A logo is not a serial number
Most marking machines are sold for codes and serial numbers. A logo asks something different from the same machine.
Laser & Dot Peen · Metal · Glass · Plastic · Ceramics
Logo Marking Machines
A logo marking machine puts your brand mark into the product itself. No ink. No labels. Nothing to replace. Fiber, MOPA and UV lasers, plus dot peen — HeatSign matches the machine to your logo and your material.
Marking a serial number
Simple shapes, easy to fix
Marking your logo
Fixed shape, one chance
Look at the last line. A serial number goes on early, when the part is still cheap. A logo goes on last, when the product is finished. Get it wrong and the whole product is scrap.
That is why HeatSign quotes logo work on your artwork, not only on your material.
Five logo marking machines
A laser printing machine for metal will not mark glass, and neither does what a dot peen marker does. Pick by your material first, then by how the logo has to look.
Desktop Fiber Laser · 20W / 30W / 50W
Most metal logos start here
Price Range : USD 1950 ~ USD 5000
Fixed table, same position every time. For logo work more watts means faster filling, not finer detail — a 50W fills a solid logo about twice as fast as a 20W, with the same edge quality.
Air cooled | No consumables | Deep logo engraving at higher power
Steel, stainless, aluminum, brass, copper, titanium
Steel, stainless, aluminum, brass, copper, titanium
Tool logos . Hardware branding . Machine badges . Nameplates
MOPA Fiber Laser · 30W / 60W / 100W
MOPA color logo marking, and a real black
Price Range : USD 3500 ~ USD 6000
A normal fiber laser has one fixed pulse of about 200 ns, so you only get grey. MOPA lets you set it from 2 to 350 ns. That is what gives colour on stainless steel, and a black logo on anodized aluminum instead of a silver scratch.
Pulse 2–350 ns | Spot 0.1 mm | Logo text down to 0.5 mm tall
Anodized cases . Premium tools . Medical devices . Electronics
UV Laser · 355nm · 5W / 10W
Logos on glass, plastic and delicate parts
Price Range : USD 3000 ~ USD 5900
A 355nm beam marks with light instead of heat. Glass does not crack, thin plastic does not melt, and the edge of the logo stays sharp. Line width goes down to 0.01 mm, which is the finest of any machine on this page.
Line width to 0.01 mm | Character to 0.15 mm
5W air cooled · 10W water cooled | Glass, plastics, ceramics, PCB
5W air cooled · 10W water cooled | Glass, plastics, ceramics, PCB
Glass and crystal . Cosmetic caps . Medical housings . Electronics
Portable Fiber Laser · 30W / 50W
For logos on products you cannot lift
Price Range : USD 1950 ~ USD 3800
Branding is usually the last step, and by then the product is built. So You can put the marking head on your product surface. A screen is built in, so no laptop on the floor, and the battery version runs 3–4 hours with no cable.
Built-in screen, no PC | Battery 3–4 h | No water, no gas
Machinery badges . Cabinet branding . Large castings . Built assemblies
Dot Peen Marking Machine
Graphic outline marking that outlives the paint
Price Range: USD 1900 ~ USD 2900
A carbide pin presses your logo into the metal as a row of dots. You get the outline only, with no fine detail. But on a part that gets blasted and painted, this is the version that stays.
Depth to 0.5 mm depending on material | Up to 60 HRC
Graphic outline marking | Bench, portable and handheld
Graphic outline marking | Bench, portable and handheld
Casting badges . Forgings . Structural steel . Heavy machinery
See a logo being marked
One logo, two ways: outline and solid fill
The outline finishes in about a second. The filled version is drawn line by line, which is why it takes five to ten times longer — and why daily volume decides the machine.
Logos on wood, leather or paper? Those need a different beam again. See the CO₂ laser marking machine for those materials.
What your logo looks like on each material
The laser adds no ink. It changes the surface, and the material decides what your logo ends up looking like.
One logo, six materials. Every finish here comes from the surface, not from ink.
Material | How your logo appears | Machine |
|---|---|---|
Stainless steel | Frosted white, or deep black without cutting into the surface. Colour is possible with MOPA. | Fiber · MOPA for black and colour |
Anodized aluminum | A normal fiber laser leaves white or silver. MOPA leaves true black on a black case, which is what most electronics brands want. | MOPA for black |
Bare metalsaluminum, steel, brass, copper | Grey to white. Slower passes give a logo you can feel with a fingernail. | Fiber |
Painted or coated metal | The coating comes off and the metal shows through. Highest contrast of all, almost no depth. | Fiber |
Glass and crystal | Frosted white, clean edges, no cracks. This is where UV clearly wins. | UV |
PlasticsABS, PC, PP, silicone | Light on dark or dark on light. UV does not melt thin parts or burn the edge of the logo. | UV · fiber on thicker parts |
Ceramics and PCB | Fine, permanent logos with no cracking. Copper traces stay safe. | UV |
Castings and rough steel | Your logo as a dotted outline, pressed in rather than burnt on. | Dot peen |
Where logo work gets difficult
Four things that never come up when you mark a serial number.
0.1 mm: Fiber and MOPA beam width 0.01 mm: UV beam width
What HeatSign does
We check your artwork against the beam width before quoting. If part of the logo is too fine for fiber, UV may hold it — and if it is too fine for any machine, we say so instead of marking it badly.
200 ns: Fixed pulse, normal fiber 2–350 ns: Adjustable pulse, MOPA
What HeatSign does
Use a MOPA source and shorten the pulse. That is what builds a true black on anodized aluminum, and it is the most common reason a HeatSign customer moves up from a normal fiber laser.
<0.05 mm: Typical laser depth 0.5 mm: Dot peen depth on steel
What HeatSign does
We ask what happens to the part after marking, before recommending a machine. If it gets coated, the logo needs dot peen depth. You give up fine detail and get a mark that stays.
5–10×: Filled logo vs the same outline 2×: 50W vs 20W on the same fill
What HeatSign does
We quote on your real daily volume. Sometimes the answer is more watts, sometimes an outline version of the logo, sometimes a fixture that holds four parts at once.
What a laser-only supplier will not tell you about logos
Most logo machines are sold by companies that build one type. That is not dishonest. A supplier can only recommend what they make.
What you will hear
“Our laser marks any material”
True of lasers as a group, not of one machine. A fiber laser cracks glass. A UV laser will not engrave deep into steel.
What actually happens
Two machines, or the wrong finish
If your logo goes on both metal parts and glass bottles, you need both. HeatSign builds fiber, MOPA, UV and dot peen, so we can say that plainly instead of stretching one machine to cover both.
What you will hear
“Colour marking on metal”
Shown on stainless steel in the demo. Rarely mentioned: it does not work on aluminum or brass, and the colour is a very thin oxide layer.
What actually happens
Stainless and titanium only, and it can fade
The colour is a very thin surface layer, not a pigment, so hard rubbing will dull it. On a product that is handled every day, black or white lasts longer — we would rather say that before you pay for MOPA.
What you will hear
“Permanent logo marking”
True on bare metal. Not true if the part is painted or galvanized after the logo goes on.
What actually happens
A laser logo is microns deep
Any coating covers it. That is physics, not a machine fault — and the answer is a dot peen machine, which a laser-only supplier has no reason to mention.
What you will hear
“Just send your logo file”
Then the file arrives as a screen-quality image with a gradient, and the first order waits a week while somebody redraws it.
What actually happens
Most delays are the file, not the machine
HeatSign checks your file against your finished logo size before quoting, and converts it if needed. It costs nothing and removes the most common reason a first logo order runs late.
How to choose a logo engraving machine
Four questions about your logo. The first one matters most. If none of the standard machines fit your part, a custom logo engraving machine can be built around it.
Question 1
Is the part coated after marking?
Painted or galvanized later → dot peen, outline only.
Question 2
What is the logo going on?
Metal → fiber.
Glass, thin plastic, ceramics → UV.
Question 3
Does colour matter?
Colour or true black → MOPA.
White or grey is fine → normal fiber, and it costs less.
Question 4
Can the product reach the machine?
Yes → desktop.
Built or too big → portable head.
Where the logo goes, by what you make
If you make | Where the logo goes | Start with | Add later |
|---|---|---|---|
Tools and hardware | Handle, body, blade shoulder | Desktop fiber View machine → | Portable fiber for large items |
Consumer electronics | Anodized case, rear panel | MOPA fiber View machine → | UV laser for boards and thin plastic |
Glassware and cosmetics | Bottle, jar, cap | UV laser View machine → | Rotary axis for round parts |
Drinkware and cookware | Curved body, base | Fiber with rotary View machine → | MOPA for colour ranges |
Machinery and castings | Frame, housing, before paint | Dot peen View machine → | Portable fiber for badges |
Medical devices | Housing, instrument body | UV laser View machine → | MOPA for stainless instruments |
How to get your logo into the machine
This is where most first logo orders lose a week. The steps below take about ten minutes and remove the problem.
Step 1
Draw the logo as lines
Use AutoCAD or CorelDraw. The machine follows lines, not pixels, so a photo of your logo will not work.
Step 2
Export as .plt
PLT is the format the marking software reads best. .dxf and .ai also work, but PLT gives the fewest surprises.
Step 3
Copy it to the machine
Put the file on a USB drive and plug it into the machine, or load it straight into the marking software on the computer.
Step 4
Set size and position
Open the file in the software, set the logo size, place it on the part, and save it. The next piece uses the same file.
Only have a JPG or PNG? Send it to HeatSign with the finished logo size. We convert it to PLT for you and show you how it will look before you order.
Questions about logo marking
How do I get the logo in the same place on every product?
This matters far more for a logo than for a serial number. A code that is two millimetres off is still a code. A brand mark that is two millimetres off looks wrong, and the product is scrap.
The answer is a locating fixture — a simple plate or stop that the product drops into the same way every time. It is usually the cheapest part of the whole system and the one that decides whether your output looks consistent.
Can I mark curved products like bottles and tumblers?
Yes, with a rotary attachment. It turns the product under a fixed head so the beam stays in focus all the way round, which a flat table cannot do on a curved surface.
Without it, the middle of the logo is sharp and the edges go soft. If most of your products are round, specify the rotary at the quote stage rather than adding it later.
Does the machine need fume extraction?
For plastics, coated metals and painted surfaces, yes. The process removes a thin layer of material and that has to go somewhere.
On bare metal in a well-ventilated workshop it is less critical, but most buyers add an extraction unit anyway — it keeps the lens clean, which directly affects mark quality. Tell us your material and we will say whether you need one.
What else do I need besides the machine?
It depends on the type. Pneumatic dot peen needs a compressed air supply. Some machines run from a computer, others have the screen built in. Almost everyone needs a locating fixture for their product, and most add fume extraction.
Tell us your product and your workshop, and you will get a list of what is included and what you need to arrange — before you order, not after it arrives.
What happens if the machine fails and we are not in China?
We diagnose remotely and ship the faulty component, not an engineer. A controller board fits in a courier envelope, and most major spares are on the shelf and leave within one to two working days.
Every machine is covered for one year and we reply within 24 hours. Remote diagnosis and software help continue for the life of the machine.
How much does a logo engraving machine cost?
Portable fiber lasers are $1,950 to $3,800, handheld entry models start at about $1950, and UV lasers are $3,000 to $5,900. Desktop fiber, MOPA and dot peen are quoted on configuration, because power, working area and any fixture change the price.
Send the logo, the material and your daily quantity and you will have a figure the same working day.