Drag Engraving

[martin54]

I know a few people on the forum do drag engraving so really this question is aimed at them.

I have a sprung loaded drag engraving bit which I have been using for a few months, it's done a bit of work but not a huge amount, last job I did with it was really bad so had a look at the engraving bit & discovered that I was able to move the sprung loaded part from side to side which means there must be quite a bit of wear.
Not really much I can do other than buy another drag engraving bit.

So question is has anyone else had this problem at all & if so what did you do about it,, if you haven't then maybe you could suggest a supplier of a bit that is going to last.

[Xxray]

This is the one I use, have performed 100's of etches and only on my 2nd tip

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-4-DIA-DIAMOND ... 3f36a790d1

[dond52]

Here is the one I use. I mainly engrave stainless steel tweezers. Some of them are chrome plated and some are plain. I also engrave brass with it. I purchased a 120 degree tip and a 90 degree tip. I have only used the 120 deg. tip. I have engraved close to 1000 pair of tweezers with it and it is still working just fine. I engrave 16 single line letters on each pair of tweezers. The letters are 0.250 tall. I set zero off the top and set cut depth at 0.300 ". There is 0.500 " of travel in the engraving unit. I feed it at 30 inches per minute. Here is the link : http://www.widgetworksunlimited.com/CNC ... rv-500.htm

[John Murphy]

I have the same tool from widget Works. I've never had any issues. There is a slight amount of side to side play, but I would say no more than a couple of thousands.

This tool has paid for itself many times over, and will be engraving brass tags later on today.

John

[Xxray]

I have tried the widget works model, fine tool and in my opinion its only problem is being way over priced.

[martin54]

Thanks for the links people, will have a look at them, one I bought is a different design & mostly aluminium construction but was from a UK seller which I thought would be better for me. Xxray, looked at the one you posted a link to before I bought the one I have & was a bit worried it might be to long for my machine. I have very little z axis travel & didn't want to buy from across the pond only to find it wouldn't be any good to me.