Metal Laser Engraving: The Ultimate Guide

Best Laser Engravers for Metal Engraving

Metal absorbs beams of wavelength in the infrared section. So, for engraving metals, we have recommended two options: fiber lasers and Infrared lasers. 

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xTool F1: Best Infrared Laser Engraver for Metal

xTool F1 is probably the lightest laser engraver on the market; it weighs just 4.6 kg. What&#;s more is the hand-held design, that makes it extremely easy to carry around. Perfect for on-spot metal engraving at craft fairs.

Another distinguishing highlight, something lacking in all engravers on the market: is a dual-laser module featuring a 10W diode laser and a 2W infrared laser, which automatically switches based on the engraving job. 

The infrared laser is placed for metals and plastics. Whereas, the diode laser is for common materials like glass, acrylics, wood, cardboard, and leather. The duo makes it capable of engraving over 300 materials, making it a dream machine for both hobbyists and small businesses. You may easily perform color engraving on metals like stainless steel.

Engraving metals is a task of seconds with F1. Its engraving speed of mm/s is extraordinary in desktop lasers. The reason is the use of galvo technology in the F1.

F1 is a compact machine, so the working space inside is designed accordingly. It has a bed size of 115 by 115 mm that&#;s quite decent for engraving metal jewelry. However, an extension is also available which expands the workspace to 400 by 115 mm.

For those interested in engraving stainless tumblers, rings, or metallic containers, the support for rotary attachment is present.

Operating xTool F1 is a breeze. You have to enter the material thickness in the control software and the laser focus auto adjusts the laser head. A manual knob is also there for manual adjustments. Further, the blue light preview feature clearly showcases the exact engraving area and how the engraving would look on the surface.

Safety is top-notch. The machine is fully enclosed with a laser filtering lid which keeps all the fumes and laser contained. It&#;s removed from a built-in fan.

In the software department, it works with the popular Lightburn and user-friendly xTool Creative Space (XCS). XCS works on all operating systems, plus gives you the ease of drawing designs with AI.

xTool F1 Ultra: Best Fiber Laser Engraver for Metal

The xTool F1 Ultra, the successor to the F1, is a unique fiber laser in the market. It&#;s the world&#;s first machine to combine a 20W fiber laser and a 20W diode laser. The 20W fiber not only excels at deep engraving metals but can also cut them.

The F1 Ultra uses fiber as the gain medium and galvo laser technology, making it the fastest desktop engraver on the market. With an engraving speed of 10,000 mm/s, it&#;s truly unprecedented for a desktop machine.

Unlike typical galvo laser engravers that are smart and fast but bulky, the F1 Ultra offers a large workspace despite being compact. Its basic working area is 220 x 220 mm, which expands to 220 x 500 mm with an additional auto conveyor. 

The F1 Ultra is an all-around engraving solution, capable of handling flat, curved, and round surfaces. Its smart camera automatically adjusts the focus according to the surface profile, ensuring curved engravings are as precise as flat ones.

Safety is a top priority with the F1 Ultra. It features a fully enclosed design with a laser-filtering lid that blocks harmful rays. The lid cover is smart; it auto-halts the laser operation if you open the lid during operation. Then, there&#;s an efficient smoke evacuation system that ensures clean operation.

Using the F1 Ultra is a breeze with xTool&#;s Creative Space (XCS). Simply place the metal inside, and the camera provides a surface preview. Position your design, and the smart camera auto gauges the material thickness, suggesting preset cutting parameters that you can customize.

The F1 Ultra also features an inbuilt touch-screen control panel with 7GB of storage. You can save projects and directly process materials without needing an external computer.

Laser machines come in a variety of models with different power options. For this reason, if you need to buy one of these devices, you should know what laser power you need to engrave metal.

At COUTH, we provide you with all the advice you may need before purchasing a laser marker machine with the right power for your company&#;s needs.

It is essential that you define the most frequent application for the laser marker machine before you select the laser power. In other words, tasks like efficiently marking or cutting different metals require different power levels.

Having said this, in this post we explain: What laser power do you need to engrave metal? As well as all the information you need to properly pick the laser marker unit model for your project.

Laser marker power

Depending on the surface you are going to work on, and the type of laser marker required for it, you will need to use specific power for each different case.

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• For high-speed and/or laser cutting applications, we recommend using laser power levels above 80&#;W.
• For the particular case of which laser power level you need to engrave or mark metal, you can apply laser power between 25 and 80&#;W and obtain excellent results.

It is important to know that laser power can be adjusted with the device&#;s software depending on marking needs, although maximum power levels depend on hardware.

COUTH&#;S laser machines offer quality and great flexibility, since you can operate with different power levels depending on the characteristics and needs of different materials.

Relationship between the material and laser power

To find out which laser power level you need to engrave metal, it is essential that you know that, depending on the material you use, you require a specific laser power level to obtain satisfactory results in engraving, marking, and cutting work. To this end, you must consider the following aspects:

1. Types of material

Knowing the type of material you will be working with also allows you to define the laser power you will use to engrave or cut. Some materials need greater or lesser power, depending on their characteristics, like density and hardness, which can vary within one same range.

For example, not all metals are equal, so they require different power levels when you work on them.

To be more specific regarding What laser power do you need to engrave metal?, we suggest applying at minimum 30W, and up to 80W, depending on the type of metal. We would like highlight the fact that the higher the power you use, the faster you will obtain results.

1.1. Minimum laser power recommendations based on the material

For the engraving process, and based on the material you use, we recommend:

Black anodised aluminium is perfect to be engraved with laser, since you obtain a white mark with excellent contrast. You can also work at high speed and low power, achieving clean, highly clear results.

Engraving on stainless steel requires high power and low frequency, which translates to high pulse power with minimum marking speeds of 250 mm/s.

2. Material thickness

The material&#;s thickness is an aspect that determines proper selection of the laser marker&#;s power, as well as the role it conducts, since greater power is required for cutting work.

To this end, you must consider the material&#;s thickness, function, and frequency of use.

3. Productivity

This aspect is essential when selecting the laser machine that best meets the company&#;s needs. For this point, you must know and define the laser power you need to engrave metal.

The greater the power of a laser marker, the wider range of options you have for engraving on different materials with different thicknesses. You can also obtain greater performance with materials that do not require great power, but rather speed, which means you can produce more, faster.

To this end, it is essential that you have properly defined the materials you will be regularly working with, as well as the maximum thicknesses and estimated production level you must reach.

Types of laser

It is essential to learn what laser power you need to engrave metal and that you know that there are different kinds of lasers for industrial use, which have different power levels to be used for cutting and marking on a wide variety of surfaces:

Fibre laser

This kind of laser is for engraving technical plastics and metals, and to cut these materials, where metals like stainless steel, aluminium, gold, bronze, silver, etc., are of note.

If you want to know what laser power you need to engrave metal, with fibre lasers, you must apply power levels between 20 and 50&#;W, and to cut metals with industrial machines, you can use up to 15,000 W power.

CO2 laser

This type of laser provides great functionality and versatility to engrave and cut metals and other materials, which makes it one of the most widely used in industry.

The CO2 laser can be efficiently used to mark and cut different materials like wood, anodised metals, methacrylate, acrylics, glass, cardboard, paper, and more.

We can find models of these lasers that provide power levels ranging from  20 to &#;W. With desktop laser machines for household use, they provide power between 20 and 80 W.

Diode or blue laser

This is the kind of laser normally used with household engraving machines or DIY laser. They can engrave different materials but have very lower power in comparison with other laser models.

For this reason, we recommend only working with materials that are not dense or thin, like cardboard, paper, and poster board. In closing, it is worth mentioning that diode laser devices have power levels between 1 and 5 W.

If you have any questions or require engraving services or professional laser machines, please do not hesitate to contact us.

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