Laser Marking

Laser marking is ideal if you are a manufacturer who wants branding or product traceability (tracking an item), barcoding, logos and decorative marking on your components.

This ensures every marked item can be traced forward in the supply chain as well as backwards for consumers. This will help you to deal with warranties and returns quickly and easily, growing your company’s professional reputation and saving you time and money. Giving you peace of mind that every marked item can be traced forward in the supply chain as well as backward by consumers.

Why choose Laser Marking from bay & moor for your products and components?

Permanent and clear markings that won’t corrode

If you make components that are designed for use in harsh environments, you know that it’s vital that they retain any traceability marks – i.e. part numbers, serial numbers and/or manufacturer’s details – without being contaminated or corroding over time. This is where fiber laser marking (sometimes known as “laser labelling”) comes into its own.

We use Fiber laser technology to mark, etch or engrave the surface of your components; as the laser passes over the surface permanently marking a black to dark grey finish on the surface. The surface material remains completely intact meaning that it retains its non-corrosive properties.

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Make your components traceable

There are many reasons to make your components traceable at every stage of the supply chain. It ensures that items can be easily identified, helping you to deal with warranties and returns quickly and efficiently, or to comply with regulations.

Traceability also enables you to keep accurate records of batch and serial numbers, something that will help retailers, customers and recyclers to obtain parts, as well as streamlining your internal processes.

If a product recall is necessary for any reason (and increasing legislation means that product recalls are happening more frequently), you can handle it with confidence, knowing that all of the affected parts will have clear identifying marks.

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Laser marking supports internal and external traceability

Laser marking all of your components means that you can track and monitor parts manufactured or used by your business and make those records accessible to anyone internally who needs the information.

External traceability is vital too, covering the entire history of your products from procurement of the raw materials to the end of their lifecycle. As we’ve mentioned above, laser marking is permanent so you don’t need to worry about identifying markings corroding.

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Laser marking can help you build your brand recognition

Laser marking isn’t just about making components traceable. It’s an engraving technique capable of producing very fine lines and high quality contrast on a range of materials, which makes it ideal for adding logos or decorative features to your products or components too.

This can be a subtle but powerful way to add your business branding to the items you manufacture. Other businesses in the supply chain as well as your customers will come to recognise your logo mark on components, seeing it as a sign of professionalism, transparency and quality.

Protect your products from theft

Adding your business name or logo to components through laser marking can also protect your products from being stolen because your branding won’t wear off, wherever the component ends up.

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There’s no waste with laser marking

Chemical etching is an alternative to laser marking but it’s a process that requires you to establish relationships with suppliers who can provide the chemicals, acids, and the wastewater treatment equipment needed to dispose of them legally. You would also need a physical stencil for each unique marking, which would have to be replaced regularly, making it a technique with a high amount of wastage.

With laser marking, on the other hand, the only real consumable we need is electrical power.

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Suitable for a wide range of industries

Fiber laser marking is an ideal choice for marking components made from metal substrates such as stainless steel, brass, aluminium, titanium, chrome plating, nickel, and similar metals that are highly resistant to mechanical and chemical stresses as well as high temperatures.

It may also be suitable for use on non-metallic materials such as polycarbonate and leather.

Laser marking is widely used for food, drug and alcohol packaging, electronic components, integrated circuits, electrical appliances, mobile communications and more. It is also a logical choice for machine plate marking, aerospace and automotive components – in other words, in industries where components need to stay free from corrosion or contamination.

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Need laser marking help?

Our experienced team can help you to identify your laser marking needs. You may know exactly what you want or you might want to explore how laser marking could be used on your products – either way, we’re here to support and advise you. We have dedicated designers who can help you or we can work from your files.

Just contact us by hitting the button below and we’ll be in touch to discuss your order.

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Your custom laser marking – Our process explained

1. GET STARTED

Contact us via our contact page to tell us about your custom laser marking needs or call us on 01626 366047

2. CONFIRM

A member of our team will be in touch to discuss your order, confirm the details and develop your custom laser marking design 

3. RECEIVE

Approve the design proofs for your custom laser marking, then relax and wait to receive your completed order

Laser engraving

The word vector means “line” and with vector cutting, the laser follows the cutting outline of a shape or lines to go all the way through the material. Most shapes can be cut. This is a perfect process for cutting many different types of materials including wood, acrylic, leather, laminates, MDF, cork, paper and textiles.

How does vector cutting work?

The focused laser beam used in vector cutting vaporises the material with incredible precision. Compressed air is used with the laser beam to keep the rest of the surface free from any residue while cutting the air pressure can be adjusted depending on the material being cut which reduces any burn back to the edge of the cut. Any residue can be cleaned off after cutting, for example, materials such as leather will need cleaning after cutting. Vector cutting is a non-contact process, the surrounding area of material is not damaged by the laser so paper and card can be cut leaving no residue.

Industries.

The vector cutting process is used in many industries due to it being a fast and efficient process with cost-effective outcomes. Bay & Moor has worked with many different types of industries including the creative industries, manufacturing, aviation, product branding, marine, corporate gifting, engineering, and many more.

Rotary engraving with a laser means a rotary device is fitted into the laser machine to turn the product. From bottles and pens to glasses or awards, you can have any chosen design engraved onto any cylindrical object.

What is rotary engraving?

If you Google “rotary engraving” most of the search results refer to the mechanical engraving method of rotating a cutting tool to etch a design into the chosen material. Essentially, with laser rotary engraving, cylindrical objects are turned on a motor-powered device fitted to the bed of the laser machine. The laser beam passes over the surface of an item as the object is slowly rotated, producing an engraving that wraps flawlessly around the surface.

I NEED QUALITY ROTARY ENGRAVING

Raster engraving

Laser rotary engraving is a raster engraving process, which essentially means that the laser head passes horizontally from left to right, line to line in much the same way as an inkjet printer puts ink on a piece of paper- but instead of ink, the laser uses light and heat to vaporize tiny particles of the material’s surface to create the desired design.

Rotary engraving simply adds in an extra dimension by rotating the surface as the design is created.

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Perfectly replicates the original design on your chosen item

As the rotary engraving laser equipment is computer-controlled, the final design perfectly mirrors your original, right down to the last pixel. It can even be duplicated multiple times without any compromise in quality or accuracy.

You’ll be delighted with the shading we can accomplish, simply because the laser is able to work to different depths and can translate greyscale images onto your chosen materials as well as black and white images.

Laser rotary engraving can also deliver fine lines and sharp corners to your designs, ensuring all the detail is engraved.

There’s no contact between by a tool as with traditional engraving, therefore no damage to the surface can occur. Offering amazing clarity without leaving unwanted marks.

I want To Discuss Custom Rotary Engraving

Rotary engraving works on virtually any material

Rotary engraving offers a high level of detail on virtually any material including wood, glass, acrylic, leather, laminates, MDF, cork, paper, ceramics, coated metals and textiles.

It’s suitable for use on a wide range of cylindrical objects, such as pens, bottles, glasses, tool handles, awards, torches and soap dispensers. This makes it an ideal choice if you’re looking for a way to brand promotional items and merchandise with a high quality, lasting design.

Just talk to us about your rotary engraving needs and we’ll be happy to turn your ideas into a finished design on the material/item of your choice. If you’re not sure what design or material would work best, just tell us and we can offer you advice to fit your budget.

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Need help with the design?

As raster images are made up of pixels, it’s important to get the resolution right to ensure that the finished engraving looks perfect at its intended size and on your chosen item(s).
We can create the artwork for you (the price for this will be given as part of your requested quote) or you can find our artwork guidelines here if you already have a file you want to submit.

Raster and vector engraving are the perfect pairing, complementing one another with a beautiful fusion of engraving techniques.

What are raster and vector engraving?

Raster and vector engraving are both types of laser engraving that use graphics files.

A raster is a type of bitmap file made up of a fixed number of pixels. They can’t be significantly resized without losing their quality and resolution but give an excellent, bold result if they are produced to the right size.

When we raster engrave the laser moves line by line, point by point in much the same way as an inkjet printer moves to put ink on a page.

Images in a vector file, on the other hand, are built by mathematical formulas that establish points on a grid. It doesn’t matter how much you adjust the size because grid simply shrinks or expands without losing resolution.

When we vector engrave, the laser follows the vector lines, drawing each one is a continuous line, a bit like someone doing a line drawing. Vector files are ideal for engravings that include fine details best seen in close-up.

I NEED QUALITY RASTER AND VECTOR ENGRAVING

Why combine raster and vector engraving?

Raster engraving can achieve a high level of detail on its own, as can vector engraving but when we combine raster and vector engraving, it lifts the visual effect to something extra special.

The raster engraving enables us to fill and shade areas to different depths, giving the engraving a beautiful sense of texture and an almost-3D quality. The vector engraving them ensures that we’re able to create sharp outlines and delicate, precise details within the engraving.

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Raster and vector engraving works on virtually any material

Another reason that raster and vector engraving both complement each other so well is that they each work on virtually any material including wood, acrylic, leather, laminates, MDF, cork, paper, ceramics, coated metals and textiles.

Just talk to us about your raster and vector engraving needs and we’ll be happy to turn your ideas into a finished design on the material/product of your choice. If you’re not sure what would work best for your needs, that’s fine – we can give you plenty of advice and pricing options to help you decide.

DISCUSS YOUR CUSTOM RASTER AND VECTOR ENGRAVING NEEDS

Need help with the design?

As we’ve explained above, raster and vector engraving both have different benefits; combining them is all about giving you the best of both worlds.

We have a design team who can create the engraving artwork for you, using their knowledge of raster and vector files to create the right balance of techniques (the price for this will be given as part of your requested quote). Alternatively, have a look at our artwork guidelines here if you already have a file you want to submit.

Want to outsource your raster and vector engraving?

Would you like to be able to offer your clients combined raster and vector engraving – for example, on promotional materials, trophies, awards or merchandise – without having to invest in buying, running and maintaining a laser machine?

Subcontract this service to us with complete confidence.

We will work closely with you to provide innovative solutions for your clients. As laser engraving, marking and cutting are our business, you have the peace of mind of knowing that we invest in and use leading-edge equipment and technologies, and have a skilled team who are constantly updating their skills.

You can market these benefits as part of your offering, discovering new opportunities for growth as a result.

In vector engraving, the outline of the design or layout is followed by the laser beam, this laser beam does not cut through the material but instead scores the surface. The depth of the scored line can be adjusted using more power or reducing the speed of the laser passing over the material. When the file is imported from the computer software the outline is engraved. The axis moves to achieve a smooth engraving. Vector engraving works the same as laser cutting all that is changed is a reduction in power of the laser to prevent cutting through the material.

Which materials are best for vector engraving?

Vector engraving works best of all on flat materials as it engraves in a continuous way. This can be a faster process compared to raster engraving on certain materials.

Vector engraving gives particularly effective results on wood. Softwoods such as Birch need less power to highlight the line, but hardwoods such as Oak need more power to produce a contrasting effect.

This process can be used on many materials but two popular ways are:

1. To mark parts where the need is to produce a serial or part number to a product in the most cost-effective way.
2. To highlight engraved areas of a design or layout on wood or card, particularly where there is a lot of detail to a design that needs to have more contrast to the rest of the engraving.

Raster engraving is a standard engraving process but being standard doesn’t make it run of the mill.

There are many reasons why this is the go-to technique for your engraving needs – it’s fast, efficient and accurate, able to replicate multiple exact copies of the same design without the need for mechanical cutting tools, and can be used with a wide variety of materials.

What is raster engraving?

Like a vector, raster is a type of bitmap file made up of pixels. When we raster engrave the laser moves line by line, point by point, from start to finish in much the same way as an inkjet printer moves to put ink on a page.

The difference here is that the targeted heat from the laser vaporises tiny surface amounts of the material being engraved, one pixel at a time, to leave behind a perfectly etched design.

I NEED QUALITY RASTER ENGRAVING

Perfectly replicates the original design on your chosen item

Raster engraving doesn’t suffer the limitations of mechanical cutting tools. This means that we can create designs of all shapes and sizes on all kinds of surfaces, including curved surfaces or inside an item.

As the laser equipment is computer-controlled, the final design perfectly mirrors your original, right down to the last pixel. It can even be duplicated multiple times without any compromise in quality or accuracy.

You will be amazed by the shading we can accomplish, simply because the laser is able to work to different depths and can translate greyscale images onto your chosen materials as well as black and white images.

There’s no contact between the tool itself and the item being engraved, which ensures that every mark is intentional and offers amazing clarity without leaving unwanted marks.

I WANT TO DISCUSS CUSTOM RASTER ENGRAVING

Raster engraving works on virtually any material

Another fantastic feature of raster engraving is that it works well on virtually any material including wood, acrylic, leather, laminates, MDF, cork, paper, ceramics, coated metals and textiles.

Just talk to us about your raster engraving needs and we’ll be happy to turn your ideas into a finished design on the material/item of your choice. If you’re not sure what design or material would work best, just tell us and we can offer you advice that fits your budget.

DISCUSS YOUR CUSTOM RASTER ENGRAVING NEEDS

Need help with the design?

As raster images are made up of pixels, it’s important to get the resolution right to ensure that the finished engraving looks perfect at its intended size. We have a design team who can create the artwork for you (the price for this will be given as part of your requested quote) or you can find our artwork guidelines here if you already have a file you want to submit.

Raster engraving is particularly suited to large-area applications like filled letters, images, stamps or wood engraving but can be used for other projects too.

This is an engraving method suited to bold artwork with less fine detail (if you have lots of detail within your design, vector engraving might be more suitable or a combination of raster and vector engraving). Again, this is something we can help you to decide.

At Bay and Moor we are specialists in high quality, custom laser engraving for a wide range of products. We work extensively with Hotels and hospitality establishments, we can engrave products including branded trays, key fobs, branded drinks bottles, bamboo pens and cork coasters as well as custom engraved signs for hotels including door signs, linen trees, and plaques. As we offer custom engraving using the highest laser precision so you can rest assured the quality we deliver will be second to none.

Take a look at our range of customised and branded hotel products, which can be ordered online today. Shop Now

Client feature- Custom laser engraved Linen Trees for the Stafford Hotel in London. 

We were commissioned by the Stafford Hotel London to make custom signage in the form of `Linen Trees`
These are produced to enhance the customer experience, and reduce the need for unnecessary washing of linen that can be used again. This has proved to be a great way to keep to a minimum the water and electricity used to launder linen sheets, helping the hotel reduce costs and help towards being more environmentally friendly.

The trees are laser cut and engraved from Oak veneer with a solid Oak base.

Laser cutting is an increasingly popular, incredibly versatile industrial process. You’ll find the skilled team here at Bay & Moor in Devon using laser cutting equipment on a daily basis to bring our UK corporate and private clients’ diverse range of projects to life. Laser cutting has numerous applications in all kinds of industries, from hospitality to aviation.

Cutting materials with laser beams instead of blades is extraordinary. It sounds like an idea from science fiction when in fact it’s firmly rooted in the here and now (learning the basics about laser cutting is even part of the school curriculum). We consider laser cutting to be one of the most amazing ways to use laser technology and are proud of our role in today’s laser industry.

If you’re keen to get one or more decorative or functional objects (anything from branded plaques to lock components) professionally, accurately cut, laser cutting could be ideal. At this point, you’re probably wondering how it works. So let’s take a deep dive into this modern marvel with our laser cutting guide.

Suitable for Strong and Delicate Materials

One of the most important points to make about laser cutting is that unlike conventional cutting methods such as sawing, it’s a non-contact process; no pressure is applied to the material. As a result, it’s not only robust materials that can be laser cut but also delicate ones. This is reflected in the incredible range of materials we work with when providing UK laser cutting services: card, paper, leather, cork, acrylic, plastic laminates, wood, MDF, veneers and textiles.

Intense Heat Creates Precision-Cut Edges

How do lasers cut things? The answer lies in the fact these powerful, concentrated beams of light are so full of energy and so focused that they generate considerable heat. (Hobarts, a manufacturer of laser cutters, points out that ‘optical lenses are able to focus the laser to just 0.001 of an inch – just 0.03 of a millimetre’.) The laser is aimed at such a specific area, and the heat is so intense, that particles of the material are vaporised, creating precision-cut edges. This leads to superior products and minimal waste. Indeed, laser cutting boasts unrivalled accuracy and consistency. Plus, lasers don’t wear out or become blunt.

Another benefit is the area surrounding the laser-cut edges is unaffected. It isn’t compromised by the laser cutting process.

Any Design Can Be Laser Cut

Laser cutting is so effective and reliable that it can be used to create any design – even something complicated that’s likely to defeat traditional cutting processes. We’ve made a video of one of our laser cutters at work so you can see how masterfully – and speedily – it handles the intricacies of a design (in this case, a bee shape being cut out of plywood).

The process is highly adaptable – if changes need to be made to designs (for example, during prototyping), there’s no need for a complicated, time-consuming reconfiguration of the cutting equipment. This helps to ensure laser cutting is affordable for large and small production runs, as well as one-offs (unique artwork, say).

Vector Cutting with CO2 Laser Cutters

We use CO2 laser cutters because they’re particularly versatile. They perform vector cutting: the laser follows the lines contained in a computer-generated design (called a vectored file) in order to bring the desired object into being. Vectored files are composed of lines that can be scaled up or down without any loss of quality (unlike images made of pixels). Vectored file formats include pdf, ai and others. You can send us a laser-ready vectored file (our artwork guidelines explain how) or alternatively we’ll create one for you.

CO2 laser cutters are amazing machines. How do they create laser beams? To borrow the title of one of Devon-born writer Agatha Christie’s novels, They Do It with Mirrors! Electricity runs through a glass tube containing CO2 and other gases with a mirror at each end. It gives the gas particles more and more energy, which results in a beam of light. The mirrors reflect most of the light instead of letting it escape, so it becomes more and more intense – a laser is created. Other mirrors then direct the laser towards the material to be cut, and an optical lens ensures it’s positioned perfectly.

Professional UK Laser Cutting Services

Having read our laser cutting guide, we hope you now share our enthusiasm for this precise, reliable, cost-effective alternative to traditional cutting.

We are pleased to announce we have been awarded a grant funded by Devon County Council. This is great news for Bay & Moor.

The Devon Elevation Fund

The Devon Elevation Fund was launched to help businesses and local organisations and it has been an overwhelming success.

The scheme was created to provide support for business innovation and agility, creating new jobs, and new products and allowing local businesses to play a more active role in building back better and improving local economic resilience.

A priority has been to support community and business sectors hardest hit by the Coronavirus pandemic such as tourism. hospitality, retail, food and drink.

Councillor Rufus Gilbert, Cabinet Member for Economic Recovery and Skills, said:

“The Covid-19 pandemic has created extensive challenges for businesses, from changing markets and working arrangements to cashflow pressures. The Devon Elevation Fund will respond to this by supporting businesses and communities across Devon with potential to adapt, innovate, diversify, and improve productivity.

“A key focus of the programme is to support economic diversity as Devon looks to builds back better and the ambition of the scheme is to help even the smallest of businesses and communities across the county to bring about innovation and positive change.”

Bay & Moor

As a result of the grant, we have purchased a new laser machine to make and brand our own products which you can find in our shop. These are made specifically for the hospitality industry, high-quality acrylic and laminate signage, branded water bottles and tea trays.