How it works and Considerations

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 Laser engraving is as much an art as it is a science. There can be many variations from one item to another even if they look similar. 

Laser marking normally works best on flat items. The laser has a specific distance where it is in focus.  If the shape of the item is not flat the laser may not be in focus at certain points and not able to get the same kind of results compared to areas where it is in focus.  This may cause out of focus areas to be fuzzy looking or a different shade/color look.  Our special system can automatically adjust focus to an extent over some surfaces variations.  You should be able to get a decent image across the side of most paintball guns, but it will not wrap around the top or front of the grip frame. 

There is a maximum marking area of approximately 8 inches square.

Our software also has the ability to provide a simulated rendering of what the mark should look like on the item.

Text

Text can easily be sized and rotated to fit a specific area. You will be able to laser mark any true type font.  We will provide a list of some cool fonts you might like.

Image Marking

The laser operates best with vector file formats.  In many cases we can convert customer supplied art files but there can be additional charges based on how much work is needed for each art file. Customer supplied art files can have characteristic that could negatively affect the laser mark which are not obvious until the marking is done on the item. 

Anodized Surfaces

Laser marking on anodized surface will produce a gray to white color mark. We strive to make the whitest mark we can without burning the coating off. Please look through our example gallery to get a sense of how these marks will look. White and light gray anodized will produce a low contrasting mark. We will always try to make a small test mark in a no obvious area like under the rubber grip. Every anodize batch varies some so we try and find best laser setting for each item. 

Plastics

Most plastics used will be black. The laser will create a white or shade of gray mark on some plastics. Some plastic like glass filled nylon may not mark with any contrast. We never really know how an item we have not done before will react until we test it. We will try to make small marks with different settings to see how well it will work first. We may be able to get black marks on some lighter color and clear plastics. We will create an example gallery of good and bad results we get on various common plastic items.

Rubber

Most rubber items will be dark gray or black in color. You are not able to get contrasting marks on rubber but can melt it. A common application for this is to create a grip pattern.

Bare Metal

White, shades of gray and black marks can be made on many bare metals including stainless, aluminum and brass. In most cases what appears to be bare aluminum will most likely have a clear anodized surface.