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The marking setup consisted of an FH Flyer marking head and a 48-2 (25 W) laser controlled by our WinMark Pro laser marking software. The Flyer head was equipped with a 200 mm focal length lens that provides a 290 µm (0.011") spot size.

Users can choose from a selection of pre-defined UID codes or define "custom" 2D codes in WinMark Pro v6's UID/Composite window.


To create a composite 2D code, we began by placing a standard 2D code on WinMark Pro’s Drawing Canvas. On the Automation tab, we set the Auto Text Type property to UID/Composite and then clicked the ellipsis (…) button on the Assign UID/Composite property to open the UID/Composite dialog window. Finally, we clicked the Add Format button to create a blank format.

To create the autotext entities, we entered this string: <MySerialNum>|<MyDateCode>, in the UID/Composite Format Definition field. This represents two separate data entities that provide field information for the 2D code as well as a field separator character (|). Any number of static field separator characters or text can be entered before, between, or after each data entry as necessary. Once satisfied with the custom format, the user clicks OK, and is then prompted by WinMark Pro to create these non-marking data entities and place them on the Drawing Canvas.

On the Drawing Canvas, we selected the "MySerialNum" data entity, set its Auto Text Type property to Serial Number Text and then set its Text Caption property to "0000". Next, we selected the "MyDateCode" data entity and changed its Auto Text Type property to Date Code Text. By default these entities are non-marking; however, for this example, we set them to mark. In addition, we created a standard text object, set its Auto Text Type to From Another Object and assigned the composite 2D code as the object to read. This provides a means of viewing the contents of the 2D code as a human-readable text string.

To mark the 2D Code, we set the Resolution to 300 and resized it to 10.2 mm x 10.2 mm (0.4" x 0.4"). For the text object, we reduced the Text Height property to 2 mm (0.08"). After selecting and grouping the 2D code and text object, we set a group marking Velocity of 1016 millimeters per second (40 in/sec) and set a Power level equivalent to 25 W. As the final step, we set both Array Column and Array Row properties to create a 5 by 5 array of 2D code/text objects.

The resulting mark was achieved in 0.96 seconds per code for a total time of 24.06 seconds for the entire 25 object array. As seen in the photograph, WinMark Pro automatically updates each data entity based on its specific automation type before combining them into the next 2D code/human-readable text object. For more in-depth information on WinMark Pro's UID/Composite code functionality, download Application Note #6 from the WinMark Pro web site at: http://www.winmark.com/products/winmark_ApplicationsNotes.html.

This translucent polycarbonate cover was degated (trimmed) from the mold sprue using 200 watts of power at a speed of 18 inches per second in only 0.05 seconds per cover.