Al Brown Posted October 23, 2021 Share #1 Posted October 23, 2021 (edited) Advertisement (gone after registration) Has anybody tried to laser engrave a black paint Leica M/LTM? What could the potential perks be and how does the black paint behave/hold around the engraving? Pictures and field experience welcome! Edited October 23, 2021 by Al Brown Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted October 23, 2021 Posted October 23, 2021 Hi Al Brown, Take a look here Laser engraving black paint Leicas. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
Al Brown Posted December 1, 2021 Author Share #2 Posted December 1, 2021 (edited) Well, since NOBODY from the community did it - I even contacted Mr. Douglas So who wrote the "Black Paint Leica" book and he never did it either - I listened to the reassuring words of my professional engraver and bit the bullet on my Leica M10-R Perfect results (3 passes) and no cracks whatsoever. Painted the exposed brass white with arcylic paint. This is one of the engravings on the camera with my initials - bottom plate. Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Edited December 1, 2021 by Al Brown 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/325640-laser-engraving-black-paint-leicas/?do=findComment&comment=4323836'>More sharing options...
dkmoore Posted December 3, 2021 Share #3 Posted December 3, 2021 On 12/1/2021 at 7:28 AM, Al Brown said: Well, since NOBODY from the community did it - I even contacted Mr. Douglas So who wrote the "Black Paint Leica" book and he never did it either - I listened to the reassuring words of my professional engraver and bit the bullet on my Leica M10-R Perfect results (3 passes) and no cracks whatsoever. Painted the exposed brass white with arcylic paint. This is one of the engravings on the camera with my initials - bottom plate. Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Is your rangefinder still aligned? 🤞 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Brown Posted December 3, 2021 Author Share #4 Posted December 3, 2021 (edited) 3 hours ago, dkmoore said: Is your rangefinder still aligned? 🤞 Absolutely, it is a LASER engravement, it causes absolutely no physical shock, stress or movement to the body (unlike regular engravement). Edited December 3, 2021 by Al Brown 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pptmstr Posted December 5, 2021 Share #5 Posted December 5, 2021 This is amazing! Thanks for sharing. I would love to see a couple more shots of the engravings, if you'd be willing to share. Also a link to the service and pricing? I have an M10-R Black Paint and been thinking about this too. Did you have to provide vector files of the fonts / engravings? Very cool stuff, thanks again, Mihai 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Brown Posted December 6, 2021 Author Share #6 Posted December 6, 2021 7 hours ago, pptmstr said: This is amazing! Thanks for sharing. I would love to see a couple more shots of the engravings, if you'd be willing to share. Also a link to the service and pricing? I have an M10-R Black Paint and been thinking about this too. Did you have to provide vector files of the fonts / engravings? Very cool stuff, thanks again, Mihai Here is one more shot from the back of my M10-R. It is still a mystery that nobody here from the community did a laser engraving on their black paint Leicas. I thought this would be as frequent as the engravings on the regular anodized cameras. Regular "old school" engraving I have seen, but I did not want to do it on my camera, especially not near the rangefinder in order to not push it out of alignment. Laser was the only option here but some folks had theories about cracks in BP etc. I used my trusty local engraver, he has done my M240 silver before and he reassured me that the BP is perfectly OK to hit with laser. I provided him the SVG vectors and we picked the exact spot and dimensions for each engraving. There were 3 laser passes per engraving to reach the camera brass and make the grooves of the engraved text as thin as possible yet deep enough to hold the acrylic white paint I carefully applied afterwards. The total cost for three engravings was under 50 euros. Just speak to any trustworthy engraver with experience, they will surely do this "a la carte" surgery for you. Just a disclaimer: for me, this is my tool for daily use and I want it to look exactly like this.... not a care in the world for resale value. YMMV of course. Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/325640-laser-engraving-black-paint-leicas/?do=findComment&comment=4326962'>More sharing options...
pptmstr Posted December 12, 2021 Share #7 Posted December 12, 2021 Advertisement (gone after registration) Very cool, thanks for sharing. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted January 4, 2022 Share #8 Posted January 4, 2022 On 12/6/2021 at 6:57 AM, Al Brown said: ... It is still a mystery that nobody here from the community did a laser engraving on their black paint Leicas......I used my trusty local engraver......I provided him the SVG vectors and we picked the exact spot and dimensions for each engraving...Just speak to any trustworthy engraver with experience, they will surely do this "a la carte" surgery for you... Interesting to see the Swedish 'Three Crown' logo. Would you care to enlighten us, Al? As it happens I was intending to do this sort of thing when I was looking out for a Silver-Chrome M Monochrom (it was mentioned it in a thread at the time). In my case I was going to have my signature engraved plus a few small details and had got as far as having sourced my engraver, prepared the artwork and had it all priced and ready to go as soon as I found a suitable body. Unfortunately - in terms of having done all this preparation - when I did find 'my' S-C M Mono it had been fabricated as part of the A la Carte program and already had the classic Leica script (etc.) on the top-plate so my plans went out the window. If I ever do get a 'Plain-Top' Leica I will almost certainly carry out these plans. Philip. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Brown Posted January 4, 2022 Author Share #9 Posted January 4, 2022 40 minutes ago, pippy said: Interesting to see the Swedish 'Three Crown' logo. Would you care to enlighten us, Al? Just some very private family military history thingy. Well spotted. You can see it both engraved and in real life here on this image from Malmö. Of course the engraving is a genuine Brandt logo. Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! 4 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/325640-laser-engraving-black-paint-leicas/?do=findComment&comment=4344916'>More sharing options...
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