Laser engraving instead of sandblasting

Sandblast engraving is a process for surface finishing process in which various materials, such as glass, wood, stone, ceramics, metal and plastic, are ablated by means of sandblasting. A significant drawback of this method is its inflexibility. In order to engrave a material through sandblasting, you must first create sandblast stencils.

You can use the efficient JustLaser Laser Engravers to quickly and easily process a wide variety of materials. Functional inscriptions can be applied, as can patterns, lettering, ornamentation and even photo engravings. The production of elaborate stencils is unnecessary here, as is the pre and post treatment of a material. The results are always convincing – whether for prototypes, individual parts or larger margins.

Laser Engraver

When sandblasting, compressed air creates a powerful air stream that applies the blasting abrasive to the surface of the material to be engraved at high speed. The abrasive effect ablates or roughens the material in the appropriate place. In order to produce motifs through sandblast engraving, you need specific stencils.

For this, you first need to send your sandblast stencil templates as vector graphics to a third-party provider, who will use them to produce self-adhesive, robust stencils. In principle, you could create your own sandblast stencils yourself by transferring your designs to stencil foil. In both cases, however, time-consuming preparatory work and post-treatment (removing the film) need to be carried out before you can actually start engraving. When producing stencils, you should also make sure that the patterns to be cut out are connected to each other, e.g. via a strip. This means that internal patterns must be fixed in place via a strip. Alternatively, you could also use stencilled lettering. If there were no strips or stencilled lettering, then an “O” in a TrueType font is basically a circle without an internal circle. There is no such restriction of use for inscriptions with a JustLaser laser machine. If, on the other hand, patterns are cut out, you need strips or stencilled lettering (e.g. “stencil”).

The laser machines from JustLaser, on the other hand, convince with their simple handling and fast process flows. You can simply produce your ideas in your usual graphics program, for example AutoCAD, Adobe Illustrator or CorelDRAW. You then send it to your laser via print command. Our software automatically chooses the ideal laser parameters for you, which not only simplifies the working process, but also leads to perfect results. Enjoy technology that doesn’t limit your creativity!

Laser Machines

Whether it’s metal, acrylic, wood, stone or plastic – the laser technology from JustLaser is considered the most efficient and gentle procedure for marking a wide variety of materials, which guarantees flexibility. Fine lettering, the smallest markings and even complicated ornaments can be engraved quickly and easily. With modern JustLaser technology, you also benefit from a low investment risk, short processing times and precise results, as well as the following benefits:

• Efficient processes: the automated laser machines from JustLaser win people over with their high repetition accuracy, quality and throughput speed. Production costs turn out to be relatively low, which makes the technology particularly economical.
• High precision: thanks to the precision of the JustLaser laser machines, even the smallest components and details can be produced quickly and easily in difficult-to-reach places. Elaborate designs, inscriptions and images are permanently engraved and made weather-proof and abrasion-resistant.
• Great flexibility: the use of lasers has also proven to be especially flexible in materials processing – the procedure is suitable for almost any material surface, thickness and shape. The systems also offer considerable benefits in terms of design. Almost any graphic can be implemented in laser engraving at the touch of a button. This is not the case with sandblasting – even if you can quickly produce sandblasting stencils, the motifs must then be laboriously transferred to sandblasting foils.
• Maximum cleanliness: laser engraving is an extremely low-dust method. Depending on the blasting abrasive, large volumes of dust may be generated during sandblasting engraving. Leftover blasting debris must be properly disposed of or recycled.
• Gentle processing: laser engraving is contactless, meaning absolutely no force is exerted on the material and even delicate surfaces remain completely intact.
• No material wear: while sandblast engraving leads to extremely high mechanical stress, which can cause damage to the material to be blasted depending on the abrasive agent used, laser engraving does not cause any material wear. This eliminates costly maintenance works.

More Information About Laser Engravers