Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Engraving aluminum and stainless (laser or carbide bit???)
Posted by
CL
on 2002-09-18 09:40:06 UTC
Scott,
Seeing how you are indicating that you "might" get by with Laser, Have you considered using a "Diamond Drag" technique ?? I have done a lot of this...... Making Stainless Steel switch tags for
Class 8 trucks. Next time you see a Fancy Peterbilt, ask to see if he has any "Rockwood" accesories. We literally did 10's of thousands of these and even though I quit that job, they still pound
several hundreds out per day.
Laser will only discolor an area, Machining via rotary will be messier, and surely eat up tooling faster than ever on Stainless. Add to that, The stainless will likely need coolant for your tooling
to last.
Diamond Drag is simply mounting a Diamond Tipped tool in a spring loaded housing, and "dragging it" on the material. You actually can get some very nice looking designs when using hatches and
"shadows".
The spring loading will help you to run on those curved parts, depending on just what you are trying to do.
You can get diamond drag bits in many places, "Bruce Diamond", Antares, NewHermes, Western Engravers, Mimaki, Roland, Meistergram, Multicam, Dahlgren..... Even Mcmaster-Carr (they actually are the
cheapest at about $7 each in 1/8" size.
As far as remodeling an old Milling machine.... How fast and how many parts are you going to engrave ? You'd be hard pressed to run anywhere near as fast with big Iron as you can with any of the
typical Computerized engravers available. For a part here and there, build a spring holder for a diamond bit and your set.
If you are going to build a machine, I guess I could give a shameful plug for my Plan set....
http://data-cut.com/
With the engraving head and a diamond bit, I've turned more than a few heads when they see just how fast you can fly thru text and graphics. Of course the OEM units work equally well in some areas,
you have to be ready to lay out about $18K for a similar machine, and well, I guess I would have to point out that my machine has some unique things about it, that addressed the quirks/complaints I
had with the OEM ones I used for years.
Smaller machines like from Western engravers, Scott, Roland,...... 8"x 10" ish run under $8000 complete. Maybe one of the OEM's would work for you. E-bay often turns up NewHermes 8x10 machines (3400
series) used for under $3000.
If you would like to see some Diamond Drag on Stainless, send me a private e-mail and I'll send you something so you know what it would look like. I think it is a better choice than either rotary or
laser if the "look" is what you can live with.
Chris L
fuddham wrote:
Seeing how you are indicating that you "might" get by with Laser, Have you considered using a "Diamond Drag" technique ?? I have done a lot of this...... Making Stainless Steel switch tags for
Class 8 trucks. Next time you see a Fancy Peterbilt, ask to see if he has any "Rockwood" accesories. We literally did 10's of thousands of these and even though I quit that job, they still pound
several hundreds out per day.
Laser will only discolor an area, Machining via rotary will be messier, and surely eat up tooling faster than ever on Stainless. Add to that, The stainless will likely need coolant for your tooling
to last.
Diamond Drag is simply mounting a Diamond Tipped tool in a spring loaded housing, and "dragging it" on the material. You actually can get some very nice looking designs when using hatches and
"shadows".
The spring loading will help you to run on those curved parts, depending on just what you are trying to do.
You can get diamond drag bits in many places, "Bruce Diamond", Antares, NewHermes, Western Engravers, Mimaki, Roland, Meistergram, Multicam, Dahlgren..... Even Mcmaster-Carr (they actually are the
cheapest at about $7 each in 1/8" size.
As far as remodeling an old Milling machine.... How fast and how many parts are you going to engrave ? You'd be hard pressed to run anywhere near as fast with big Iron as you can with any of the
typical Computerized engravers available. For a part here and there, build a spring holder for a diamond bit and your set.
If you are going to build a machine, I guess I could give a shameful plug for my Plan set....
http://data-cut.com/
With the engraving head and a diamond bit, I've turned more than a few heads when they see just how fast you can fly thru text and graphics. Of course the OEM units work equally well in some areas,
you have to be ready to lay out about $18K for a similar machine, and well, I guess I would have to point out that my machine has some unique things about it, that addressed the quirks/complaints I
had with the OEM ones I used for years.
Smaller machines like from Western engravers, Scott, Roland,...... 8"x 10" ish run under $8000 complete. Maybe one of the OEM's would work for you. E-bay often turns up NewHermes 8x10 machines (3400
series) used for under $3000.
If you would like to see some Diamond Drag on Stainless, send me a private e-mail and I'll send you something so you know what it would look like. I think it is a better choice than either rotary or
laser if the "look" is what you can live with.
Chris L
fuddham wrote:
> I nned to do some engraving on stainless and aluminum. Some of the
> parts will be round as well as flat. I would like to built/buy a CNC
> engraver. Which would be best a laser or regular rotary cutter?
> Does anyone have and good websites for help and building any of
> these? I have a pretty good machine shop with some CNC capability.
>
> Thanks
>
> Scott
>
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Discussion Thread
fuddham
2002-09-18 06:36:35 UTC
Engraving aluminum and stainless (laser or carbide bit???)
turbulatordude
2002-09-18 06:51:49 UTC
Re: Engraving aluminum and stainless (laser or carbide bit???)
CL
2002-09-18 09:40:06 UTC
Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Engraving aluminum and stainless (laser or carbide bit???)