Contract job: 480 tool tags, 40 × 20mm, 304 stainless, each with a unique asset number and a QR code. Deep permanent mark, not a surface tint — these live in a workshop.
Setup
Cut a fixture plate from 6mm ply with 24 pockets, so I marked 24 at a time and only had to zero once per plate. Variable text pulled the asset numbers from a CSV; QR codes generated in the same pass.
Settings
Fiber module, 20W. 100% power, 300mm/s, 30kHz, 4 passes with a 0.02mm line interval. That gives a properly black annealed mark that survives a wire brush and solvent.
The fourth pass is what makes it black rather than grey — three passes looked fine until you tilted it to the light.
Time
Twenty plates, roughly nine minutes each including reload. Just under four hours, most of it unattended-but-supervised. The fixture plate took forty minutes to make and saved probably six hours.
Note on safety
1064nm is invisible and reflects off stainless in whatever direction it likes. Enclosed, glasses on, door shut. Not a job to do with the lid open.
