Stainless Steel Lyric Sheet: Plasma Cut Fiber Etched

This stainless steel lyric sheet is a great example of the power of the synergy that’s possible having multiple CNC platforms in one shop, in this case, we only used two of them at CNCROi.com, the CNC plasma and the CNC laser.

This stainless steel lyric sheet starts life as a boring regular sheet of 304SS, this is what you see on the CNC plasma cutter in the image below, this will be cut to size so that it’s the right size based on the spec the customer has for this project.

Plasma cutting is a wonderful and efficient way to cut through metal, with CNCROi.com, this machine can cut up to two inches thick, for reference, this is 12 gauge 304SS which comes to a little less than 1/8″ thick.

If you want to see how CNCROi.com cuts through for custom lyric sheets, watch this waterjet cutting video.

When it comes to plasma cutting, CNCROi.com can cut any metal from aluminium to titanium but for projects such as this stainless steel lyric sheet, stainless steel made the most sense, it’s far more corrosive resistant than mild steel or aluminium and more aesthetically pleasing than titanium (and a bit cheaper to boot).

The sparks you see being generated by our plasma cutter is a mix of smoke, vaporized metal and molten metal being produced while cutting through the stainless steel lyric sheet that will then be fiber laser etched with the lyrics onto it.

The vast majority of the jobs involving our fiber laser at CNCROi.com involve fiber etching over annealing but it’s still important to understand the difference.

My regular digital camera died right before this job so I had to take all these photos with my cell phone, which is why the aspect ration is different and most of these images come out blurry as well… nothing beats a real camera when it comes to taking pictures of cool things using a big lens.

I just love being able to cut things to size for a customer and then throwing them onto our laser to do etching in one seamless process, it’s why most of our jobs are done at CNCROi.com within 24 hours, and this stainless steel lyric sheet was no different, from digital approval to shipping.

After the stainless steel lyric sheet is cut-out, the next step is cleaning it up, mostly removing the mill scale and giving it a far nicer surface finish using a sander works great at CNCROi.com.

When it comes to the shapes CNCROi.com can cut using our plasma cutter, hey are infinite, literally any shape works, even a boat anchor!

Fiber laser etching the stainless steel lyric sheet is a very slow process, and a hot one, the sheet gets very hot but the results are well worth it, they are permanent.

Unlike dyes, glues, paint or printing methods, fiber etching on this stainless steel lyric sheet will not fade, peel or crack overtime as there was nothing added to the metal, it’s just super-heated and tempered/scratched where the etching is at CNCROi.com.

There are highly detailed items that CNCROi.com can also produce, then we fiber etch those as well permanently, so regardless of the spec you need your item made in, we can make it for you in any quantity.

When it comes to your font choices with stainless steel lyric sheets, they are endless, literally any font works great but if we are cutting through the metal, then you’d be limited to stenciled fonts because the inner parts need bridges to hold them in place.

Of course, if you wanted to be totally creative and have the stainless steel lyric sheet not rectangular in shape but actually following the lyrics meaning the letters have a direct influence on the border of the sheet itself, that’s no problem for CNCROi.com.

One of my favorite jobs I’ve done so far at CNCROi.com was fiber etching a 316 plate of stainless steel with a samurai, it just came out so amazing!

The final results look fabulous, you really don’t see many stainless steel lyric sheet because lots of experience and expensive machinery is needed to pull it off successfully, hence, the synergy that CNCROi.com offers our customers pays huge dividends to produce a wall plaque that stands out anywhere it’s put.

The holes? Well, those were also made at CNCROi.com because this is stainless steel and hence heavy if it falls, having drilled out holes makes sure this stays put and doesn’t hurt somebody if it’s just leaning on the wall.

Small jobs or big ones, CNCROi.com can make them and ship them right to your door.

The nice thing about a stainless steel lyric sheet is that it literally reflects the environment it’s in, no matter what room or place you hang this in, it will both stand-out fantastically and also meld with the rest of your decor.

Let’s take a close-up view of the stainless steel lyric sheet, again, the black you see in this photo is not from ink, you cannot scratch it off unless you have an angle grinder and literally carve into the metal to remove it.

Again, from these photos of the finished stainless steel lyric sheet, you can see how the sheet of metal changes depending on what angle the light hits it, just a wonderful item to have in a home or studio.

If you are looking for a custom stainless steel lyric sheet, contact CNCROi.com and we’ll make it for you and ship it right to your door!