Laser Engraver & Precise Metal Engraving

Why Metal?

Metal engraving offers more possibilities for metal processing. Metal is a versatile engineering material valued for its strength, durability, and conductivity. Common industrial metals include steel, aluminum, titanium, and alloys like stainless steel. Metals can be cut, welded, formed, and joined in various ways. Besides, laser engraving is an advanced processing method. The focused high-energy laser beam can quickly and precisely melt or vaporize metal material along its path of the beam.

Meanwhile, it can also mark and etch permanent graphics and text onto metal surfaces for identification or decoration. Lasers provide contactless processing and allow for automation in metal fabrication. Overall, laser technology enables high precision and efficiency in metal engraving and marking applications.

Common Types of Laser Metal Engraving Machine

Fiber Laser Metal Engraving Machine

Fiber laser marking machines use ytterbium fiber lasers as the laser source. Fiber lasers typically operate between 100-1000W power, enabling both surface marking and simple cutting. Compared to CO2 lasers, fiber lasers have a shorter wavelength which can rapidly heat a small spot on metals to achieve finer marking effects. Fiber laser marking is fast with excellent beam quality and power transmission efficiency. Fiber lasers offer high precision and stability for industrial laser marking applications.

We commonly process metals like aluminum, brass, stainless steel, and gold with fiber metal engraving machine.
Brass is often used for high-resolution serial numbers, data matrix codes, and logos marking.
Stainless steel is generally marked with fiber metal engraving machine, and special types of annealed stainless steel can be color marked.
Gold, being a precious metal, is often used in jewelry or decorative items, and its soft texture allows for direct laser processing.

CO2 Laser Metal Engraving Machine

CO2 laser marking machines use a mixture of CO2 gas as the gain medium to generate mid-infrared laser beams. It typically operate at several thousand watts or higher power, enabling high-speed marking across large areas. Due to its good penetration, CO2 lasers are especially suitable for marking stainless steel, aluminum alloys, etc. However, its beam quality is inferior and requires frequent maintenance. But considering output power, stability, cost and so on, it remain the most widely used high-power laser marking equipment.

We commonly process metals aluminum, brass, stainless steel, goldanodized aluminum and coated metal products with CO2 metal engraving machine.
Anodized aluminum sheets form a dense oxide film on the surface. Depending on the color of the anodized layer, it can present significant contrast and beautiful, intricate engravings by laser marking.
Metal Coatings can be accurately engraved by CO2 metal engraving machine, enabling various colors on the metal surface, providing strong contrast compared to the metal itself.

What are the Popular Metal Engraving Products?

Identification coding on steel products

Laser can rapidly mark permanent texts, numbers, or barcodes on steel surfaces for the identification and traceability of different steel grades, batches, etc.

Laser marking on automotive parts

Lasers are used to imprint production dates, part numbers and brand logos on metal auto parts like engine hoods and doors to assist production control and product identification.

Decorative marking on stainless steel

Laser marking is used to imprint aesthetic patterns on smooth stainless steel surfaces of cutlery and furniture for decorative purposes.

Nameplate marking on instruments

Laser rapidly marks equipment model, serial number, and other nameplate information on metal enclosures of instruments and devices.

Where to Buy Metal?

Metal material suppliers

Laser equipment suppliers

Metal fabrication shops

Online metal stores

Metal material suppliers

Laser equipment suppliers

Metal fabrication shops

Online metal stores

Best Laser Engraver for Metal Engraving

As an ideal material for laser engraving, metal surface can be precisely melted or vaporized through laser metal engraving to create patterns with high accuracy. To leverage laser engraving for metals, a capable laser machine is needed.

Thunder Laser’s Aurora fiber laser series offers optimized solutions for metal engraving by integrating key capabilities such as sufficient power and excellent beam quality. Let’s examine this innovative laser series that enables businesses to harness the advantages of laser engraving on metal materials.

Thunder Aurora Marking Machine

Work Area

110×110 up to 200×200mm

Type

Fiber

Power

20w,50w，20w MOPA

Z-axis

390mm

Thunder Nova Laser Cutter

Work Area

600×400 up to 1600×1000mm

Type

DC CO2

Power

30w,55w

Z-axis

185mm

The Aurora fiber laser markers excel at permanent engraving on metals thanks to robust build quality and intelligent software controls. The fully enclosed cover with a large pass-through window enables easy processing of oversized flat or curved metal workpieces. Auroras integrate a high-precision galvanometer scanning system for accurate beam positioning and marking fine details on metals. Users also benefit from the powerful fiber laser source and adjustable speed settings to optimize results across diverse metal types. Auroras maximize productivity for metal engraving applications from serial numbers and logos to barcodes.

While not purpose-built for metal fabrication, the Nova Laser Cutter Machine provides light metal engraving paired with exceptional performance on other materials. It can process diverse materials like wood, plastic, acrylic with high precision. As for metal, Nova can process anodized aluminum, coated metals and so on, which enables us to decorate cups or electronic housings. Its RF tube’s focused beam and 45W power enable deeper engraving with fine details. With these capabilities, users can explore the possibilities of metal engraving while maintaining versatility across applications.

Best Laser Engraver for Metal Engraving

The results of metal engraving are greatly influenced by the wood material used. The table below provides recommended settings for using the Aurora8-50W laser engraver to process metal. You can do some testing first to fit the parameters for a particular use in metal engraving.

Material	Carving effect	Speed(mm/s)	Power(%)	Frequency(KHz)	passes	Hatch type
304 stainless steel	black	200	10	100	10	bidirectional
304 stainless steel	white	1000	20	70	1
Carbon steel	black	100	10	50	1
Carbon steel	white	900	20	60	1
brass	black	100	30	50	1
brass	white	500	20	50	1
magnesium rod	black	100	40	50	1
magnesium rod	white	1000	28	75	1

The table below provides recommended settings for using the NOVA35-80W laser cutter to process metal.

Material	Carving effect	Speed(mm/s)	Min Power(%)	Max Power(%)	Air Pressure Value	DPI
anodized aluminum	engraving	500	10	40	0.1	300
coated metals	engraving	500	10	50	0.1	300

Tips and Tricks for Laser Processing Metal

How to Achieve Dross-Free Cuts on Stainless Steel?

Although stainless steel processing can achieve relatively satisfactory results, it is still a challenge to obtain a completely dross-free cut edge. Therefore, it is often adviced to coaxially inject high-pressure nitrogen gas with the laser beam to blow away the molten metal, so that no oxides are formed on the cut surface. This is a good method, but it costs more compared to conventional oxygen metal engraving. In order to replace pure nitrogen, we can use filtered compressed air from the workshop, which is composed of 78% nitrogen.

How to Engrave Black Patterns on Stainless Steel Bottles?

In principle, CO2 laser machines cannot engrave stainless steel directly because stainless steel is highly reflective. However, we can coat or paint the stainless steel bottle first, then engrave the desired shapes. To create black patterns, we can spray the bottle with molybdenum disulfide lubricant three times, waiting 15 minutes after each coat to dry thoroughly, then perform the laser engraving. The excess black lubricant can be cleaned with water, but paint thinner works more effectively.

Essential Metal Surface Preparation Techniques for Metal Engraving

Surface preparation is crucial for optimal metal engraving quality. Preprocessing removes contaminants, increases surface roughness to improve laser absorption, and eliminates burrs or passivation layers that may affect cut quality. Here are some common preparation techniques:

Degreasing – Wipe with alcohol to ensure no oil residue.
Abrasive finishing – Slightly roughen the surface with sandpaper.
Wetting agents – Spray on an absorptive liquid coating.
Deburring – Polish machined metal parts.
Solvent cleaning – Use solvents to remove contaminants.

Additionally, if you would like to learn how to use the rotary with the Aurora laser engraver for metal, please watch the video below.

What do Our Customers Say about Thunder Laser?

At Thunder Laser, our customers trust the quality of our machines as well as our customer services, which stands out from other laser companies. If you want to see for yourself, check out ratings on Trustpilot.

Thinking about ordering a laser from Thunder but not sure if its worth the "extra" money. Not only are the lasers great quality worth every penny but the customer serviced is TOP notch! You won't receive the level of customer service, not only the speed they respond but the kindness and knowledge is unlike any other company. They definitely pride themselves on taking care of their customers! Grant Burrage humbly went above and beyond. The biggest thing to me is long after the transaction they still care and are happy to help answer any and all questions.

It seems that customer service in this country has disappeared! Everywhere! Thank the Man upstairs that I do not have blood pressure issues when I deal with Thunder Laser!!! Brian and Chris are two people that understand customers just want communication. Buying a quality product is only half of your investment. Customer service is something that you get or you regret!!! Could not be happier with my Thunder Laser and the level of customer service I get!!!!! And Aubrey is Awesome!!!!

We are the PROUD owners of two Thunder Nova CO2 lasers, and wouldn't think about purchasing from anyone else! The product speaks for itself; but, the customer service and support is what puts Thunder Laser above everyone else. You truly are family when you purchase a Thunder - they do everything possible to see you succeed! They get it - you, the maker, produces quality, they look great! That is what it is all about. Oh, and if you ever get the honor of working with Aubrey - she is AMAZING! Thank you so much Aubrey - her customer service is superb! Thanks again!

I will say that the people from your coming are top notch. I’m sure I will spell some last names wrong but I wanted to point out some people. Brian on the thunder fb page is outstanding. I read almost every post to see if it may help me some where down the line and Brian is ALWAYS providing top advice and soon after the post is posted. Now when I’ve sent a ticket in Chris Locascio answered within minutes and on a Saturday afternoon. I couldn’t believe it because I had dealt with the customer service from glowforge and they were awful. It would take days before they ever got back with you and I owned 3 in a two year period because they always broke. But Chris was awesome every time. Now Aubrey Gilbreath was also incredible with her prompt response back to me when I was inquiring buying the 4” lens. What a great and helpful lady, it was like talking to my daughter (who by the way has the same first name lol). And lastly Robert Koefed on fb is a tremendous help. What a great guy. Thanks to all and I have no regrets at all ref buying your machine.

Contact Thunder Laser Canada!

We became reps for Thunder Laser in Canada, because we are makers ourselves. After using many different types of laser machines over the years, we decided we like Thunder Lasers the best! Our team is based all over Canada, but our main location and showroom is located at Fuse33 Makerspace in Calgary Alberta. This means, all our members are artists, tradespeople and hobbyists. Our members use our Thunder Laser machines for a wide range of projects. We’ve seen it all! Let us help you decide which laser machine is best for you according to projects you want to make, space you have available and your budget. We will also help you understand the features and use cases for all of the various add-ons and upgrades available.