SYNRAD, INC. - http://www.synrad.com  
Thursday, April 10, 2003
Issue 60
 
Cutting and Marking Acrylic Signs Cutting Filter Material Engraving Wood Utensils

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.

Cutting and Marking Acrylic Signs

    Ideal for cutting and marking acrylic, sealed CO2 lasers are widely used for this application. The acrylic sign in the photos to the left was created using a Synrad laser. The circular base and attached rectangular display was cut from a sheet of 0.1"-thick cast acrylic using 25W at a speed of 40 inches per minute. Nitrogen, at low pressure, provided the gas assist to produce the clean polished edge. The laser was focused through a 5" lens that provided a 0.008" spot size with a 0.25" depth of focus.

    Marking was accomplished using an FH Series Marking Head and 125mm lens (0.007" spot size /  0.12" depth of focus). After setting Power (10W), Velocity (75 inches per second), and Resolution (425 DPI) properties in WinMark Pro software, the filled "Power By SYNRAD" graphic was marked in a cycle time of 22.2 seconds. The final production step involved heating the flat acrylic sign with a heat gun and bending it into its final shape.

This acrylic advertising sign was cut and
marked using a Synrad 48-2 25W CO2 laser.
A close-up of the engraved mark.

 

Cutting Filter Material

 

   This synthetic filter material was cut using 40W of power at a speed of 380 inches per minute (IPM) using 1 PSI air as the assist gas. Beam delivery was accomplished by a 5" focal length lens that provided a 0.008" spot and a 0.25" depth of focus. This material can also be cut using only 25W of power, reducing the cutting speed to 230 IPM.

 

 

 

Clean cuts with a sealed edge resulted from
laser cutting this 0.25"-thick filter material..

 

Engraving Wood Utensils

 

    The maple kitchen utensils to the left were marked using a 25W laser, FH marking head, and a 125 mm focusing lens. The filled TrueType® text was marked at a speed of 65"/s with a resolution of 750 DPI in a cycle time of 6.67 seconds. The vector design was marked at a speed of 8 inches per second ("/s) in a cycle time of 0.74 seconds.


   WinMark Pro can mark any TrueType font installed in the Windows Fonts folder of the marking computer. To mark only the font outline (vector style), set the Text Filled property to No. To mark filled text (the bitmap style shown in the upper left photo), set the Text Filled property to Yes.

Filled text engraved into a wooden kitchen
utensil.
 

   To mark a graphic design, simply create your own drawing in WinMark Pro's Drawing Editor or import a design from among a large number of graphic file formats. WinMark Pro can import both bitmap (.BMP, .TIF, .JPG, etc.) and vector (.DXF, .EPS, .CDR, etc.) graphics. 

Click here for a complete list of importable graphics formats.

Graphic designs may be imported into
WinMark Pro laser marking software.  		 
 

Browse Synrad's Applications Database

Search our online library for more applications of Synrad's sealed CO2 laser technology. Sort by material, process, or industry.

http://www.synrad.com/search_apps/Default.htm

Contact Us:

 

Synrad, Inc.

4600 Campus Place

Mukilteo, WA  98275

Tel:  1-425-349-3500

Fax: 1-425-349-3667

E-mail: synrad@synrad.com

 

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Copyright (c) 2003 SYNRAD, Inc. All rights reserved.

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.