Has anyone here ever tried laser engraving stainless steel faceplates to label them?

Lasers
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1

Has anyone here ever tried laser engraving stainless steel faceplates to label them?

2

The only way to do it is to use a spray like Cermark (Dry moly lube). You can not engrave metal with a 40W CO2 laser. The laser will cause the cermark to bond to the metal, that is how it marks it.

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Thanks for the info @funinthefalls ​. Do you know if the moly lube will clean off easily without damaging the look of the stainless steel?

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@Jonathan_Ransom ​ yes it will

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Yup, lots of people do it all the time.

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Thanks guys. Wanting to label cat6 faceplates to make them look nicer than slapping on sticker labels. I don’t have a laser yet. This may be the reason i needed to justify getting one. :slight_smile:

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You’ll want DRY Moly lube - not the wet kind. The wet will never dry enough to fuse well. Also, the Dry Moly Lube (CRC is the brand I got from Amazon) is about 10% the cost of the comparable Cermark/Thermark spray ($11 vs $100).

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Yeah, I second “not the wet kind” as I purchased some wet moly & it barely marked the surface (as the air-assist kept blowing it around). I used an industrial Dry Moly lube for tests so far & it works wonders. Cleans off very easily (just wipe with cloth/water). Just make sure whatever you get has MoS2 (Molybdenum Disulfide) present in the mixture.