Engraving

[knowlzy0791]

Cannot seem to navigate to the "steel" section of Onsrud's bits. Can someone suggest a good steel engraving bit?

Not doing anything fancy. Just simple names and numbers about .03-.05 deep. Perhaps even an end mill would work and be quicker?

[FixitMike]

I would suggest a diamond drag tool for engraving. I bought mine on E-Bay for $65.

[knowlzy0791]

Would I need an entire new collet for something like this?

[ChrisInEstes]

Would I need an entire new collet for something like this?

It depends on your collet. I have 1/8", 1/4", 3/8", & 1/2" collets for my spindle.

I bought the 3/8" collet version of this drag bit off ebay. It came recommended to me from Xxray here on the forums.

eBay link to 1/4" collet Diamond Drag Bit: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-4-DIA-DIAMOND ... 3f42057525

Do an eBay search for Diamond Drag Bits... There are others.

Chris

[knowlzy0791]

Would I need an entire new collet for something like this?

It depends on your collet. I have 1/8", 1/4", 3/8", & 1/2" collets for my spindle.

I bought the 3/8" collet version of this drag bit off ebay. It came recommended to me from Xxray here on the forums.

eBay link to 1/4" collet Diamond Drag Bit: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-4-DIA-DIAMOND ... 3f42057525

Do an eBay search for Diamond Drag Bits... There are others.

Chris

I was looking at that one. I have a 1/4" collet right now. All my end mills are 1/4" in diameter. Wasn't sure if a new collet was needed because of the "spring-loaded" part.

Thanks for the help!

[glenninvb]

knowlzy,

.030 - .050 is deep for a diamond drag, I've used regular half-round carbide on coated steel award plaque material but only .005- .010 deep (single pass @ 100ipm)
Coolant prolongs life, but can cut dry (my feed rates, much higher than recommended ) @15000 rpm

Do you need to cut that deep?
For light engraving the diamond would probably be the best choice as its spring loaded and should last a long time

http://www.2linc.com/engraving_assistan ... speeds.htm
http://www.2linc.com/engraving_tools_tough_tip.htm

[knowlzy0791]

There is no "regulation" on how deep it needs to be. So long as it is easily visible and readable. Never messed with this before so I do not know how well any of the depths will be visible?

knowlzy,

.030 - .050 is deep for a diamond drag, I've used regular half-round carbide on coated steel award plaque material but only .005- .010 deep (single pass @ 100ipm)
Coolant prolongs life, but can cut dry (my feed rates, much higher than recommended ) @15000 rpm

Do you need to cut that deep?
For light engraving the diamond would probably be the best choice as its spring loaded and should last a long time

http://www.2linc.com/engraving_assistan ... speeds.htm
http://www.2linc.com/engraving_tools_tough_tip.htm

[ChrisInEstes]

Whatever type of tooling you end up trying, make sure you run practice pieces so you don't end up ruining your "real" piece.

Chris

[glenninvb]

There is no "regulation" on how deep it needs to be. So long as it is easily visible and readable. Never messed with this before so I do not know how well any of the depths will be visible?

knowlzy,

.030 - .050 is deep for a diamond drag, I've used regular half-round carbide on coated steel award plaque material but only .005- .010 deep (single pass @ 100ipm)
Coolant prolongs life, but can cut dry (my feed rates, much higher than recommended ) @15000 rpm

Do you need to cut that deep?
For light engraving the diamond would probably be the best choice as its spring loaded and should last a long time

http://www.2linc.com/engraving_assistan ... speeds.htm
http://www.2linc.com/engraving_tools_tough_tip.htm

I'm not sure how deep a dia/drag cuts in steel? guessing .002-.003 @ moderate pressure. I'm sure someone else can answer
there was a recent topic on engraving lighters, and you can fill the text for more visability

[glenninvb]

Oh, and to elaborate, the painted steel plaque material I mentioned was bought on EBay as painted brass engraving stock, turns out it was painted- brass plated steel laser stock I didn't use, but the conical carbide bit cut it nice........... Knew it was too cheap

[Leo]

When I worked at a large very well known medical device manufacturer we engraved all the 17-4PH stainless steel parts with a 1/32 ball end mill. Spindle RPM 15,000 and a feedrate of 5 IPM. DOC=.005 We engraved miles and miles of text that way.

[knowlzy0791]

When I worked at a large very well known medical device manufacturer we engraved all the 17-4PH stainless steel parts with a 1/32 ball end mill. Spindle RPM 15,000 and a feedrate of 5 IPM. DOC=.005 We engraved miles and miles of text that way.

Thanks! I will probably go this route then, I'm used to end mills.

[olf20]

I done some of my best engraving with 90 and 120 degree
v bits. I don't remember the sizes but they had 1/4 shanks.

olf20 / Bob

[Barrya]

THe touch plate does not see the diamond tip, how is the proper way to set zero z with either a diamond drag bit or a spring loaded diamond drag bit?

[Mobius]

THe touch plate does not see the diamond tip, how is the proper way to set zero z with either a diamond drag bit or a spring loaded diamond drag bit?

I manually zero mine. Bring it down until it makes contact with the top of the material and zero it out.