Materials & Finishes
Sometimes the only thing preventing your or your client's logo to appear on certain items is their surface material. Or in case of fruit - some marking techniques may make it non-consumable as it can go through its skin deeper than one would like.
And the other important fact when comparing laser 
engraving to other types of marking is the long lasting effect. Well, apart from the fruit of course!
Fortunately, lasers can offer an alternative in most cases. There are not many materials that cannot be laser engraved in one form or another. Most solid flat surface items can be engraved, including rubber, leather and already mentioned fruit (lasers don't carry chemicals nor bacteria).
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Finishes |
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Have a look at samples of the materials that we engrave most often including challenging coatings: (In almost all cases this company's engraved samples on show here have been engraved on behalf of distributors who have subcontracted to us the engraving part of their order and subsequently have supplied directly to the company who owns the logos or trademarks.)
Metals(usually keyrings, pens, desktop items, watches, clocks, plagues, flasks, USB flashdrives, etc. - in aluminium, steel, silver, gold, silver and gold plated,….) different finishes available on certain metals:
Wood(wine boxes, trophies, cricket bats etc.)
Glass(glass awards, trophies, glasses etc.)
Plastic(various ABS plastic items etc.)
Rubber(flasks, mugs, pens etc.)
Leather(briefcases, folders, binders, belts, etc.)
Fruit (and other organics)(lemons, oranges, seeds, etc.)
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(also see pictures in our Showcase & Gallery)
Silver Shimmer As creators of the silver shimmer we can only recommend this finish on silver, chrome, pewter, aluminium and stainless steel surfaces. Many people assume that dark finish on chrome or silver surfaces will stand out more as the general view is that the surfaces are more to the light spectrum than dark. You can see from the pictures below that this very much depends on the surroundings. Chrome and silver act as a mirror and therefore they reflect light and shadow around them. Silver Shimmer in Showcase & Gallery >>>
Mirror Silver The item or pen must be polish plated before the final coat which is engraved off to reveal the mirror underneath. Mirror Silver in Showcase & Gallery >>>
Brass Mirror or Matt Likewise if the substrate is polished before coating with paint or another finish then a bright mirror finish (looks like gold) is possible. However, as with most items brass is the base for plating or coating the object, this is normally not polished to aid adhesion. We can achieve a matt brass shimmer finish normally which is superior to matt brown brassy finish that most other engravers do. Brass Mirror or Matt in Showcase & Gallery >>>
Near black In some cases the matt shimmer brass finish is not achievable due to the unevenness underneath and rather than the brown brassy finish that other engravers do we can blast it nearly black because we can through frequency changes and powers scorch into to the top surface of the brass, i.e. burned wood log effect. Near black in Showcase & Gallery >>>
White / whitish Anodised aluminium and aluminium products are impossible to laser dark as the bauxite element prevents this. The only way it could be darkened is if it has been previously treated with a coating which one can laser through to expose a raw surface which could then be treated with a proprietary mixture which could oxidise the exposed surface black. However, most aluminium products are classified as dura aluminium and have a hotch potch of white metals included to make it go further. Therefore, the dark finish cannot be guaranteed. Anodised aluminium, e.g. Maglite torches will engrave pure white or silvery white. White / whitish in Showcase & Gallery >>>
Cost Conscious This is a cost compromise on the dark finish, which takes a lot more time to achieve. So although we still do a sharp edge finish, the fill is less, therefore is lighter.
Self colour Speaks for itself. Sometimes we have no control on the finish due to some strange treatment on the surface or the substrate underneath. Therefore it is safer to say that the finish will be self colour. However, it will still be lasered high definition / resolution mode.
Multitone Multitone in Showcase & Gallery >>> Ablation Marks on anodised, plated or painted products are made by the laser removing the top layer to expose a base material in a contrasting colour. Removing an opaque layer from a translucent substrate creates graphics for back-lit products and light show projection devices.
Annealing A colour change can be achieved in most bright steels by annealing. Through precise control over the heat input the laser produces a highly legible, dark mark on the surface but no material is removed. Many Parker pens are done this way at source when you order direct.The disadvantage of this process is, because you are burning the surface coating, the edges are not as sharp and precise as in the dark blast laser engraving that we do. Parker sometimes incorrectly call this 'oxidisation'.
Colour Change Controlled temperatures in different areas, on titanium especially, can produce muted colours of reds, pinks, greens, yellows and oranges. Generally only used on jewellery though.
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