HeatSign · Dot peen and laser marking
Metal marking machines and solutions
HeatSign builds two kinds of metal marking machine, and they sit at different points in your process. Dot peen marks deep, before paint and blasting. A fiber laser marks fine, after the surface is finished.
Tell us the metal and where marking sits in your process. Answered within one business day.
Metals We Mark With Dot Peen and Laser
The metal decides how much force or power a metal marking machine needs. What happens to the part afterwards decides the method.
HeatSign has marked every metal on this page, and a long list beyond it.
Open the metal you work with for depth guidance, machine options and what the mark survives.
DOT PEEN FIRST
Carbon and alloy steel
Takes real depth and holds it through blasting, galvanizing and paint.
LASER FIRST
Stainless steel
Marks cleanly with a fiber laser. Settings decide whether it keeps its corrosion resistance.
EITHER METHOD
Aluminum
Soft, so it needs far less force and power than steel. Cast aluminum usually goes to dot peen.
MOPA LASER
Anodized aluminum
The mark lives in the oxide layer. MOPA control decides whether it comes out clean.
DOT PEEN FIRST
Cast iron
A rough as-cast surface makes a shallow mark hard to read. A carbide pin does not care about surface finish.
LASER FIRST
Titanium
Often fatigue-critical. A laser removes no material, so the part keeps its rating.
EITHER METHOD
Brass, copper, bronze
Soft and reflective, so power and pulse settings matter more than on steel.
TAG MACHINE
Nameplates and tags
A whole rating plate in one pass, on aluminum or stainless blanks.
Every other metal and finish we mark
Those eight cover most enquiries, but a metal marking machine is not limited to them.
What goes wrong with marks on metal?
Five failures account for almost every metal marking complaint we hear. None of them is about the machine being cheap.
Each one has a straightforward answer once you know which is yours.
01 The next process hides the mark
Blasting, galvanizing and powder coating all work on the surface, and a surface mark is the first thing they take. Printed labels melt under heat and lift under oil.
Mark below the surface, not on it. A dot peen marking machine presses the code 0.2 to 0.5 mm into the metal, so finishing goes over the indent instead of removing it. See dot peen marking machines.
02 The metal is too hard for a pin
Hardened tool steel, bearing races, blades and carbide are harder than an impact pin can work with. Force it and you get a ragged mark or a chipped edge.
Switch method, not force. Our tungsten carbide styluses work to about 60 HRC. Above that a fiber laser marking machine removes no material and adds no stress. See tool steel marking.
03 The part is the wrong shape, or the wrong size
Curved bodies distort straight text. Tiny parts leave no room for a readable code. And a two-tonne casting is never reaching a marking table.
Move the machine, or turn the part. A rotary axis keeps text straight around a curve. For anything that cannot be moved, a portable or handheld marking head goes to the part instead. See portable marking machines.
04 The surface is oily, rusty or straight from the foundry
Real workshops are not clean rooms. Scale, casting texture and light oil all sit between the head and the metal, and a shallow mark on top of them barely reads.
Displace the metal instead of coloring it. A pin pushes through scale and light oil, so surface condition barely matters. If the process must stay laser based, the surface has to be cleaned first. See rough surface marking.
05 The mark itself can start a crack
Rarely discussed, most expensive to get wrong. On parts under cyclic load a stamped line concentrates stress, and that line can be where a fatigue crack begins. Aerospace and medical drawings often specify low stress characters for this reason.
Dot peen is low stress by nature. Every dot is a separate dimple, so no continuous stress line forms. If your drawing says low stress marking, contact us before you buy anything.
The same metal part, marked two ways
Same steel part, same angle, same light. Only the method changed.
Dot Peen
You can feel this one
Dents pressed into the metal. Paint and blasting pass over it. An inspector finds it with a fingernail in the dark.
Fiber Laser
You can only see this one
Sharper, finer, higher contrast, and roughly ten times shallower. Excellent until something abrasive touches it.
Dot peen or fiber laser for metal?
Most metal marking machine suppliers cannot answer this honestly, because they only sell one of the two. HeatSign builds both.
Here is the plain version, including when the more expensive metal marking machine is a waste of money.
Method | Depth | Choose it when | Do not choose it when |
|---|---|---|---|
0.2 – 0.5 mm | Blasted, painted, plated or heat treated afterwards. Rough, as-cast, oily or rusty surface. Part too big to move. A mark an inspector can feel. | Thin wall. Finished face must stay flat. Metal above 60 HRC. Codes under 4 mm square. A silent process is required. | |
0.01 – 0.08 mm | Small data matrix, fine text or a logo. Thin, hardened or fatigue-critical parts. Nothing abrasive afterwards. No consumables, silent running. | The part will be blasted, galvanized or coated. The mark must be readable by touch. The surface is rough or heavily scaled. | |
Surface only | Dense black on stainless, a light mark on black anodized aluminum, color on titanium, or marking a thin coating without cutting through. | A standard fiber laser already gives you the result. MOPA costs more and you would be paying for control you do not need. |
Depth figures are typical ranges for the method, not a promise for your part. They shift with the alloy, its hardness and how hard the machine is set to strike. We measure the real number on your part during free sample marking.
Dot peen marking machines for metal
HeatSign dot peen machines, for depth in metal that survives whatever comes next.
HS-DE series
Electric Dot Peen Marking Machine
For bench work. No compressor and no air line needed.
For marking on nameplates, valve bodies, brackets, hand tools,small castings and more.
HS-DP series
Pneumatic Dot Peen Marking Machine
Need you prepare air power, more marking force, so it goes deeper on hard alloy metals.
You can add a rotary axis for small circle parts such as shafts and metal rings.
HS-PE series
Handheld Dot Peen Marking Machine
Battery powered, no air line and no cable.
For Chassis and VIN marking work, field service and other big & heavy parts marking.
HS-PM/HS-PC series
Portable Pneumatic Dot Peen Marking Machine
Carried the marking head to the part.
For marking on Wellhead components, structural steel,heavy machinery and other not easy move products.
Laser marking machines for metal
HeatSign laser machines, for fine detail, speed, and metals a pin cannot touch.
HS-DE series
Electric Dot Peen Marking Machine
For marking on nameplates, valve bodies, brackets, hand tools,small castings and more.
ROTARY AXIS
Fiber Laser Marking Machine with Rotary Axis
For marking anything cylindrical such as bearingrings, shafts, bone screws, tube, fittings.
MOPA
MOPA Fiber Laser Marking Machine
Color marks on stainless steel, black marks on anodized aluminum, black marks on titanium.
HANDHELD
Handheld Laser Marking Machine
A laser head you carry to large weldments and assemblies.
FLYING LASER
Flying Laser Marking Machine
Marks while the conveyor keeps moving. No ink, no solvent, nothing to refill.
TAG MACHINE
Metal Tag Engraving Machine
Built for nameplates rather than parts. A whole multi-line plate in one pass.
Metal marking questions we get most
Will the mark survive sandblasting and powder coating?
Only if it has depth. A HeatSign dot peen metal marking machine presses an indent into the metal, so the surface treatment goes over it rather than removing it. A mark 0.3 to 0.5 mm deep — depth into the metal, not character size — normally stays readable after shot blasting, galvanizing and paint.
A fiber laser mark is roughly ten times shallower and usually disappears under a coating.
Can you mark hardened steel above 60 HRC?
Not with a pin. On HeatSign dot peen machines about 60 HRC is the practical ceiling, and pushing past it does not give you a deeper mark — it gives you a shallow ragged one, a bounced stylus, and sometimes a chipped edge on the workpiece.
Send us the hardness figure from the drawing rather than the material name. Two parts in the same alloy can sit either side of that line depending on heat treatment.
How deep does a permanent mark on metal need to be?
It depends on what the part goes through, not on the metal alone. A soft brass part that is never finished may only need around 0.08 mm. A steel part that gets blasted usually needs 0.25 mm or more.
If your drawing states a depth, send it to us. We mark your part, measure the result and give you the real figure before you order.
Can you mark a rough, oily or rusty surface?
A dot peen marking machine can. How dirty is too dirty? Light oil, mill scale and surface rust are fine. Heavy grease, thick flaking rust and paint build-up are not, because the pin marks the layer rather than the metal.
If you are unsure, send the part in the condition it will actually be in on your line. Marking a cleaned sample tells you nothing useful.
Which is cheaper to run, dot peen or laser?
Over five years, volume decides it. At low volume the cheaper machine stays cheaper, because a stylus lasts a long time when it is only used a few hours a week. At high volume the consumable line adds up and the laser wins.
Tell us parts per year and shift pattern, and we will put real numbers against both instead of arguing in general.
Is dot peen marking noisy?
Yes. It works by impact, so it makes an audible tapping sound. In a workshop that is normal. In a quiet assembly area or a lab it is a real objection, and a fiber laser marking machine is silent.
If noise is a constraint, say so early. It is a legitimate reason to choose laser even where depth would have been the technical answer.
What is the difference between metal marking and metal engraving?
In everyday use the words overlap, and a metal marking machine and a metal engraving machine are usually the same equipment sold under two names. Where it matters technically: marking changes the surface without removing much material, while engraving removes material to create depth you can feel.
What matters for your part is not the word but the result.
What should I ask a metal marking machine supplier?
Marked samples on your own components, not on a generic test plate. Any machine looks good on a clean demo coupon. Alloy, surface finish and hardness all change the result.
If shipping a part is difficult, photos with dimensions plus the alloy are usually enough to start, and we will say clearly when we have marked an equivalent rather than your actual part. Then ask what the mark is graded at, what the machine costs to run over five years, and who answers the phone in year five.