laser etching

[Marauder06]

My sister unexpectedly (and very generously) got me an entry-level laser etcher for my birthday. I'm still getting the feel for it, but I can already do mags and ammo cans. It will most likely do pistol slides as well, but I'm not brave enough to try that yet. :)

Anyone else doing metal work with lasers? I could use some guidance...

Mandatory "laser" meme:

 

[Salt USMC]

This is really cool! What’s the largest surface you can do? How much detail can you get from this kind of laser?

 

[Marauder06]

This is really cool! What’s the largest surface you can do? How much detail can you get from this kind of laser?

Largest I’ve done so far is on an ammo can, 10” x 5” but it will definitely do much bigger.

I think the level of detail is largely dependent upon the quality of the original image. I did a West Point logo last night and noticed some pixilation around the areas that were curved and thought it was just a limitation of the laser. But when I looked at the image, it had pixilated when I downloaded it.

There are also three resolution settings in this specific laser. I’ve been using the lowest level and I think that level is more than adequate for “presentation quality” for things that our Team is going to give to people.