Laser Engraving on Anodised Aluminium

[jonbttt]

Hi! What kind of laser cutter is available at the makerspace? I'm planning on trying out laser engraving on a 0.5mm anodised aluminium sheet for a personal project. Also, if anyone has experience with laser engraving/cutting, I would love any advice cause I'm very new to this. Thanks!

[Sophie Parker]

Hi Jon,

The space has a 100W CO2 laser with a 1200x800mm bed. It is only suitable for cutting wood, acrylic plastic, and some other paper products and specific plastics.

Laser-cutting or engraving on metals requires a different wavelength, and thus a completely different laser -- either a near-IR diode type (engraving only), or a Fibre laser (engraving/cutting). We don't have either.

About the cheapest 1064nm-Diode option that you can buy in Australia (i.e. with some degree of safety certification...) is the XTool F1. I recently purchased one at my workplace but haven't yet gotten to use it.

https://au.xtool.com/products/xtool-f1

Otherwise you'll want to look at commercial engraving companies.

Sophie Parker

Luminesce

sop...@luminesce.lighting

luminesce.lighting

On Sun, 27 Apr 2025, at 13:12, jonbttt wrote:

Hi! What kind of laser cutter is available at the makerspace? I'm planning on trying out laser engraving on a 0.5mm anodised aluminium sheet for a personal project. Also, if anyone has experience with laser engraving/cutting, I would love any advice cause I'm very new to this. Thanks!

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[Andrew Larkin]

I have good success "engraving" anodised aluminium with a laser very similar to RnD's.

All it is doing is removing the anodising to reveal clean metal below.

Also works with other coated aluminium such as aluclad - plastic sheet with aluminium skin on each side.

Makes for nice control panels.

You still need to do cutting/drilling by other means - by hand or CNC router.

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[jonbttt]

Yeahh, that's what I'm trying to do. Is there a CNC router at the makerspace?

[usef...@gmail.com]

Hi All

I am interested in this topic albeit not on anodised Al, 

Does anyone have any experience with this product?

Metal Laser Marking Powder for Laser Engravers – OMTech AU

Regards

Yousef

[Max Nippard]

I haven't tried that OMTech powder but I've tested titanium dioxide powder mixed with water or alcohol on the laser at the makerspace with good results.

There is a packet of titanium dioxide on the shelf under the laser cutter PC and possibly an aerosol can of cermark or similar laser marking spray at the makerspace too.

The OMTech looks like a good option for dark black as the price is reasonable and they aren't hiding what the ingredients are. 

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