Steel Valve Tags: Fiber Laser Etching
Custom stainless steel valve tags will outlast any plastic options by a long shot, especially because CNCROi.com uses fiber laser etching INTO the tag to create contrast and incredible durability that will not fade, crack or peel.
Before we jump right into the custom stainless steel valve tags we’ve made, let’s take a quick look at another stainless steel demonstration tag that was annealed rather than etched, both done with our fiber laser source.
If you are wondering what the difference between fiber laser etching and annealing, watch this video to give you a refresher.
But basically, regardless of the application, whether it’s steel valve tags or steel machine plaques, etching has a higher angle of visibility and texture that you can feel with your finger as it’s into the tag rather than on the surface.
Whether CNCROi.com is fiber laser annealing or etching a stainless steel tag for whatever purpose, the time it takes to do it is the same, it’s just a matter of focus, literally, that produces one result rather than the other so there aren’t any cost savings to go with one over the other.
If you are wondering what kind of graphics can be made using either etching or annealing, this video onto 1/8″ 3 mm stainless steel plate will showcase this wonderfully, this drawing was amazing and I told the tattoo artist that I just had to etch it into metal for him.
The results from annealing look great though, the only issue with annealing is that it has to be perfectly focused as etching has a wider band of carving than the heat tempering process of the annealing alone using our fiber laser source from our Austrian wide-format industrial CNC laser.
Alright, that was fun, let’s make some custom stainless steel valve tags, if the sizing looks familiar, it’s because we actually used our standard welding tags for this project, the volume was low, the timeline tight and it was decided to use what we have rather than cut some custom tags out.
How strong and resistant are CNCROi.com custom steel valve tags? Here are two videos showcasing how they react to heat and high pressure sand.
As our fiber laser is hotter than any welding torch, it’s no surprise that our custom steel valve tags don’t react what-so-ever to the heat of a propane torch.
And as I’m teaching myself to weld too, here’s one of our tags being actually MIG welded to my custom welding table to boot!
This is why I’m so confident with the steel valve tags that CNCROi.com produces, I’ve tested them myself and can easily stand by their results regardless of the environment they may find themselves in.
As there is NO paint applied, just the etching of our fiber laser into the stainless steel to permanently brand the valve tags, nothing will ever peel, crack or fade with time, if you want to remove the information on the tag, you literally have to grind the entire surface off… and yes… I’ve done that too.
The results in these photos look brown and a little fuzzy because there is a little spatter of stainless steel dust around what was fiber laser etched onto the steel valve tags, but once this is cleaned-up, everything is nice and sharp.
What I really enjoy about custom metal branding are the result, it looks like something that was laser printed onto paper but the material is steel and the results etched permanently into the surface.
So, what are some other applications where steel etching comes in handy?
How about tool identification to prevent theft and for customers to order more from you as they know where the tool came from!
And of course, we can do the same whether it’s brass or titanium.
Fiber etching by CNCROi.com has been done for applications as far as military to aviation, medical to mining, we’ve been doing this type of work since our inception more than 4 years ago and have ongoing contracts with a variety of industries producing both standard and totally custom metal tags.
The two CNCROi.com angle brackets you see holding the valve tags straight and narrow are actually fiber laser etched too, their visibility is amazing and I use them, even without any measurements, for a wide variety of applications here in the shop.
When it comes to custom stainless steel valve tags, any shape, size, grade or thickness can be made to your spec depending on the budget and how many you need, CNCROi.com also keeps inventories of our most popular types for quick fiber laser etching and shipping.
Of course, CNCROi.com also makes custom metal business cards, either anodized aluminium or stainless steel, it’s your choice!
Photographing, much less filming stainless steel is really hard, it’s reflective and the contrast depends on the angle so I took a few pictures at two different angles to give you a better view of what they look like.
I’d say this photo looks the best and is the most accurate, the fiber laser etching of these custom steel valve tags came out great, they will outlast the plant they will be put into for sure!
Looking for custom steel valve tags?
Contact CNCROi.com right now!