Vector etch anodized aluminum Download PDF

This instructable goes over how I laser etched black anodized aluminum using vector graphics.   I made it at Techshop using their 60watt Epilog Helix CO2 laser.  Check them out at Techshop.ws, they have a lot of great machines there.  There are a lot of instructables showing the steps to etch anodized aluminum using raster graphics, but this one will be specifically using vector graphics.  When etching with a vector graphic, the laser moves along the graphic's lines, instead of back and forth along the width of the image etching dot by dot.  This can produce higher quality etching faster for some applications. Here, I etched the seatpost on my bike to add measurement lines.  The seatpost is black anodized aluminum.  It is very important that this is not done on polished aluminum because any reflected laser can hurt the laser cutter.    The laser setup: First I removed the ...