- Buildings & Maintenance
- Electrics & Electronics
- Environmental Control
- Factory Equipment
- Finishing & Materials »
- Handling & Storage
- Industrial Computing
- Inspection & Measurement
- Marketing & Promotions
- Mechanical Components
- Metalworking Equipment
- Packaging & Labelling
- Plant Maintenance
- Process Plant & Control
- Safety & Security
Firestar t-Series lasers are a suitable choice for marking stainless steels
Manufacturers specify stainless steel for a variety of consumer and industrial products because of its corrosion resistance, durability, and aesthetic appeal. Stainless steel performs well in both high- and lowtemperature environments and the ease with which stainless is cleaned and sanitized makes it the ideal choice in the health care, pharmaceutical, and food processing industries.
When it comes to marking stainless steels, Firestar t-Series lasers are a suitable choice due to their fast rise/fall times.
With rise/fall times less than 75 microseconds (< 0.000075 seconds), the Laser Lines t-Series lasers provide a greater depth of modulation for a given marking frequency. This means that a larger percentage of peak energy is applied during each ‘laser on’ pulse.
To mark this right-angle electrical connector stamped from 316 stainless steel, a FH Series marking head was set up with a 80mm lens to achieve a 116-micron (0.005in) spot over a 3 by 41mm (1.3 x 1.6in) mark field. In WinMark Pro, two text objects were created and typed a fixed part number for the first part of the code. The second half of the date is a Julian date code (DDDY format) that is set to increment automatically based on the marking computer’s system clock.
To format the text string, a stroke font (Simple) was selected, set a Text Height of 2.3 mm (0.09in), and added 0.25 mm (0.01in) of Extra Character Spacing. At a Power percentage corresponding to 60W and a mark Velocity of 165mm/second (6.5 ins/sec), this ten-character text string was marked in a cycle time of just 0.22 seconds.