Pre-Release | Engraving Aluminium

Couple test engraves on anodized aluminum.

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Wow!!! You just stuck the ipad in there and went for it, huh? We bought a half-dozen of them dead to test on before we tried a real one. :wink:

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There is no try, only do!

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Dan asks:

and @karaelena:

but he did it

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I have to ask before i just stick my ipad in did you use cermark?

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Getting really excited about how the aluminum engraving is coming out. Brave with the ipad!

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I’m sure there is at least one of us that can’t pass the walk and chew gum test. DO NOT TRY THIS ON AN ANDROID TABLET OR PHONE!!! The IPAD case is metal not plastic.

Edit: Yep, some people are dumb as a box of rocks.

From the iliketomakestuff instagram comments section: “What I did with the laser cutter that we have in school was engrave the back of my phone. It worked for me but my friend tried it with his phone CASE and it was polycarbonate and it melted into a big blob of gooey plastic.”

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I do the company’s iPhones and iPads with logos & return if found info and was equally hesitant the first time. Then I figured that CO2 lasers can’t etch or cut metal so I shouldn’t have to worry about it. But, there’s a difference between what the head knows and what the gut tells you as you drop that $800 piece of new tech under the laser :smile:

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Not always. There are some Android phones that are metal or glass backed (Samsung?). We buy them for our associates and I mark them the same as I do the ipads/iphones. There are also Android tablets that are metal backed as well.

I have had some success with plastic backed tablets - started out with older surplused ones in case I mucked it up - the Nexus ones were great because they had some coating over the plastic. Just need to start out with high speeds and low power and repeat until you get the engrave you want (and before you slag the back :smile:).

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Hmm, I think some of my settings were off.

Here is the video I stole the image from. :imp:

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I wonder if you could use the laser to blank out the personalized engravings when you sell the iPad (for those who want to put their name on them)?

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I laughed. Thank you for your honesty. :wink:

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Yes, but you end up with a rectangular white space :slight_smile:

I haven’t tried to re-laser another engraving on top of the engraved box that wipes out the name (which is actually just engraving the anodized layer in between the letters). I don’t think there’s anything for it to re-engrave on though.

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Adding elements to alter an old tattoo into something new is an old trick… same idea with the phone, right?

But then, I think you might know someone who knows more about tattoo techniques than I do!

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No worries… One word: AppleCare

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They don’t cover water damage. :wink:

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Or in the case of the Google Pixel, metal and glass.

Still, no matter how confident you are in the machine and knowing the laser cannot destroy the metal, the same is not true for the sensors/cameras. “Why is the laser head going over there? It’s not supposed to go over there.”

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If that is without Cermark wow.

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Cermark was not needed. It was anodized.

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