CASE

Crystal for Glass Inner Engraving Business

 

Long ago, I shared a post about how to select the good quality crystal for crsytal 3D gift business.

However, at that time, the UV laser was not as popular as it is now. And I didn’t share much about the crystal shape.

 

Today, this post has two main points.

One material that the green laser can do, doesn’t mean the UV laser can do.

The popular shape for the crystal 3D business.

 

 

For crystal inner engraving application, many people know that the best material is usually K9 optical crystal (also called K9 optical glass) because it gives:

 

High transparency: the 3D image appears sharp inside

No internal bubbles/impurities: cleaner engraving

Good laser transmission: the laser focuses properly below the surface

Better polishing: premium finished look for customers

 

However, you don’t know that different quality laser source boxes have different performance for different materials. In the green laser subsurface industry, there is knowledge that a low pulse width can fit more materials. So long ago, there was a situation where a material my green laser machine could process, but your green laser machine couldn’t. This situation are disappear, because the material has abandoned that material, and the green laser source box has developed.

However, as the UV laser becomes popular, the kind of popular has come out again. In China, all the crystal 3D process factories use green lasers, so most of the material suppliers in China only supply the materials for green laser inner engraving machines.

Then the story will be like this.

You share the requirements, “I want a crystal that can do inner engraving”.

Then the supplier gives you the material that they used for the glass inner engraving.

However, when you get the crystal, you find that the UV laser can’t work on it. Then you give a bad review to them.

You feel outraged by their deception, while they feel aggrieved—for they did, in fact, provide products that can do crystal inner engraving. Some suppliers will even reship an entire box of crystals to you to demonstrate how highly they value you, because they are worried that they mix the subsurface material and the surface materials.

However, that still doesn’t work, and then you feel even angrier. They feel even more wronged.

Then, a rumor began to circulate in the market: that some crystal raw material factories in China were selling counterfeit goods.

However, this technical knowledge is the point that only the professional machine supplier can know (like us, Wuhan Crystal 3D Laser Technology, who have been in the green laser subsurface engraving industry for about 20 years). The materials don't know why their material doesn't work on the UV laser.

 

I have noticed that some people have mentioned the "UV test." While it is indeed a method for determining whether a material is suitable for internal engraving, not all materials that pass the UV test are actually viable for this purpose. The UV test merely assesses whether light can pass through the material—that is, its optical transparency. However, in many cases, the issue lies in the material's “hardness”; the energy density of the light at a single focal point is insufficient to perform the engraving. Furthermore, ultraviolet light sources are significantly weaker than green light sources; consequently, some materials currently on the market that are designed for internal engraving using green lasers are not suitable for use with UV-based engraving machines.

 

The second point for this post is what crystal shape is popular in the market.

If you have ever got a quotation from a crystal supplier, you will see that there are many shapes of crystal, each of which has an MOQ. However, you don’t want to purchase them all. Then you will think about what shape of crystal is popular and easy to sell.

First, you need to get the key chains. That is a popular thing in the market. The Crystal 3D gift is not a cheap gift. You need to prepare some key chains at an affordable price that the customer can order based on their passion. Then, you need to get a medium cube for a 3D photo. Key chains can’t give you much profit, while the cube is a thing can give you good profit. Medium size, like 50*50*80mm and 60*60*90mm. Then, if your machine can support big-size crystal engraving, get a big size for a whole family photo. The big crystal can give you very good profit. The big-sized crystal is usually about hundreds of dollars for one, sell about 50 pcs, you can get the machine money back. However, big size crystal need big size green laser machine.

 

Then, if you still have some questions and need some suggestions for the Crystal 3D business, you can leave a message below this post.