CNC Engraving and Laser Engraving

In the field of product processing, the engraving technology for characters and patterns is crucial, among which CNC engraving and laser engraving are two remarkable technologies. They each have their own advantages and play unique roles in different scenarios. This blog aims to analyze the characteristics of these two processes.

1. Differences in Working Principles

(1) CNC engraving uses computer numerical control (CNC) technology to control engraving equipment for character engraving. It controls the cutting tool to cut on the material surface according to a pre-set program, outlining various characters and patterns.

(2) Laser engraving is a process that uses laser beams to mark or engrave on the surface of an object. It makes the material surface undergo physical or chemical changes through the action of high-energy lasers, thereby forming the required patterns or texts.

2. Process Characteristics

(1) CNC engraving has quite high precision. Common CNC equipment can control the precision within 0.01 - 0.1 mm. If high-precision equipment is used, the precision can be further improved. It can engrave characters with neat edges and clear lines on various materials such as metals, plastics, and woods. For example, when making marks on mechanical parts, CNC engraving can make each stroke of the characters accurate with minimal tolerances.

(2) Laser engraving has higher precision. The laser beam can be focused to an extremely fine point, with a spot diameter as small as 0.01 mm or even smaller. This makes laser engraving excellent in terms of fineness, especially suitable for engraving tiny characters or complex patterns. It can perfectly handle tasks such as engraving models on electronic chips and making exquisite patterns on jewelry, and its precision is far superior to that of CNC engraving.

3. Depth Comparison

(1) CNC character engraving has strong deep engraving capability, with a typical engraving depth of 0.5mm - 3mm (can be deeper). Usually, when characters can be seen with depth in a 3D image, we will judge it as CNC engraving, unless the customer has special requirements.

(2) Laser engraving is suitable for shallow engraving, with a depth of 0.02mm - 0.5mm (usually relatively shallow).

4. Speed Comparison

(1) The laser beam of a laser engraving machine can quickly scan the material surface to complete engraving, especially for simple characters or patterns, the processing speed is extremely fast.

(2) Since CNC engraving is a cutting process with tools, each cutting action takes a certain amount of time, and the movement and tool change of the tool also take time. Therefore, when processing the same number and complexity of characters, the processing speed of CNC engraving is much slower than that of laser engraving.

5. Differences in Surface Effects

(1) The surface after CNC engraving will leave traces of tool cutting. Although it can be improved through subsequent processing such as polishing, the surface flatness and smoothness are still slightly inferior to those of laser engraving.

(2) The surface effect of laser engraving is very smooth, with almost no obvious processing traces. The characters or patterns after laser engraving have clear and sharp edges, and the overall effect is exquisite and delicate.

6. Material Adaptability

(1) CNC character engraving has strong adaptability. It can process metals with high hardness (such as stainless steel, aluminum alloy), soft plastics (such as acrylic, ABS plastic), as well as wood, stone, etc. It only needs to select appropriate tools and processing parameters according to the characteristics of the material.

(2) Laser engraving has certain selectivity for materials. It performs well on non-metallic materials, such as paper, leather, plastic, glass, etc., and can produce good engraving effects. However, for some high-reflectivity metals (such as copper, silver), laser energy is easily reflected, making engraving more difficult and the effect less ideal. Moreover, laser engraving is not suitable for processing too thick materials because the penetration ability of the laser is limited.