Laser Etched Scales
We offer laser etching on any of our products - from tags and scales to rings and business cards. We also offer custom laser engraving! If you have words or an image (like your logo) you want etched please see the custom products listed here and on the other laser etched product pages. If the product you want is not listed please just email us - we'll be happy to quote.
We have 2 lasers - the specs follow.
Fiber Laser
This is our primary laser. It is a top of the line, German made, very expensive and very reliable machine that is optimal for most of the engraving we do.
Fiber lasers are ideally suited for metal engraving and watt for watt are more than 100 times more effective at engraving metal than a cheaper CO2 laser.
The features of this fiber laser are:

• no moving parts and a 100,000 hour life solid state diode laser. This means this laser will be up and running when you need it.
• incredible precision - this laser can make detail smaller than your eye can see!
• high contrast marking on ANY metal - if its metal we can engrave it. It can also mark some plastics, ceramics and some stone.
• easy set up and operation allowing us to offer good pricing on short runs

The limitations of the TRL fiber laser are:

• no moving parts means we can only engrave within a 5"x 5" engraving area. We can engrave large pieces - just 5"x5" at a time and re-aligning is an issue for large images. There is a lens available that allows up to a 12"x12" work area - should it be required we can invest in this.
• Useless on organic materials like leather, wood and paper - in fact we use paper to protect the steel work surface from the laser
• not powerful enough for any metal cutting

CO2 Laser
Our first laser is a low end Chinese CO2 laser with US software and support. Its not so reliable (read may be down from time to time) but it has its uses.
This is the laser that most other companies selling etches scales will have. The resolution and quality of the etch on metal is definitely not as good as the fiber laser.
We use the CO2 laser for the following: (max working size is 9" x 12")

• paper engraving and cutting - great for use with rolling mills
• leather engraving and thin leather cutting (the gloves our shippers wear are cut out with this laser)
• wood engraving and thin wood cutting (max 1/8")
• acrylic engraving and cutting (max 1/8")
• marking of glass and some dark stone
• excellent high contrast marking on bone and antler
• in theory this laser can engrave anodized aluminum but the quality is much better on the fiber laser.

Artwork guidelines for custom engraving

Ideally we are looking for high resolution line drawings in one color. The format does not matter. For example the blue flower image here is a perfect image for engraving at any size. (Click to see its original size) This image has a nice generous size and clean sharp edges of all lines.
Hints for artwork:

• Print out your artwork on paper at the same size that it will appear on the item you want engraved - a picture thats looks ok at 6" on your screen may not look so good at 1" becauce your eyes can't see the detail.
• if you want to draw your artwork by hand use high quality fine tip markers to get a clean solid line - soft pencil lines will not work well.
• If you send us vectors they should be clean vectors with no hidden lines. The laser will find and engrave all hidden lines.