Common FAQ's

Common FAQ's

How do I create a mark that will remain visible after coating/painting?

Pryor has developed deep marking dot peen machines that are capable of marking up to 1mm in mild steel and 1.5mm in aluminium. These marks remain visible after coating or painting. Pryor supplies these as integrator machines, bench mounted machines and portable (hand held) machines.

Pryor’s scribe engraving machines can be supplied with either a diamond-tip stylus or a carbide-tip stylus. These machines are also suitable if the material is to be painted or coated as the mark often remains legible. The scribe engraving machines are available as integrator machines or as bench mounted machines. The InScribe integrator scribe engraver is also available as a Heavy Duty Scribe marker, capable of creating very deep marks. 

How do I comply with CE marking regulation?

There are many different options for CE marking, all of which depend on your specific application – what your processes are, what material you are marking, where on the material you are marking, etc.

A popular option for CE marking is using CE Stamps as they are easy to use, quick and portable. This makes them suitable for most manufacturing environments. However, these are less suitable for marking convex parts, such as cable.

Custom designed roller dies allow continuous marking of cable and wire. As they are also integrated into existing machinery, roller dies are highly cost-effective. If you integrate the CE mark into a mark consisting of more information, composite roller dies allow for interchangeable marks to be created.

Custom designed dies can be added into moulds. This method eliminates the process of marking as an additional stage in manufacturing.

If the CE mark is integrated into variable information, a dot peen marking machine, scribe marking machine or a laser marking machine are the most flexible options. Dot peen marking is a low stress option that has minimal impact on the integrity of the material. It also works well as a hand held unit for marking large, immobile parts. Scribe marking drags through the material, creating highly legible engraved marks. Laser marking is becoming increasingly popular as it can mark the widest range of materials with varying depths and colours. Laser marking is ideal for high flexibility in marking.

How do I prevent serial number duplication?

Pryor's standard Windows based production software, available with all types of marking machine, has simple functionality to log every marks made. The serial number function can check duplicates against marks already made. Alternatively, it can log marks in external database or spreadsheet logs against historic or future data.

Implementing our multi-station network module allows duplicate checks across multiple machines, workstations and sites.

If parts are already marked, machine vision can duplicate check already marked parts. The software will simply flag up if it has read the same code twice.

Pryor’s stand-alone controller has storage of the last 200 jobs. The user can set the software to either flag up the duplicate with a warning that you can override, or to stop the duplicate mark altogether. This feature is ideal for prevention of simple mistakes such as picking up the same job sheet twice.

The controller can store up to 5 separate duplicate lists, allowing you to have the same serial number on more than one different part (e.g. an engine and a gearbox) without having to dismiss warnings every time you mark.

How do I identify my parts without adding extra processes?

Pryor designs and manufactures custom made engraved dies that fit into moulds. These then create a mark on the component at the casting stage of manufacture. This removes the need for marking to be an additional manufacturing process. Custom engraved dies have often been used in this way for inserting branding and data on roof tiles during the moulding process.

Pryor has also recently developed a revolutionary CNC marking tool. This is a dot-peen marking machine that is operated by, and used within, your CNC machine. It eliminates the time and risk associated with physically moving your component from the CNC machine to a marking station.

Pryor’s laser marking systems are also capable of marking "on the fly". By applying laser marks to moving objects this function enables marking to be performed as a continuous flow process. Laser marking is a very high speed, accurate marking process capable of meeting high volume production and fast cycle time requirements. The laser marking can meet all known production line speeds.

What warranty do you offer on your marking machines?

We offer a 12 month warranty as standard on all our marking machines, but extended warranty can be purchased for a small supplement.

All laser products come with a standard 24 month warranty.

What length stylus do I need?

As a standard stylus, the 100mm stylus is ideal for most dot marking or scribe marking applications. It is the ideal length for visibility whilst marking. Pryor also offers a smaller stylus, the 50mm stylus, and a longer stylus, the 150mm stylus. The smaller stylus is designed for our most compact machinery, such as the PortaDot with a 50 x 25 marking window.

The longer stylus has been designed for marking in deep recesses.

Carbide tip stylus or diamond tip stylus?

The carbide tip stylus is suitable for most applications except for when marking very hard metals, such as wasp alloy, titanium or Inconel. The diamond tip stylus is suitable for marking materials harder than carbide. It also offers higher durability so is good for intense usage applications.

Does Pryor have ISO certification?

Yes. Pryor is proud to operate a Quality Management System which is certified under the ISO 9001:2008 standard. Our certification can be viewed here.

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