I am just wondering if anyone has attempted to engrave on any of the Dollar Tree metal signs, and if so with any success and what were your settings? I am trying to engrave on the new little metal tags for a project. Thank you
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The only metals that the GF can engrave on are anodized metals, like aluminum. There are sprays (Ceramark? Brilliance?) that you can spray on, then engrave, and then wipe off the excess and the engraved part should be permanent. But there isn’t enough power in a wimpy lil CO2 laser to dig into metals. (Although, you might be able to laser away the paints on a sign if it is painted, similar to an anodized coating)
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Ok thank you for the help 
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I am not familiar with the metal tags you reference. If they are painted or anodized aluminum you can engrave away the paint/coating. As stated above, the Glowforge cannot engrave any metal. Perhaps you could share a photo of the tags you have.
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No paint it is just a flimsy galvanized looking tag. I will try to figure something else out for my project. Thank you for the help
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A quick hit of spray paint on those tags would be pretty easy and might get you what you need?
@tjones and @dklgood gave excellent advice as always, for some additional basic advice about metals and the Glowforge, check out #11:
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You don’t want to heat anything galvanized anyway.
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Yeah we discussed this here some time ago and I felt the same way. The consensus was that I was being paranoid and that the ventilation of the Glowforge mitigated the problem.
From Jun ‘18:
That being said, I’m with @dan84, I stay away from galvanized for this reason.
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Thank you
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Thank you for the info
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