Lotus UV vs CO2: Which is best for engraving glass?

CO2 needs a lot of preparation for a good result

With the Meta-C UV, the only thing you need to do is place your glass under the laser, and press the green button. The laser then engraves with impeccable clarity and precision and leaves a flawless result with just one pass.

For a good result on a CO2 laser, you have to cover the surface in masking tape or fluid to absorb at least some of the heat from the laser.

This means extensive preparation time is needed to get a CO2 glass engraving to look passable – around three times longer than for a Meta-C UV laser.

Lotus UV uses Cold Processing – where CO2 lasers burn the glass

The shorter wavelength of a Lotus UV laser (355nm) doesn’t put heat into the glass – so there’s no damage or ablation to the surface, just a crystal clear mark.

CO2 however is an extremely hot laser, causing the glass to crack and be damaged. The cracks are what gives it a ‘frosted’ look, but also means the engraving is less clear and more prone to being removed when washing or handling.

UV marks are not only higher quality, but completely permanent. This is what makes Lotus UV a much better glass engraving laser than CO2.

Lotus UV has a spot size 30 times smaller than CO2

Because Lotus UV has a much smaller spot size, on account of both the short wavelength and the specialised beam expanding optic which reduces the spot size by a further 1.67x compared with other laser systems, the detail and clarity you can engrave with a Lotus UV laser is second to none.

CO2 has a large spot size with a lot of heat, and that heat spreads across the engraving as well. So when you want to engrave fine detail, or thin lines, the CO2 laser simply won’t work.

Will any UV laser produce a clear, crisp result?

Not necessarily. As much as UV lasers in general have many advantages over CO2, this doesn’t mean the worst UV laser is better than the best CO2 laser.

In order to achieve these kinds of permanent, sharp engravings on glass, you need a high quality UV laser, and the knowledge of how to use it.

UV lasers with substandard components can absolutely still overheat the glass, causing the fractured, faded engraving look of the CO2. The Meta-C UV is built with highly specified components from the very beginning, like expansion optics and water cooling, that make it the most effective glass engraving solution.

When buying a UV laser, it’s important to make sure the components are high grade, the laser itself is definitely Class 2 rather than Class 4, and the beam quality is extremely high. It’s only with this combination that you get the engraving you see from the Meta-C UV.