Awesome 316SS Samurai!!! Fiber Laser Etching
Let’s CNC fiber etch an awesome tattoo of a Samurai on 316 stainless steel at CNCROi.com!
We push through lots of steel and aluminium at the CNCROi.com shop but one customer’s custom machine plate can be an artists display of their skill and tattoo black line art comes out especially nice on our 316 stainless steel.
Etching a 316SS Samurai was great fun, CNCROi.com could have just as easily done it using annealing but I wanted the visual to be more visible, the video below is a great example as to the benefits of each process, on 316SS plate as well!
You can see visually that etching is happening, notice the “fire”, its green while with annealing, it’s orange, it’s just a matter of focus, not speed, as to which process we do for our metal plate customers.
For this 316SS Samurai, the laser has no idea what it’s doing, so whether it’s butterflies or a family portrait or a corporate logo, the process and the results are the same, just the end-result branding is different.
A common question that I get from customers is can we add color to our work, the answer is yes and no, it depends on what you require and durability of the final work, as such, here’s a great example of one way to have colored stainless steel imagery.
If you are wondering if this 316SS Samurai could have been done onto other materials such as acrylic, rubber, wood etc, the answer is totally yes, each material has a positive and negative though so telling CNCROi.com your application if you aren’t sure will tell us what material to choose from.
When CNCROi.com made this 316SS Samurai, the resolution we used was 600 DPI which is basically the same “quality” as you get from a typical laser printer but unlike paper, stainless steel lasts a lot longer and the process cannot be removed using an eraser or fire.
Just how durable is etching and annealing on metal that CNCROi.com performs here in the shop? Check this video out.
The detail that the tattoo artist put into his Samurai design is amazing, notice the vertical lines in the blade that represent reflection and refraction, that was extremely fine lines but our industrial wide-format Austrian laser has no problem reproducing these.
If you are wondering if CNCROi.com could have cut this 316SS Samurai design through the plate, the answer is yes but then a lot of design modifications would have to be made so that inside parts didn’t fall out.
What’s especially nice about black and white photography or tattoo comic lineage is that each line has a purpose, it’s busy where it needs to be and as such, this human optimization really produces amazing PERMANENT results.
Keep in mind that as CNCROi.com fiber etches the 316SS Samurai into the plate that there is a layer of soot that builds-up as we dig into the metal, that’s why the image in the laser looks a little blurry over the final product that has been cleaned.
If you are wondering what other work can CNCROi.com perform on these 316 stainless steel plates, it ranges from electrical diagrams to machine drawings but we also make custom steel memorial plaques out of them too!
As you can see, there is plenty of clearance in our Austrian CNC laser so performing etching or annealing or engraving onto just about any material is possible at many different heights.
Now that this 316SS Samurai is finished, you can see the design comes out great but as mentioned, a little “blurry” that luckily, that’s easily washed off and thanks to 316 stainless steel plate, there is far more corrosion resistance.
To get an idea of what CNCROi.com can perform on other types of metal plate, here are the results on a high carbon metal that we did a while back at our previous smaller shop.
Often, customers ask if there a “cheaper” alternative to using real metal, the answer is yes, but it won’t last half as long though lamacoids to provide better contrast.
The detail is clearly visible but not cleaned yet but regardless, nothing was added, so my cousin is able to weld this directly to his work.
Taking a look at another surface finish of stainless steel, this time 304 for comparison, you can see how it’s more reflective than the 316SS Samurai earlier.
As you can see, annealing produces a different result but if you want stainless steel business cards, which CNCROi.com makes many of, it’s certainly unique and allows you the possibilities of really standing out when it comes to getting attention for key customers.
CNCROi.com also does lots of work using anodized aluminium, they are more cost-effective than steel, raw material to production but like everything else, they have their plus and minus.
Regardless of the size of the plate, whether it’s etching or annealing, everything is sharp and highly detailed.
Regarding CNCROi.com‘s thicker stainless steel business cards (about twice the thickness of the above), they just weight more but the amount of power and speed is exactly the same as we are only working on the top surface.
As you can see, the results may be the same but going from a highly reflective 304SS to a more matte finish produces a deeper darkness but this is just because there is less reflectivity, the power and speed settings were exactly the same.
If you are curious as to a direct comparison of a design done in both a lamacoid and anodized aluminium, here’s a video that shows you just that.
One thing that’s especially nice about metal is that there are so many different surface options, from brushed to mill scaled, each presents their own unique character to the work that CNCROi.com performs on behalf of our customers.
Now that we’ve come full circle, let’s check out that amazing 316SS Samurai after it has been cleaned, Mike really did an incredible job sketching this out and I was very happy to send it to him to enjoy his work on something that he can easily pass onto from generation to generation.
Need some custom metal work? Contact CNCROi.com right now!