12 February 2007 @ 23:08Laser Engraving an iPod nano

I decided to get my girlfriend a pink iPod nano for Valentine’s Day. I wanted it to be unique though. Since the 2nd generation nano’s are aluminum instead of polycarbonate and stainless steel, I decided they would be a good material for engraving. Once I decided on engraving it, the next thing I had to do was decide what to engrave on it. After much thought (and some interrogating of my girlfriend) I settled on Wonder Woman, her childhood hero.

The first thing I did was plug in the new nano to make sure it worked properly. I’m not too sure how difficult it would be to return a custom engraved iPod. Next, I searched for images of Wonder Woman. What I was looking for was an image that would fit nicely on the back of the nano, above the Apple logo. I then brought the image into Photoshop and reduced it to two colors, black and white. That got me basically where I wanted the graphic, but I still had to do some tweaking. Every so often I would preview my image as white on a pink background to get a better idea of how it would look engraved.

When I was finally satisfied on the image, I copied it to the computer attached to our Gravograph LS900. I first tested the image on a piece of paper for positioning. Once I got the position correct I engraved on a piece of black-painted brass. The speed and power settings for this would be similar to what I would need for the nano’s anodized aluminum casing. I used a power setting of 50% and speed of 80%, but this may vary depending on the wattage of the laser used.

Now it was time to engrave on the actual iPod. Believe me, I was a bit nervous at this point. I only had one shot at getting this right, or else I would end up with a permanently marred, albeit fully functional, nano. I pressed the start button, and a couple minutes later it was finished. It turned out great!

Also check out these other engravings.

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Comments:

Jeremy Cole | 13 Feb 2007 @ 10:16 #

Nice work Jon! Custom work on an iPod… Very good idea.
Dan | 18 Dec 2007 @ 15:38 #

Hey Jon,

I work at a engraving/award shop and before we laser anything we cover the area with masking tape to make sure everything is in the correct position. We have a 50 watt laser and run it at 100 speed and 20 power and it turns the tape a nice white and wont burn through. Just a little tip to help you not ruin anything.
Jon | 18 Dec 2007 @ 15:46 #

Thanks for the tip, Dan. I could have tried this yesterday when I engraved these two iPods. I will definitely remember that for next time.
Alicia | 06 Feb 2008 @ 9:31 #

Hey, ijust had a customer bring in his ipod Touch. Unfortunatly, I wasn’t here and didn’t get to look at it. Is the casing the same material? If so, could you let me in on our settings?
Jon | 06 Feb 2008 @ 9:45 #

Alicia,

I have researched how to engrave iPods with the polished stainless steel back with a CO2 laser and the only way to do it is with a “marking” technique rather than an “etching” technique. For this, you would need a brush-on or a tape product from a company called TherMark. Their site says that metals, glass, ceramics, crystal, plastics, marble, granite, and stone can all be marked with their product.

I haven’t yet purchased their product, but I hope try it in the near future.

As far as my settings for the anodized aluminum iPods (the colored ones), I use a power setting of 50% and speed of 80%.
Lorraine | 07 Feb 2008 @ 9:15 #

Jon,
I am interested in talking to you regarding an article I want to write. Please contact me if you’re interested.
Thanks.
Alicia | 07 Feb 2008 @ 9:51 #

I got some CerMark tape and really like it for our Stainless Steel Mugs. Thanks for the tips!
Valentine Ideas For My Wife | Geek stuff | 15 Jun 2008 @ 10:35 #

[...] Sweetheart. If you are reading this, I need some gift ideas. Remember last year I engraved a pink iPod nano. Do you need a new iPod a year later? Probably not, but I never can tell. Maybe some books about [...]