[sdiy] Laser etching

[Shokwave]

Hi all!

One of my student's fathers has a laser ecthing machine. It tales vector
files or bitmaps, and draws with a high-temperature laser beam; some of you
may be familiar with this process. I can access this service for personal
use at very good rates, so I would like to use this for front panel
graphics. Has anyone used this before on aluminum? It needs to be coated,
but I think it can draw on anodized surfaces. I don't understand the process
behind anodizing & powder coating, and I have no idea what this looks like
after the laser draws on it. I think with the anodized stuff you run the
laser twice to overdraw the area, but I really have no idea for sure. Any
idea what the result of this will be? I'm guessing black lines, but maybe
with anodized surfaces it takes off the colour and leaves the natural
aluminum??? I don't know if I need a light colour for the aluminum surface,
or a dark colour...I assume light.

Any help would be appreciated; this could be a *very* good way to do front
panel graphics, and this sort of service is becoming ubiquitous. I bet most
of you could find a similiar company close by.

-Darren