Engraving Carbon Fiber

I want to engrave on a carbon fiber fly rod tube. The tube has a matte black finish. Does anyone have experience with this material and suggestions for starting settings?

I plan to start fast and cool with some small images and work my way up to something grander.

Thanks

Hmm there has been some carbon fiber discussion before, mostly around cutting I think. You might try reaching out directly to the OPs of those threads.

https://community.glowforge.com/search?q=carbon%20fiber

is there a clear finish over the carbon fiber? I would be concerned burning down into the fiber.

Settings are going to be different for anything from differing manufacturers because of the myriad types of resins, coatings, or lack of coatings.

Fast and cool is a good start though. You really only want to engrave into the very surface finish and not the actual fibers because damaging the fiber can cause catastrophic failure down the road. If the rod manufacturer didnt put a thicker finish coating over it, the chances of hitting the fibers increases.

3 Likes

IIRC, this was looked at early on and the consensus is that the by-products of the epoxy burning are too toxic to risk. Nicking the fiber shouldn’t be a concern - CF transfers heat very well, to the point there is no chance of cutting CF fabric on the laser. I could be remembering incorrectly, so YMMV.

2 Likes

Agree with Ben. We use a wide list of materials at work such as micarta and carbon fiber and we will not use them in the laser due to the health hazard as well as damage to the machine.

The fibers cut very easily, and very cleanly, on the laser, so engraving a fishing rod too deeply is a fast way to potentially ruin it.

3 Likes