A Digital Fabrication Valentine: Micro marking a Marriage Proposal on a Microscope Slide

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A Digital Fabrication Valentine: Micro marking a Marriage Proposal on a Microscope Slide

Micro Marriage proposal laser etched on glass.

Like a lot of men, Brad K. wanted to propose to his intended, Elizabeth in a unique and unforgettable way.  He thought about all the proposals he researched online but none seemed specific to Elizabeth.  Then Brad says, “It hit me–the perfect way to propose without her seeing it coming.”  And so we have a cool story of high tech digital fabrication meeting romance.

Brad recalls that “a few months before Christmas Elizabeth expressed an interest in buying a microscope.  I thought she was kidding, but she persisted so I decided to give her one as a present.  She is so adorable when looking at the prepared slides my two teenage daughters gave her.”   And so Brad decided he would shrink his marriage proposal down to microscopic size so that she’d have to read it with her microscope.

Who else but a micro-marking expert like Potomac could accomplish such a task?  With 30 years experience, we can create feature sizes as small as one micron.  More importantly, we have developed the expertise to deal with the unique challenges glass presents.  Glass is fragile and our manufacturing processes have to work without cracking or worse, breakage of the part.  Laser micro-marking is often the method of choice as it is non-contact, and so puts less stress on the mechanical properties of thin glass.

Micro Marriage proposal laser etched on glass next to a “Forever” postage stamp.

Potomac has also developed ways to overcome the unique fixturing problems with glass. Due to its fragile nature, fixturing has to be designed to be robust enough to hold the glass firmly, yet not introduce uneven stresses that can lead to damage such as cracking or chip-out of the glass substrate. We’ve also developed sophisticated post-process cleaning to eliminate any debris generated in the micro machining.

So we’re pretty sure that when Elizabeth reads Brad’s marriage proposal on her microscope slide, the marks will be crisp and clean on a perfect background.  With that, how can she say no?

For more detail on our laser digital fabrication in glass, read this recent article we wrote for Commercial Micro Manufacturing International Magazine.

High precision marking as small as a few microns is possible.

The happy couple! Brad and Beth.