Stainless Steel Memorial Plaque: Waterjet Cut & Fiber Etched
I was given the opportunity to make a custom stainless steel memorial plaque which allowed me to waterjet cut the words and letters then fiber laser etch the message, the results are incredible!
As you saw in the video above, CNCROi.com actually had to make this 3/16″ or 4 mm thick 304 stainless steel memorial plaque twice, the first, a chunk of cut steel got stuck and was dragged ever so slightly.
The results are of course unacceptable for me, much less the client, but it does showcase that things aren’t always 100% perfect when it comes to processes behind the custom fabrication that happens at CNCROi.com.
CNCROi.com has also worked with color filling metal, in this case, 316 stainless steel that’s a bit more resistant to corrosion, think salt water and chlorine pools but for industrial environments that are worse.
The best way to fix a screwed-up stainless steel plate is honestly to just cut another one out and re-do the job.
This PROPER stainless steel memorial plaque starts life being slowly eroded by high pressure water and sand to cut through the thick 3/16″ or 4 mm solid plate of steel.
I never get bored with watching CNCs in action, whether it’s wood, metal, plastic, stone, Corian or whatever else, it’s always fun watching these machines in action at CNCROi.com.
CNCROi.com has also cut lots of metal signage, after they’ve been waterjet cut, they can also be powder coated, enameled or even anodized based on your preferences.
The incredible precision that CNC machines offer jobs like this stainless steel memorial plaque are second to none, from cutting through to etching, everything is nice and sharp.
The mud build-up on the top of the CNC waterjet plate helps to keep the plate cool (we made some steam from the abrasion on this one) and makes sure that if anything goes wrong, it’s very hard to see which is why the first plate passed the process of “watching for problems” without being noticed.
All the lettering and numbers from the CNC waterjet on the stainless steel memorial plaque are perfect, the spacing, the stenciling and the kerf across the board.
When it comes to results achieve for fiber laser etching vs fiber laser annealing, you can see why I went with etching then coating over annealing, it produces a darker result afterwards without the reflectivity issues that would otherwise be there.
After the inside information for the stainless steel memorial plaque is cut through, it’s time to cut out the actual plate itself from the soon-to-be-scrap all around it used to hold the plate in place during the waterjet cutting process.
That fine line you see there is water going at 60 000 PSI, it would blow straight through your hand as I assure you, your hand is far less dense than this plate of 304 stainless steel.
Waterjet cutting a thick chunk of steel plate is a messy process start to finish, each machine adds its own challenges that need to be cleaned-up so that they can move down the assembly line to the next, this stainless steel memorial plaque is no different.
There were quite a few marks on the stainless steel memorial plaque so CNCROi.com had to sand the thing to give it a nice dull luster so that it was ready for our Austrian wide-format industrial CNC laser.
How durable is CNCROi.com‘s laser work? Check this video out!
The waterjet cut out a perfect piece to work from, it’s just re-referencing the X and Y coordinates to achieve a similar level of precision with the laser’s fiber diode.
CNCROi.com does a lot of metal work, it’s about even with our wood though I don’t get to showcase it too often here too often due to NDAs but I’m very happy to be able to document the fabrication of this custom stainless steel memorial plaque.
Fiber lasers have a very fine beam, perfect for etching into metal, though technically CNCROi.com could cut through this plate using our fiber laser, the waterjet does it far more cost effectively on this custom stainless steel memorial plaque.
These processes should look familiar, it’s what we do with our custom welding tags of just about any size or shape.
When it comes to fiber etching, nothing is added to the plate to achieve the result, thus, nothing can come off over time, it’s a very much permanent process that CNCROi.com is able to apply to this custom stainless steel memorial plaque.
So having a custom stainless steel memorial plaque cut through and etched produces a plaque that will outlast the last humans on Earth, it’s pretty much indestructible to most natural processes.
The etching produced by the fiber laser is a darker shade of brown but after cleaning it up and sealing it, that turns to a black which provides as much contrast as the cut through waterjet parts of this custom stainless steel memorial plaque.
My background when it comes to metal work or design is completely self-taught, I learn by doing and building so that’s why I’ve grown pretty good at figuring out what process works best for which machine.
CNCROi.com also has a ton of vertical clearance, as such, even on projects where multiple levels of etching are required, we can do it!
The results look spectacular, the advantage of a non-stenciled etching over the cut through stencil part of the stainless steel memorial plaque is that there is a lot more design flexibility in both font selection, size and additional imagery.
After some top-secret work, the finished stainless steel memorial plaque is looking amazing, I look forward to sharing pictures of the finished piece when the family send it to me, this just looks awesome and is an amazing tribute to the person this was made to commemorate.
Need a custom stainless steel memorial plaque? You’ve found us!
Contact CNCROi.com right now!