Inquiry about small lettering on regular steel

Creality Falcon Creality Falcon
1

A previous person had a post about engraving on steel. I asked a question in response to that post, and there’s been no response, so maybe if I start a new post?
My project involves a large-scale train car, and some of the steel (in addition to some wood pieces) are going to need small lettering, like maybe 1/4" tall. It’s one of the main reasons I bought the Falcon 40W system.
I really need to print white lettering if at all possible.
If need be, it sounds like white is the result on some aluminum surfaces. I could laser onto a small rectangle of aluminum, then affix that to the steel, but I’m trying to avoid that extra effort.
One idea was to engrave the steel, then go back with the laser on a low power setting and use it to cook white powder coat stuff into the engraving, but the person who tried it was having problems with the laser fan blowing away all the powder before the laser could get to it!
Any takers on this topic?

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Just a suggestion if you can’t find any proper answer…
Put some masking tape on your steel before engraving the letters.
Once done, paint on top throug the masking tape and when almost dry, remove the tape.

Not exactly what you were expecting I guess, but it would allow you to have nicely formed letters.

You might want to put the laser power just enough to burn through the tape - otherwise, the extra heat for the metal might be enough to burn some more tape, ending in jagged borders on your letters.

Consider this as a “last resort” way of doing this if you can’t find anything else :slight_smile:

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Thx for the input, Zolt. I’ll most certainly take it under advisement! :slight_smile:

1 Like
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Yes! The tape idea seems to be working pretty well so far, and I’m imitating a very old freight car anyway, so it’s fine if the end result isn’t crystal clear.

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That’s great!

I’m happy to hear you were able to do this with a suitable result.

I haven’t done it myself, but I guess you can get different types of results depending on the type of paint you use. Using an oil based paint with a gloss finish could get you great results - just a lot longer to dry :smiley:

Cheers!