Cutting Intricate Patterns with FH Flyer Marking Head

The combination of Synrad's FH Flyer marking head and WinMark Pro laser marking software provides a versatile feature set that applies to many different commercial and industrial applications. Not only is the head capable of marking standard objects such as product serial numbers, date codes and text, it can also mark complex graphic files imported from many popular graphics editing packages. The ability to mark complex images is useful for industries that deal in artistic decoration or companies that simply need to mark a complex corporate logo.

One example of this advanced functionality is a cardstock cutting application where the requirement was to cut an intricately shaped pattern from 12-mil cardstock. Due to the complicated nature and fine detail of the image, mechanical cutting methods would have proven difficult and expensive to repeat consistently during a production run of thousands or tens of thousands. However, an FH Flyer head is able to cut these types of designs quickly and accurately day after day. Due to the non-contact nature of laser cutting, the finished product quality is extremely repeatable, with the last part looking as crisp as the first.

For this application, a Synrad 60 W laser was used with an FH Flyer marking head and controlled by our WinMark Pro laser marking software. The Flyer head was equipped with a 125 mm focal length lens to obtain a 180-µm (0.007") spot size over the extents of the mark field. The complex graphic pattern was imported into WinMark Pro from a plotter (.plt) file and resized to 69 mm by 69 mm (2.7" x 2.7"). The object cut speed was set to 305 mm per second (12 IPS) at a power level of 60 W. Using these settings, the 0.3-mm (0.012") thick blue cardstock was cut cleanly and quickly in 8.97 seconds per card.

Marking Glass Mirrors

Glass marking is a proven application for CO2 lasers and mirrored glass is no exception. The silver surface is ablated and the underlying glass substrate is fractured in a controlled manner, as in a normal glass mark. With this process, text and bar codes marked on the mirror's back side are easily visible from the front.

We marked this sheet of mirror glass with an ECC200 Data Matrix code using a Firestar v40 laser, FH Series marking head and WinMark Pro laser marking software. The marking head was equipped with a 125 mm focusing lens that provides a 180-micron (0.007") spot size and a 3 mm (0.118") depth of focus over the extents of the mark field.

In WinMark Pro, on the Marking tab, we set a Power value (duty cycle percentage) that corresponds to 33 watts, a Velocity of 381 millimeters per second (15 inches/second), and a Resolution of 50. We then set Spot Marking Style to Yes, and entered a Spot Mark Duration of 10 (1 millisecond). On the Format tab, we set 2D Barcode Bitmap to No and set 2D Barcode Circle Radius to 50%.

When these property values are specified, here's what happens: The 2D Barcode Bitmap property (No) forces WinMark Pro to mark each filled cell using circles instead of raster-filled squares. With Spot Marking Style set to Yes, the circle is marked by a series of discrete spots and as Resolution is lowered, fewer and fewer spots are used to define the circle's circumference. At very low Resolution values (50 is the minimum value), only a single spot is marked for each circle (barcode cell). Finally, Spot Mark Duration keeps the beam on for a specific time period, which in the case of glass, controls heat input and fracturing.

Cycle time to mark the 15-character code was 1.09 seconds and we read the resulting mark on both glass and silvered sides using scanners from Microscan (Quadrus EZ) and RVSI (CM4000 vision system). When scanned from the rear (silvered side), we achieved overall AIM grades of "B" with individual grades of "A" for Symbol Contrast, "A" for Print Growth, "A" for Axial Uniformity, and "B" for Unused ECC. Although passable grades are achieved when scanning 2D codes from the front side of the mirror, Print Growth grades drop somewhat (depending on the angle of the mirror to the scanner) because the scanner "sees" the reflected image as well.

Cutting Spherical Rubber Discs

This application calls for cutting 51-mm (2.0") diameter spherical discs from molded silicon rubber sheet stock. The rubber sheet consists of a layer of 0.6-mm (0.022") thick rubber that is backed with a 0.038-mm (0.0015") thick protective film.

We set up our XY beam delivery system with a 63.5 mm (2.5") positive meniscus lens that provides a 100-micron (0.004") spot and a 1.8 mm (0.07") depth of focus. For gas assist, we used 1.4 bar (20 PSI) of breathing-grade bottled air.

Using 100 watts of power, we achieved cut speeds of 8.9 meters per minute (350 inches/minute) in an overall cycle time of approximately 1.08 seconds per disc. The combination of silicon rubber and backing material exhibit cleanly cut edges as seen in the photo.

Browse Synrad's Applications Database

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