]

There have been posts about Moly Lube and marking metals. A search might prove useful. Here’s a few relevant posts:

Dry moly lube for marking aluminum?

I did a search and found some past posts expressing disappointment in using dry moly lube for marking plain aluminum. Has anyone tried this with success? Ideas for starting settings?

Knots in Plywood

I’d hate to reply to this discussion further about marking on metal under the post for plywood knots; however, I can’t resist responding since there has been so much talk about it. When I had access to a laser cutter a few years ago, I purchased some [dry moly lube] (http://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/00155416) instead of purchasing Cermark, etc. I cleaned a piece of aluminum with IPA (isopropyl alcohol), waited for it to dry, and sprayed a coat of the dry moly lube all over the aluminum…

Question: Are there other "unsafe" materials besides green-flame chlorine, what about reflective metals?

Here is my experiment with Aluminum marking, using CRC Dry Moly Lube (spray). Lasered at 100power and 100 speed, 3 passes. [IMG_5689][IMG_5692][IMG_5690] As you can see, the result is faint. And the laser needed the extra passes to get this dark. The metal appears to be very slightly raised where the moly was (the metal wasn’t pitted like the stainless was.).