# Laser etching Black V5?

**URL:** <https://forum.formlabs.com/t/laser-etching-black-v5/40564>\
**Category:** General Discussion\
**Created:** [November 9, 2024, 6:01pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/laser-etching-black-v5/40564 "2024-11-09T18:01:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jwfortx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@jwfortx](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/jwfortx)\
**Post date:** [November 9, 2024, 6:01pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/laser-etching-black-v5/40564/1 "2024-11-09T18:01:16Z")

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Has anyone tried laser etching Black V5? We’re trying to get some easy to read text on our prints, but the embossed / engraved text isn’t all that easy to read.

Ideally we’d be able to do something like this:

 ![image-1](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/uploads/formlabs/original/3X/e/5/e5f1e24d66a271251533a033f4b33d0f1b5de2e0.png)

But it’d be good to know if this kind of thing is even possible before investing in a laser system. Thanks!

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**Author:** ![JimOlson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/41988e/32.png) [@JimOlson](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/JimOlson)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 1:48pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/laser-etching-black-v5/40564/2 "2024-11-11T13:48:34Z")

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Laser will melt resin. Even with something like laser marking spray, making the laser light enough to not melt the resin will not fuse the spray.

I’d recommend a sprayjet ink system. There are some hand-held sprayjet ink guns on the market pretty cheap. You can get them with white ink as well.

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**Author:** ![rogiervdheide](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/forum.formlabs.com/rogiervdheide/32/19449_2.png) [@rogiervdheide](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/rogiervdheide)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2024, 11:51am UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/laser-etching-black-v5/40564/3 "2024-11-14T11:51:11Z")

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Look up the Phezer handheld inkjet printer, that is what you want.

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**Author:** ![henryqiu](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/forum.formlabs.com/henryqiu/32/21840_2.png) [@henryqiu](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/henryqiu)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2024, 3:01pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/laser-etching-black-v5/40564/4 "2024-11-14T15:01:18Z")

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Would love to see your findings and takeaways after you find a solution to this! I don’t think I’ve seen this done before.

Henry

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**Author:** ![leonhart88](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/forum.formlabs.com/leonhart88/32/19153_2.png) [@leonhart88](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/leonhart88)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2024, 7:25pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/laser-etching-black-v5/40564/5 "2024-11-14T19:25:01Z")

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I haven’t tried this but I only have a CO2 wavelength laser, which probably wouldn’t work very well.

You may want to try a fiber laser at your local maker lab, it might work.

Also, keep in mind that sometimes injection molded etched parts like that have additional additives introduced to make the etching more white…so you may never achieve something that looks exactly the same…but maybe close.

You could also look into pad printing which I’ve done before with resin and it works great.

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/uploads/formlabs/original/3X/5/b/5bc2bdf993ff27c2e0eecab5010b25626fbb327a.png) [@system](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2025, 7:25am UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/laser-etching-black-v5/40564/6 "2025-05-16T07:25:48Z")

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