Engraving Stainless Steel Last week a machine shop asked me to engrave part numbers

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Engraving Stainless Steel

Last week a machine shop asked me to engrave part numbers on some 300 small 304 Stainless Steel parts they were making for a customer. I had not tried to do this in stainless yet so I suggested doing a few sample parts and then if the customer liked them I would go ahead with the rest. They sign off on them and I ran the rest.
Unfortunately I can’t show you a picture of the part because it is a proprietary design… but I do have a picture of a test piece of material with some engraving on it.

First get yourself some CRC dry Moly lubricant for 13 bucks with free shipping like this:

Or this stuff if you got lots of money 63 bucks plus shipping :

https://www.cermarksales.com/product/lmm-14-black-for-metals-6oz-aerosol-spray/

And a can of Acetone, Nitrile gloves, and a coffee can to wash the spray off after engraving. (Wash off in a well ventilated area)
Spray a light coating let dry and engrave.
The laser power settings were not high, I think I used about 12ma. And I was cycling about three a minute. I charged 35 cents each. Total time doing them about 2 hrs. and made just about a $100 profit as I only used about third of the can of Moly spray. Acetone, about a cups worth. I was able to wash three as it engraved three stacked side by side.

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@Steve_Clark Ive tried the Molykote but not had any joy is it the D123 you are using?

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Andy, No I only used CRC 03084 Net Weight: 11 oz. 16oz Dry Moly Lubricant Aerosol Spray as I provide in the link. I got that off of EBay. I’ve not tried anything else as this worked so well. A further note… I also cleaned the parts in Acetone before spraying the Moly on.

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Ok thanks didn’t think to check the link lol

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What speed did you use? Thanks for sharing your process and links!

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Arion, I think it was 15mm/sec but I’m not out in the shop to look it up.

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Arion, I think I was wrong on the feed rate…more like 6 to 8 mm/sec.

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@Steve_Clark ​ thanks. I just got the crc in the mail yesterday and gave it a try. Didn’t work first time but I’m sure I’ve done something Wong. Some of it stuck, but much of it came off.

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You are not the first who has had trouble. The parts I did were cut out of 304 stainless sheet .040" thick. I’m wondering it thickness or alloy has an effect. I have not had a chance to test more yet.

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My only test was on a thick metal bottle opener, so maybe that’s why. I’ll have to play around with it more.