How fast can I laser mark a part?

Laser marking times may vary. The marking time of any part depends on how many lines the laser has to draw (every mark, whether text, graphics, or bar codes, consists of individual vector lines drawn by the laser) and how fast the laser beam draws each line.

A single line drawn by a laser marker is usually .002-.004" wide. If a .1" tall bold character needs to be marked, the laser will draw many individual lines to create that bold character.

The material that is being marked, the number of vector lines drawn and the depth of the marking will determine total marking time. Total cycle time is the combined marking time, part placement, and removal time.

Since this all sounds very vague, let me provide a specific example.

If the substrate to be marked was anodized aluminum and the information to be marked was the word "Jimani" in .1" high characters with a bold Ariel TT font, the marking time would be 2-3 seconds.

If that same text were marked in a single-line "stick" font, the marking time would be on the order of 300 ms. If the same text were to be marked with the bold Ariel font, but the substrate was a steel plate, and the marking had to be .010" deep, the marking time would be on the order of 25 seconds.