Laser / Inkjet Marker

Laser will be expensive (£10,000-£20,000 at least). Inkjet could be best, and should be obtainable for less than £3,000, but depends on a few things:

• How fast is the component moving (in m/sec)?
• What is the substrate (material being printed on)?
• Is black ink OK, or does it need to be white/yellow?

• The component is moving at about 25 meters per minute
• The material being printed on is CRC sheet - it may have some small traces of oil on it
• Would prefer white color. However, this is not very important - as long as the marking is clerarly visible

Google:

Video Jet Ink Jet printers.

They can mark anything from electrical wire to carbon brushes,medicine tablets or pills,using ink,paint,UV visible ink, etc.They are the Uber print masters.

Speed of object is no problem, they can be synched by tachometer, or photocell,and can accept any type of computer input you specify.Not cheap, but the best.

How precise does the location of the defect have to be marked? Do you need to mark an X Y coordinate, or simply one of these? These factors will affect cost as well.

You will need to specify length, width,possible height, and speed as well.

The factory engineer can answer all of your questions.

• Location of marking is not very precise - it could within 2 to 3 mm of the target
• Marking will be done only in one direction - lengthwise on the conveyor. We need to mark 5 chars in one line.
• Character height is 20 mm. Even if we take width = height, for 5 chars it works out to 100 mm

You should check and find out who in your region will give you the best service and support. It might be one of the major manufacturers (the aforementioned Videojet, also Domino and Markem-Imaje) which can each supply a complete range of printing/marking/coding equipment (laser, CIJ, DOD, Thermal, etc). Alternatively it might be a distributor of marking/coding equipment. If you have a problem on a fast-moving production line you need good support. Any of these should be able to recommend the most suitable type of printer.

There are a lot of good printers out there,but the reliability and serviceability varies.How steep is the learning curve to teach in-house maintenance? How available are spare parts?And a frequently overlooked parameter:What is the total cost of energy for the system, including compressed air co$t? The compressed air is frequently more expensive than the electrical costs of operating the printer.

Choose wisely.The best price is not always the best value.

You could use these to mark and then reuse them.

You could store even more information on them. Maybe use magnet to attach them or double sided tape.

Sorry this is not laser or printer related but maybe worth a thought?

Good luck, Ky.