Five Solutions to the Problem of Blurred Edges in Curved Surface Engraving

When marking curved surfaces, blurry edges are a common problem.It provides five practical solutions, including adjusting laser parameters, optimizing the alignment method, and selecting specialized fixtures. It helps users improve their marking accuracy and solve problems with blurred marking on curved surfaces, and is suitable for reference by laser operators and manufacturers.

Why are curved surfaces difficult to mark?

When marking curved surfaces, the focus of laser or inkjet printers can easily shift due to the curvature of the surface, resulting in blurring along the edge.Especially for curved objects, such as round metal pieces or curved plastic casings, if you're not careful you can get a "bleed" effect.This not only affects the appearance of the product, it also makes it difficult to identify product information, and directly reduces the yield rate.

Five practical methods for solving ambiguous problems.

The laser focus is adjusted.

In most cases, the default flat focal point is not suitable for curved surfaces.The focus can be manually adjusted to the highest point on the object, or you can use a laser marking machine with an automatic focusing function.For instance, when marking a cylinder, if the focus is set on the middle of the top, it can effectively reduce the blurring of the edges.

Slow down the speed of the laser beam.

If the speed is too fast, the laser energy will be unevenly distributed.Try reducing the spindle speed to about 70 % of the standard setting, and at the same time appropriately increasing the power (but don't exceed the material's tolerance).For instance, when marking aluminum alloy curved surfaces, if the speed is set at 800mm / s and the power at 45 %, the characters are much clearer.

The solution was to use a rotating fixture to hold the workpiece.

A regular C-clamp would cause the curved workpiece to move around.If the workpiece is mounted on a special fixture with a rotating axle, and the workpiece is rotated at a constant speed during marking, the laser head will remain at a constant angle.After using this method, one auto parts factory was able to raise its rate of successful reading of 2-D codes from 60 % to 95 %.

Stick on temporary positioning stickers.

For temporary small-batch processing, high-temperature masking tape can be applied around the area to be marked.The edge of the sticker helps the machine vision system identify the curvature of the surface, much like the reference lines that are used manually.This method is low-cost, and especially suitable for small-scale processing.

The dynamic 3D marking function is activated.

High-end machines come with a 3D mode that can automatically adjust the focal distance according to the arc of the surface.It's true the equipment is more expensive, but in the long run it saves time and materials.After upgrading its equipment, one medical device manufacturer was able to drop its error rate on stainless steel surgical forceps from 12 % to 3 % or less.

Don't neglect routine maintenance.

No matter how good the method, regular maintenance is still necessary.The laser lens is cleaned every two weeks, and the wear and tear on the fixtures is checked.In particular, in an environment where there is a lot of metal dust, if the lens gets dusty, it will lead to inaccurate focusing. This point we have learned from our own experience.