Polished Stainless Steel
This material is for laser engraving only, however it can be pre-cut to any required size(s) by our suppliers.
Our supply: Special order material
Thickness: 0.5mm, 0.7mm, 0.9mm, 1.2mm, 1.5mm, 2mm, 3mm
Sheet sizes: 1000×500mm max sheet size
Your supply: If preferred, you can supply your own stainless steel for laser engraving
See more on laser engraving metal»
Bright polished stainless steel is a type of steel alloy with a highly polished finish. It does not stain, corrode, or rust as easily as ordinary steel, but it is not 100% stain-proof.
Typical applications
Signs and display, rating plates, control panel, fascias and labels.
Laser cutting not achievable
Metallic materials can’t be laser cut using C02 laser machines. We can however cut standard sheet sizes down to any rectangular or square measurement(s) specified.
Raster engraving
The laser will not mark stainless steel in it’s raw state. We need to use a special chemical compound The compound is sprayed onto the area of the metal requiring engraving prior to beginning the job. The compound is off-beige in colour. The laser is optimized to engrave over the compound whilst marking the steel with permanent black marks. Text engraves with exceptional clarity. Images can be engraved but they need to be converted to 100% black and white bitmaps with no grayscale shades.
The chemical compound will need to washed off after the engraving is complete to reveal the black marks.
Thinner metals
If your engraving covers an expansive area (i.e covers an entire sheet) we usually advise that you carry out the engraving on a stainless steel that is at least 2mm thickness. The intense heat from the laser can cause the corners of the metal to curve up making the laser loose it’s focus. When this occurs, the chemical compound does not fuse correctly with the steel surface resulting in a variation in tone.
Your supply steel
If you are supplying your own steel, you will also need to supply us with a small sample to test with. We usually advise that you use our supply where possible (type 316) as it is manufactured to very high quality. Impurities in steel can cause variation in the engraved result.
Deeper engraving.
Because metal is such a hard material it isn’t possible to achieve any depth beyond a surface marking
