Labeling with lasers II

H4tfan · #1 (**permalink**) 10-12-2006, 10:11 AM

Previously I looked at labeling and securing chips with lasered denominations and serial numbers. My focus at that time was on the ability to laser engrave a ceramic chip. The results were excellent.

This time I focused on lasering various images and labeling different chip materials. For this run I used a handful of Faux Clays, an ABC Ceramic, a Chipco Ceramic and a couple ASM Clays. The ASM Clays were donated by member Tripod22(Thank You). The images were lasered from various file types: .jpg, .gif and .wmf. The lettering and numbering were lasered from .cdr and .jpg files.

The following chips were lasered from a .jpg image:

The lasered .jpg chips show added image information that isn’t visible when viewing the original .jpg’s. The Vehicle and Hat Chips show a mess around the object. Those .jpg’s were created from photos in Photoshop. The Punisher Skull’s and Forest City Chips have a faint fuzz to the objects. The Forest City .jpg was created from Illustrator. I don’t know where I acquired the Skull image.

The following chips were lasered from a .gif image:

The lasered .gif chips show a faint fuzz similar to the Skull’s and Forest City’s. The Subaru and AAR Logo’s look clean, but needs work. I don’t know where I acquired these images. The results this far may look pretty good, but I’m not finished yet. I’m saving the best for last.

The following chip was lasered from a .wmf image:

‘Ryan’ was lasered from a different source file, disregard it for now. The lasered .wmf chip looks excellent. The Clover is crisp and detailed. If you look closely, you’ll see the entire clover face was lightly touched by the laser. Nice.

The following chips were lasered from a .cdr file:

The three photos are attempting to show the three small ‘777's located left of center. They are very fine and easy to read. I lasered the same 7's on a Faux Clay and the results were identical.

The following chips were lasered from a .cdr file:

All of these chips were lasered with the same ‘RYAN’ artwork. The results on the Faux Clay, ABC Ceramic and Chipco Ceramic Chip’s were excellent. The lettering is sharp and crisp. The results on the ASM Chip’s were excellent as well, but the burning clay left behind residue. The residue is difficult to wipe clean and very noticeable on the red chip.

The source file for the lasered image plays an important role in the visual quality of the engraving. The ASM Clay’s looked fancy before the laser. Now they look sporty. I think the laser took a little something away from them. I feel the same way about the ceramics. I’d like to play around with this some more and see where this takes me. I have a couple thousand Faux Clays that will eventually meet the laser. When I finish them I’ll post again. Thanks again Tripod.

Here’s a couple more ASM shots:

Lucky Louie · #2 (**permalink**) 10-12-2006, 10:15 AM

Very interesting stuff, thanks for posting!

tripod22 · #3 (**permalink**) 10-12-2006, 10:31 AM

Oh my God! What have you done to my chips?!

Just kidding of course, they were willingly offered up in the name of science.

Very nice and detailed post, thanks!

Q10 soooted · #4 (**permalink**) 10-12-2006, 03:29 PM

Great post -- I've been wondering about this ever since I first saw a laser etching machine at work.

Just curious - how was your per chip turn-around time and the burning time on an image like the clover? I definately think this could have some mass-production applications as well as just giving you some amazing chips but it's got to be time consuming and take a lot of machine/operator time.

H4tfan · #5 (**permalink**) 10-12-2006, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Q10 soooted

Great post -- I've been wondering about this ever since I first saw a laser etching machine at work.

Just curious - how was your per chip turn-around time and the burning time on an image like the clover? I definately think this could have some mass-production applications as well as just giving you some amazing chips but it's got to be time consuming and take a lot of machine/operator time.

I didn't log times for this. Doing one up's like this sampling is painful with production times. The chips above took over 1 hour.I don't setup and operate lasers for a living, but have some idea what it takes to get things done. Using the same individual artwork, I could throw out a number of 1 part per minute at a maximum vs. 20 ppm. at a minimum. The production times vary based on how the chip is produced and what is being produced. The initial setup could take hours.

Are you planning to laser chips at work?

Q10 soooted · #6 (**permalink**) 10-13-2006, 10:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by H4tfan

Are you planning to laser chips at work?

No, but I'm asking a friend/business associate in China to give me quotes & operating costs on the 4 laser etching machines they have and I'd like to try to determine the feasibility for mass production. It's not something this factory would do (I don't think) but I think Joe @ palmimports or Gene @ ABC could find something if the concept was proven.

abcgiftsandawards · #7 (**permalink**) 10-13-2006, 10:55 AM

I made up some samples with serial numbers, but haven't been able to get to taking photos and posting yet. I wasn't sure how much demand there might be for this, so it's kind of been on the back burner to my other projects right now.

Thanks,
Gene

jmc · #8 (**permalink**) 10-13-2006, 01:46 PM

That's pretty cool stuff H4!

Do you think the numbers would come out better on the faux clays if you etched them in, or used an ablative method (etching around the numbers) ?

H4tfan · #9 (**permalink**) 10-13-2006, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Q10 soooted

No, but I'm asking a friend/business associate in China to give me quotes & operating costs on the 4 laser etching machines they have and I'd like to try to determine the feasibility for mass production. It's not something this factory would do (I don't think) but I think Joe @ palmimports or Gene @ ABC could find something if the concept was proven.

Quote:

Originally Posted by abcgiftsandawards

I made up some samples with serial numbers, but haven't been able to get to taking photos and posting yet. I wasn't sure how much demand there might be for this, so it's kind of been on the back burner to my other projects right now.

Thanks,
Gene

Cool. I can't offer much about laser production without giving away company secrets, so I won't discuss anything outside of my own discoveries.

I imagine it will be difficult to laser custom poker chips as a sole source of income. Joe posted in the other thread about the profitability margin being too small to waste time with it. He's right. I agree with Gene too. I also imagine the focus on serial #'s alone would be a waste of time. I feel there's far too few customers wanting or willing to pay to have serial #'s printed or lasered on their custom chipset. I'm interested to see where this goes. If it goes anywhere.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmc

That's pretty cool stuff H4!

Do you think the numbers would come out better on the faux clays if you etched them in, or used an ablative method (etching around the numbers) ?

Actually, the numbers will laser perfect. The '777' serials you see in the last few photos were lasered into a Faux Clay Chip as well. I didn't shoot and post a photo of it, but I can say the results were exellent. The blurring and weekness of the lasering proved to be caused by the source file, not the material. I'm taking these ideas a few steps further and will post as I go.

tripod22 · #10 (**permalink**) 10-27-2006, 01:58 PM

I agree that it's hard to imagine a mass market for this.

That being said, I think this site alone could provide you with an endless supply of Faux Clay owners if you offered this as a hotstamp alternative. It would depend a lot on cost of course.

P.S. My son is thrilled to have a chip with his name on it, thanks!