What is Laser Stippling

Laser Stippling refers to the process of using high powered lasers to essentially engrave texture into the frame or grips of pistols.  The high power of the laser burns or cuts away the material with extreme precision allowing you to create beautiful patterns and artwork while still creating texture.  Different materials require different settings and even different lasers to be engraved.  Laser stippling is most common on polymer frame pistols particularly the Glock factory Black frame models as the make up of their polymer tends to engrave very well and the most consistent.  Not all "firearm" polymers can be laser stippled/ engraved as some have tendencies to just simply melt.  With all the variance in polymer materials and engraving machines its nearly impossible to discuss specific parameters, so we will focus more on the overall process!

Prepping a Glock for Laser Stippling

The first step in laser stippling a Glock frame is to disassemble it.  This will make it much easier to work with. In most cases it will be getting some sort of a finish after stippling as well and will need to be stripped anyways.  

After disassembly, you will want to remove the factory texture.  If you engrave over the existing factory texture, the final product will not likely come out well and look very unprofessional. 

Their are a lot of different methods that people use for this.  Its all personal preference.  The key is to get the frame clean and smooth as if the texture had never been there to begin with.  If your Stippling pattern is really busy, you may be able to get away with being a little lazy here, reciprocally, if your pattern or design has a lot of bare space, the cleaner you can prep it the better as imperfections will be visible in the final product.  One of the more common methods for texture removal is to knock down the big aggressive texture with a sanding drum on a Dremel, and then finesse the surface with a Mini Air Polishing Buffer and a progression of attachment pads. 

	Dremel with Sanding and Polishing Attachments
	Mini Air Polishing Buffer with Attachments

Laser Stippling

Once the texture is removed and the frame is nice and smooth, it is ready for engraving.  Engraving machines and software vary but the process is pretty much the same.  The machine reads vector files and and converts that to its preferred language or code which it the follows to engrave the design.  So basically, we need to create vector files of the stippling pattern or artwork that we want to engrave.  The design will need to be sized and proportioned to the exact dimensions that we are wanting to engrave. 

To save time in this process, we have created laser engraving and stippling templates for all full size, compact, and subcompact Glock models.  The templates are already perfectly scaled and proportioned for all the engravable locations of the corresponding Glock models.  This saves an immense amount of time and setup as all we have to do is create our design or pattern within the borders of the templates.  

To get going even quicker, we also offer full pre-built designs.  These take away the need for any graphic work as all you have to do is import the vector files into your laser engraving software, and get to engraving!

The engraving process is pretty strait forward. The part to be engraved, in this case the frame, is placed and secured on the platform table under the laser and the table is adjusted to level the part within the peak focal range.  The part is then oriented on the table to align the design to the appropriate location for the engraving.  The settings for the engraving are input into the software, and its on to zapping!  As mentioned earlier, specific settings vary greatly by machine so some of that comes down to in house testing to dial in the best settings for your setup.  

Laser stipple projects look best when finished with some type of coating like Cerakote, KG, or DuraCoat.  The process for this is typically to abrasive blast the frame followed by cleaning and degreasing, and then spraying the desired finish.  Once cured and reassembled, the project is ready to function test and put back in service.

Benefits of Laser Stippling

Now that we talked about what laser stippling is and how to do it, the question that still remains is why do it? 

• Decorative: Most projects are stippled for decorative reasons or aesthetics.  The precision of laser engraving opens up so many possibilities for amazing effects and decorative artwork that its just hard to pass up.
• Identification: The customization opportunity that comes with laser stippling can also serve for identification purpose.
• Functional: Yes, it can have a functional benefit.  Factory texture especially on the gen 4 and 5 Glock models is very abrasive and wildly uncomfortable to wear concealed which is obviously the most appropriate way to carry for civilian use.  Removing the texture or sanding it down is not overly compromising, but arguments can be and are often made about how it affects grip retention.  I would counter that but pointing to proper grip positioning on a pistol applying majority of the force to the front and back straps of the grip and not the sides.  In the case of laser stippling however, the argument is mute as it still provides the desired texture but much more mild for concealed carry. 
• Profitable: Laser stippling projects are great projects for engraving shops.  Once you have the process down, the projects can be done in a timely enough manner to be profitable.  Additionally, most designs and patterns are re-used many times over with little to know modifications required or requested. 

Final Thoughts

Laser stippling projects are fun projects to do with unlimited artistic possibilities that allow you to customize the pistol with beautiful aesthetics, while gaining the functional benefit of making it more comfortable for concealed carry wear without compromising grip retention.