SYNRAD, INC. - http://www.synrad.com |
Applications at a glance |
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Marking Oil Seals |
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SYNRAD's sealed CO2 lasers are used in a variety of industrial processes including cutting, welding, drilling, and marking. This news brief showcases some of the interesting materials and products that are processed daily by Synrad's line of CO2 lasers and marking heads. |
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This keypad button was trimmed from the molding sprue using 50 watts of power at a cut speed of 8 inches per second in a cycle time of 0.080 seconds per cut.
This photograph shows an array of keypad buttons on sprues as they look when ejected from the molding machine. Also shown is an individual button that has been laser degated. |
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Marking Oil SealsOil seals, commonly used in automotive and industrial machinery applications, are instrumental for sealing rotary shafts and serve a dual purpose - to retain lubricants (such as oil or grease) and to exclude dirt, dust, and other abrasives from bearings and wear surfaces. Oil seals are manufactured primarily from nitrile, silicone, and EPDM rubber. Nitrile rubber is the most widely used elastomer because of its wear resistance and ambient operating temperature range. For this customer application, we were asked to mark a 10-character code on the outer ring of an oil seal. At the 10.6 micron CO2 wavelength, rubber materials mark very well, but the unusual aspect of this mark was the size of the mark area on the outer ring - it measures only 1.25 mm (0.049") high! Our marking setup consisted of a Synrad laser, FH Series Flyer marking head, and our WinMark Pro laser marking software. The Flyer head was equipped with an 80 mm focusing lens that provides a 116-micron (0.005") spot with a 0.8 mm (0.032") depth of field. To create legible text marks, our rule of thumb is that character height should be a minimum of seven to ten times the focused spot size. For this application, the character code was 1 mm (0.039") high, which is on the low-end of the range for an 80 mm lens. To create this mark we started with the 'Simple' stroke font, set a Text Height of 1 mm (0.039"), added 0.15 mm (0.006") of Extra Character Spacing, and entered a Text Radius of 54 mm (2.125") to match the curvature of the seal. On the Marking tab, we set a Power, duty cycle percentage, equal to 10 watts, entered a Velocity of 1016 millimeters per second (40 inches/sec), and set the Mark Passes property to 4. |
Although this engraved, contrasting mark measures only 1 mm high, it is easily readable without magnification.
It took only 0.13 seconds to produce this 10-character text with four Mark Passes using 10 watts at a speed of 40 inches per second.
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By making four complete passes, the rubber surface is vaporized "slowly" in small increments, resulting in a cleaner, more distinct mark. As shown in the magnified photograph, the characters are exceptionally well-formed. In fact, the engraved 1-mm high text is easily readable without magnifying aids. This very small 10-character code, with four Mark Passes, was created in a cycle time of only 0.13 seconds per part. |
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This customer application was performed to test the laser's ability to trepan, or cut, 3-mm (0.118") diameter holes in 1.3 mm (0.05") thick weatherstripping as it is extruded during the manufacturing process. Our test setup consisted of a Firestar f201 laser focused through a 125 mm optic mounted on an FH Series Tracker marking head. The 125 mm HP (High-Power) lens provides a 180-micron (0.007") spot over a maximum mark field of 80 mm by 99 mm (3.2" x 3.9"). The Tracker head provides the ability to use either intermittent motion - where the weatherstripping stops during the cut, or continuous motion - where the cut is made "on-the-fly" as the material continues to move through the machine. |
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SYNRAD and Synrad product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of SYNRAD, Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. |