A laser marking machine is also known as a laser engraving machine, laser printing machine, laser etching machine, etc. It is a laser machine that uses a laser beam to leave long-last marks on material surfaces. The laser marking equipment falls into many types, and each of them has wide applications in the daily and industrial fields.
If you intend to buy a laser marker for your business but don’t know how to choose, this article may help you out. It introduces three common types of laser marking machines and their respective applications. Read this buyer guide for choosing the right laser engraving machine.
Why choose laser marking?
Are you troubled by the following questions about product marking?
- The sample size is small, and the factory is unwilling to take orders.
- The metal and plastic materials cannot be marked at the same time.
- Marks are blurred and easy to be erased.
- The marking process has an odor that is harmful to people or objects.
If you care about the above problems, laser marking machines are the best solutions.
There are many machines on the market for marking text patterns. So why choose laser marking? Because it has great advantages over traditional marking methods such as corrosion, EDM, mechanical scribing, and printing.
- The marking process does not use ink or other chemical agents, leaving no odor or harm.
- Maintenance-free, long life, no computer operating system restrictions, no consumable materials.
- The laser marking system has great flexibility. It falls into handheld type, portable type, and desktop type structures generally.
- Laser marking is efficient and accurate, reducing manual errors.
- Low noise, energy saving, and power saving. The power consumption is only 1/25 of the traditional laser machine.
- It reduces the debugging costs because there are no fixtures.
- You can run the marking machine continuously and together with various large-scale production equipment for mass production. This can save intermediate manual links and reduce the defect rate.
Classification of laser marking machine
The laser marking machine uses a high-efficiency and high-density laser to irradiate the workpiece directly. So the surface raw materials are vaporized or the color tone is changed, leaving permanent and clear marks.
Therefore, according to the laser source, laser marking equipment can have fiber laser, CO2 laser, YAG laser, semiconductor laser marking machines, etc. And, the first two marking machines are the most commonly used marking equipment.
In terms of laser visibility, laser marking machine falls into ultraviolet laser (invisible), green laser (visible), and infrared laser marking machine (invisible).
What’s more, there are also handheld laser markers, portable, and desktop laser marking machines according to the machine structure.
I’ll introduce the three most popular laser marking machines used to do businesses nowadays.
Fiber laser marking machine
It uses a fiber laser as the source and then completes the laser marking effect through the fast scanning galvanometer system software. And it can mark most metals, so we also call it the laser marking machine for metal. The fiber laser marker has compact volume, high cost performance of output laser, high stability, long life, and other features.
The fiber laser marking has a fast marking speed. It can leave trademarks, characters, QR codes and other patterns on material surfaces in a few seconds. Besides, the fiber laser marking system is applicable to assembly line operations. In addition to metal, it can also mark plastic products without changing any settings. This saves many costs for small businesses. What’s more, the marks are clear and not easy to remove, playing an important role in traceability and anti-counterfeiting.
Parameters
| Model | ELECNC fiber laser marking machine |
| Laser source | Fiber laser |
| Laser power | 20W, 30W, 50W, 100W |
| Marking area | 100x100mm, 200x200mm, 300x300mm |
| Marking speed | ≤12000mm/s |
| Marking depth | ≤1.2mm |
| Repetition precision | ±0.01mm |
You can choose most specifications according to your processing needs. For example, fiber laser (Raycus, MAX, IPG, etc.), laser power, processing area, etc. Accordingly, the laser marking machine price varies according to different specifications.
Application
Processing materials: stainless steel, copper, iron, aluminum and their respective alloys, metal oxides, rare metals such as gold, silver, titanium, plastics, PVC, ceramics, PCB, epoxy resin, etc.
The laser marking machine for metal has wide applications in fields that require high depth, smoothness, and fineness. For instance, it can be used in clocks, molds, integrated circuit chips, computer accessories, bearings, electronics, and communication products. And also aerospace devices, auto parts, home appliances, hardware tools, cables and wires, food packaging, jewelry marking, etc.
How to choose the fiber laser marking power?
The most commonly used fiber laser marking power includes 20W, 30W, 50W, and 100W. Here refers to the pulse fiber laser.
Generally, the larger the power, the deeper the fiber laser marking. For the marking of non-metallic materials such as plastics, a 20W fiber laser marker is a good choice. In case of small daily marking volume or no requirement for depth, please consider the 20W laser marker. Besides, we recommend the 30W or 50W fiber laser for the marking work with large quantities and depth requirements. The 100W laser is specially used for deep engraving or to improve efficiency.
Fiber laser marking video
Here’s a video showing 30W and 50W fiber laser equipment marking metal and rubber materials. Except for plane marking, we can also provide a rotary device to mark cylindrical workpieces.
CO2 laser marking machine
As the name suggests, the CO2 laser marking equipment uses a CO2 gas laser tube as the laser source. The CO2 laser uses CO2 as the medium and charges CO2 and other auxiliary gases into the discharge tube. Then apply high voltage to the electrode to generate glow discharge in the discharge tube. So the gas releases a laser with a wavelength of 10.64um. Finally, the laser is amplified, scanned by the galvanometer, and focused by the lens to irradiate the materials. CO2 laser marking can leave images, characters, numbers, and lines on the workpiece according to the user’s requirements.
CO2 laser marking machine has a high cost-performance ratio, because it:
- Can mark various delicate patterns on any regular or irregular surfaces;
- Can mark various non-metal materials, like paper, ceramic, glass, wood, plastic, leather, etc.
- Has a small operation cost because of the fast speed and no consumables.
- Can be used individually or together with other equipment in the production line to improve the automation level.
- Leaves clear and permanent marks on products, improving traceability and anti-counterfeiting.
- The service life of a CO2 laser tube is about 10,000 hours. And the marking process generates no pollution.
- Is compatible with multiple file formats, like CoreDraw, AutoCAD, Photoshop, etc.
Parameters
| Model | ELECNC CO2 laser marker |
| Laser source | CO2 laser |
| Laser power | 10W, 20W, 30W, 40W |
| Working area | 50x50mm, 110x110mm, 150x150mm, 200x200mm |
| Marking speed | ≤8000mm/s |
| Marking depth | ≤0.4mm |
| Minimum line width | 0.01mm |
Application
CO2 laser marking can mark a variety of non-metallic materials. For example, bamboo products, wood, paper, leather, glass, plastic, ceramics, crystal, rubber, acrylic, artificial stone, etc.
It has wide use in food, drug, and beverage packaging, plastics, textiles, leather, wood, handicrafts, electronic components, communications, printing, architectural ceramics, clothing accessories, nameplates, and other fields.
How to choose CO2 laser marking power?
Users shall choose the CO2 laser marking power according to the effect requirements and materials of the marking products.
The common powers of a laser marking machine for plastic include 10W, 30W, 50W, 60W, 100, 150W, etc. Usually, the greater the power, the greater the marking depth and the faster the speed. To mark a shallow mark on paper, wood, etc., 10W and 30W marking machines can do the job well. While if you want to make a deep mark on a hard object such as stone, you may need to consider 100W or 150W.
The process may generate some smoke when laser marking wood or plastic. So you may need to choose an appropriate smoke purifier or collector to prevent air pollution.
UV laser marking machine
The UV laser marking machine uses a UV laser with a wavelength of 355nm. The traditional laser marking equipment uses a thermal processing technology. So it has a heat-affected area on the materials. However, the UV laser marking adopts a kind of cold processing. So the fineness and thermal influence are minimized, which is a big leap in laser technology.
UV laser marker has a very tiny spot which can minimize the mechanical deformation of the materials. At the same time, it has the least heat-affected area. Therefore, the UV laser marker can realize ultra-fine marking and special material marking.
The UV laser marking equipment has the characteristics of short wavelength, narrow pulse width, fast speed, easy absorption of materials, and high peak value.
The laser marking process with a UV laser consumes no consumables.
The marks are extremely fine, and you can even adjust the marking line to less than 10 microns. It can leave more texts in a limited space with a fast speed.
UV laser is the “cold laser”, which can conduct cold processing to the marking materials. So the heat-affected area is small, greatly improving the marking quality.
The service life of a UV marking machine can reach over 70,000 hours.
You can also use UV laser marking equipment for rotating marking. And it supports many image formats.
For care and maintenance, you need to clean the dust, prevent freezing, and check the cooling water timely.
Parameters
| Model | ELECNC UV laser marking machine |
| Laser source | UV laser |
| Laser power | 3W, 5W, 7W, 8W, 10W, etc. |
| Laser wavelength | 355nm |
| Working area | 110x110mm, 150x150mm, 180x180mm, 200x200mm, 300x300mm |
| Marking speed | ≤2000mm/s |
| Marking depth | ≤0.1mm |
| Minimum line width | 0.005mm |
Application
The UV laser can mark various materials, which are mainly non-metals. For instance, copper, plastic, polymer materials, glass, etc.
UV laser marking is mainly for ultra-fine marking and engraving. It can mark PCB boards, phone shells, food and drug packaging, cosmetics, accessories, and other polymer material bottles. The UV laser marker also has wide applications in LCD liquid crystal glass, plastic buttons, glass bottles, electronic components, gifts, communication equipment, building materials, and other industries.
How to choose power for UV laser marking?
1.5W-5W UV lasers are the most commonly used powers currently in the industry. Especially the price of 3W and 5W UV laser markers is moderate. They can meet most of the processing and marking requirements. The price of 10W-15W UV laser marking equipment will be a bit expensive. And they are mainly for precision cutting and precision drilling.
Laser marking machine price
The laser marking machine price largely depends on the configuration and specifications of the machine. Even for the same type of laser marker, the prices also vary a lot. Generally, the higher the machine configuration, the more expensive the laser marking machine price. For instance, the price of hand-held marking machines is cheaper than that of desktop models.
The average price of a desktop fiber laser marker machine is US$3,000-8,000. A laser marking machine for plastic may cost you $2,000 to $5,000. While UV laser marking machine price is around $2,000 $8,000. But these prices are average prices. Some may be cheaper and some high configurations used in production lines may be more expensive. So these prices are for reference only. The specific price is subject to the quotation by the laser marking machine manufacturer.
Choose the right laser marker for your business
Laser marking machines can leave lasting and high-quality marks on a variety of materials. It has no force, no mechanical deformation, and no corrosion on the surface of the materials. As a modern fine processing method, laser marking technology has been widely used in all walks of life. The high efficiency, dust-free, and low-cost modern processing will bring broad prospects to your business.
Simply put, if you want to mark metals, consider the fiber laser marking machines. To leave clear marks on non-metallic materials, CO2 laser markers can be a good and inexpensive option. For ultra-fine and delicate marking, UV marking machines can well meet the needs.
These are just simple and general selection ways. The actual application situation can be much more complicated. Therefore, it is important to find the right laser marking machine manufacturer. You can go to the factory for field investigation or proofing before purchasing the laser marking machine.
Blue Elephant provides all these three types of marking machines. We can also customize some specifications according to your demands. Contact us now to know more details.
