Question Laser engrave powder coated aluminum

Hi all,

I'm verry happy with my stepcraft. And I want to expand my possibilities.
I mainly mill aluminum and wood. And I want to be able to laser engrave these materials with my stepcraft.
I'm aware that engraving aluminum requires a lot of power, but I actually don't mean engraving the aluminum. My alu material is in most case anodized of black powder coated. So I wish to engrave the powder coat/anodize layer to apply text or other custom artwork.
Can that be done with a stepcraft?
I don't know where to look... can somebody help me?
Is the stepcraft laser head available for sale yet? Will it fit the job?

Kind regards,
Mathieu

How about the Mini Engraving Point ?

I think the mini engraver will scatter the powder coat rather then giving nice clear edges.
I'm having a lot of troubles with my t-slot bed not being flat. which causes small mill/engraving point to break. So laser engraving the powder coat will be more effective get nice and clean engraving then using mill.
That is my experience of course.

So I was think a laser which is no heavy enough to engrave the aluminum but heavy enough to get through the coat would be ideal, plus the resolution of a laser is probably a bit better. I think height differences less then 1 mm won't make any difference on the laser engraving.

Does anyone has experience with this?

I personally do not have any laser experiance, but a commercial company I use for acid etching has laser units (3) but not designed for cutting metal, they will not use them for cutting wood if there is a risk the laser can touch metal, (I wanted to have thin wooden planks engraved that were fixed to a thin metal sheet) as the laser can bounce back up damaging the laser head, not sure if this applies to all lasers, but thought I would post it as I know it can be a serious problem.

Alan

Never thought of that, but I could be a problem.
I don't have experience myself so I'm waiting until someone comes by with the right knowledge.

Hello
Engraving is no Problem.
Just make the Underground Flat.
I use a vacuumtable.
On the picture i engraved 0,1 mm deep .