Process Date: March 2004

Because 2D codes read at much lower contrast values than linear (1D) barcodes, they are great for marking low contrast materials such as polycarbonate. This marking application involved coding polycarbonate blanks for parts inventory purposes.

An FH Series Tracker marking head directed the CO₂ beam through a 200 mm focusing lens, which created a 290-micron diameter beam spot at a 5 mm depth of focus. The mark, consisted of a 2D Data Matrix code and two lines of human-readable text. The 24-character Data Matrix code was not raster-scanned, but instead each cell was marked using unfilled vector circles (2D Barcode Bitmap property set to No) with a 2D Barcode Circle Radius of 5%. Overall code size was 0.204 inches square.

We verified the Data Matrix code on both RVSI CM4000 and Microscan Quadrus EZ reader systems. The two lines of human-readable text were sized to a height of 0.837” and marked using WinMark Pro’s Simple stroke-type font. Both objects were marked at a speed of 15 inches per second (IPS) using 23 watts of power. These parts are marked on a continuous motion conveyor and the overall cycle time of 0.54 seconds supports a Tracking line speed of 60 feet per minute.

 
The mark, shown in the photo above, consisted of a 2D Data Matrix code and two lines of human-readable text.

Polycarbonate blank for parts inventory purposes.