Custom laser etched and cut scales, aren't I lucky

[elmerwood]

I work for a my father and his business partner out here in California and they decided to branch out from our current business and try something new. Lucky for me it fits right into my tinkering lifestyle. They decided to open up a laser engraving company and I am the lucky one to who gets to see what this machine can do. I have a small collection of DE's and a handful of straights, so I decided today to make a couple sets of scales for fun. I made a few out of acrylic and some out of wood we had laying around. They're just simple designs with some text, but in the next few days I'm want to change the style of scales and maybe add more detail into the etching besides text. Just throwing a few pics up for you guys to see what this little machine can do. If you have any ideas for a design or something you'd like to see on a set of scales let me know. (The wood is .2500" and the acrylic is .1250". both were a little large for the blade I just tossed in there. The scale I made the template off of is only .0830" thick.)
I'm always looking for something else to do. Next on my list is some etching on some of my display cases and maybe playing with it on some DE's.

[Gamma]

Can you etch a blade?

[Kentos]

I wonder if it would mess up the blade's temper?

[Slash McCoy]

I wonder if it would mess up the blade's temper?

Shouldn't, if you go a little bit at a time and stay away from the edge. Could try it out on a basket case before doing a good razor.

[mdunn]

Cool, looking forward to seeing what else you can do with it!

[elmerwood]

I don't think it will mess with the temper of the blade, but I will etching a few scrap blades first.

[SinnerinRehab]

Subscribed

[CrotalusHH]

I've been doing laser engraving for about 4 years.

There are ways to permanently mark a blade with a laser without a lot of heat or removing metal.

Unless you have a VERY strong laser (in the hundreds or watts) I don't believe you can remove metal.

[elmerwood]

I've been doing laser engraving for about 4 years.

There are ways to permanently mark a blade with a laser without a lot of heat or removing metal.

Unless you have a VERY strong laser (in the hundreds or watts) I don't believe you can remove metal.

We have a 150W laser. There are a few chemicals companies out there that make a liquid substance which you can put on the material before you etch and once lased will be the color you've chosen. I'm going to try some of these out when I get some time. Have you made anything shave related with your laser? They're a great tool/toy and I'm very lucky to have one.

[Doc226]

Very cool

[Kentos]

Hmmmm can you re-etch my king cutter for me ;).

...in gold.

[CrotalusHH]

I hope this picture comes out large enough. I used Cer-Mark on the blade. This is a very tough ceramic coating.

[CrotalusHH]

Try again.

[elmerwood]

I hope this picture comes out large enough. I used Cer-Mark on the blade. This is a very tough ceramic coating.

I actually order some Thermark today. Going to give it a whirl when I get it in. How many watts was this done with?

[CrotalusHH]

30 watts. 100% power. 30% speed. 1000 DPI.

[Blooze]

Very cool. I've got a razor that was made (or sold) in the little town I went to college at that I've thought about having scales with the college logo, mascot, etc...on them. Subscribed.

[TonyN]

Very cool!

[CrotalusHH]

Scales are easy. Just don't get carried away with the % coverage. It can be hard to keep things centered and you only get one shot at it.