Materials Components Finishes & Marking    

Engrave and Fill

Protocase Engrave and Fill is a form of marking that is compliant with the following standards:

• • MIL-STD-130
• • A-A-56023D
• • A-A-00208D (US Department of Defense Property)

To create Engrave and Fill marking, your parts are laser marked or machined engraved, and then the laser-engraved sections are filled with ink, according to your specific requirements. The ink fill sits below the edges of the area that has been marked – it does not go all the way from the bottom of the laser-marked area to the top of the substrate.

The end result is a durable and striking form of marking that meets MIL-STD-130 and other standards.

Protocase Engrave and Fill is offered as part of our standard 2-3 day leadtime*.

We are currently offering Engrave and Fill text on your custom parts, panels and enclosures. (Stay tuned – we are working on adding logos and large areas to our Engrave and Fill capabilities).

Materials

Engrave and Fill is available on aluminum.

Finishes

We can ink fill any substrate and finish that already qualifies for either laser marking or machined engraving.

In addition to no finish aluminum, you can apply Engrave and Fill on many different finishes:

• → Powdercoat
• → Grained Finish
• → Media Blasting
• → Vibratory Finish
• → Anodizing
• → Chemical Film Conversion

(Note: For anodizing and chemical film conversion, the process of laser marking or engraving happens prior to the finishing process. Following the selected finishing process, the parts are then ink filled to complete the Engrave and Fill process.)

Fill Colors

For your Engrave and Fill ink colors, you may choose from any of our stocked silkscreen colors.

In order to create the best contrast (which is required by MIL-STD-130), we recommend choosing white or black ink fill, depending on the finish of your parts.

Limitations & Constraints

Maximum Part Size	28” x 31” x 6.5” (711.2mm x 787.4mm x 165.1mm)
Minimum Material Thickness	0.051” (1.295mm)
Minimum Engraving Depth	0.015” (0.381mm)
Minimum Line Thickness	0.03” (0.762mm)
Minimum Spacing Between Letters	0.025” (0.635mm)

• • Depending on the style and height of the font you select, your line thickness must be at least 0.030” (0.762mm)
• • Positional tolerance for Engrave and Fill is the same as our Laser Marking tolerance: +/- 0.020” (+/- 0.508mm)

*For in-stock materials and finishes.

Ink Fill Font Constraints

We recommend using uppercase letters as much as possible because lowercase letters have varying widths in a stroke.

Adobe Illustrator

(Character spacing can be adjusted to meet spacing constraints.)

Font	Font Weight	Minimum Size	Minimum Character Spacing
Arial	Regular	25pt	55
Arial	Bold	17pt	90
Arial	Black	12pt	75
Century Gothic	Regular	31pt	15
Century Gothic	Bold	17pt	60
DinPro	Regular	30pt	25
DinPro	Medium	22pt	50
DinPro	Bold	17pt	75
DinPro	Black	14pt	100

Protocase Designer

(Font sizes are bigger because we rely on the font’s natural character spacing.)

Font	Font Weight	Minimum Size	Character Spacing
Myriad Pro	Regular	26pt	0
Myriad Pro	Bold	26pt	0
Myriad Pro Light	Semi Bold	25pt	0
Arial	Regular	30pt	0
Arial	Bold	25pt	0
Arial	Black	18pt	0
Century Gothic	Regular	32pt	0
Century Gothic	Bold	25pt	0

NOTE: We have only highlighted the most commonly used fonts above. We are capable of working with a variety of other fonts as well. Also, if possible, avoid using serif fonts, as they tend to cause errors. Instead, opt for sans serif fonts with consistent stroke thickness.