Engraving Bits

[Rburke]

What type of engraving bits would be most useful for kids puzzles and small signs for their rooms?

Thanks

[scottp55]

Onsrud bits are great, but you need to determine angle and flat.....30-60 degree are pretty versatile, and a .01" flat is good for VCarving, and with a flat depth set, 20% stepover leaves a smooth pocket if entered as an engraving bit.
http://ballewsaw.com/catalogsearch/resu ... raving+bit
An inexpensive way to find what the most useful angles for you are, might be this assortment of 2F in 1/8" shank.
All have a .012" tip except the 30 degree sharp(.006"tip and I've had bad luck with the tips breaking, but use the standard tip 30 all the time)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SET-OF-10-MICRO ... iPQPUDHvEg
We've bought many bits from Drillman1, and Always had prompt service, and the 60degree is our workhorse for buttons.
scott

[Rburke]

Thanks Scott, I've only used a few v-carve bits so far - the 30 degree at .005 and .01 mostly, but all I've worked on has been very small text (.125" to .25" tall) and small images of an inch or so. I appreciate the tip on an inexpensive way to find out about different bits. Now that I am doing a lot of engraving, I am always buying more. Need to start sending them in for sharpening. I tried a 60 degree at .025" just recently and like it for outlining images but the kind of detail we are trying to produce right now just gets blown out with that bit. I am looking at larger engravings like things for kids rooms - signs, puzzles, ... that have bolder lines and larger cleared areas. I have not used the large area clearing feature on V-Carve Pro yet, no application to what I do right now. That is something else I am interested in. First thing I noticed about engraving is how long it takes compared to the 2D cutouts that we have been producing for the last year or so. We have limited experience with engraving, very interesting but it is driving me crazy. All we have used so far is soft maple and it seems we have to baby it quite a bit to keep from having the smaller detail from disappearing. Production time seems to long but I have not found a way to decrease it. Different wood maybe? Need to stay with something that is light in color and tight grained - and not to expensive! I have also been wondering about applying a surface treatment (shellac maybe?) to penetrate the wood grain and hopefully help keep it together.

Thanks again

Roy

[scottp55]

Roy, One thing that really cuts times down is to keep your Z1 and Z2 as low as your machine can go.
For instance Z1 for me is normally .15-.2 , and Z2 at .02"
Modify for your Stinger, but you should be close.
For font smaller than .15" I've had good luck with"Franklin Gothic Demi"
Maybe ditch the soft Maple, and go for a denser wood like Hard Maple(although fuzzies almost always require a second cut...second pass can just me a duplicated toolpath that XY moves are 40-80% faster, and Z plunge can be moved up to 60IPM)
Try using a very stiff brush to remove any residual fuzzies, and use a 400-600G with a hard pad on your ROS, or hand sand pad.
scott