Full Version: Wide lettering
From: Ian (IANHR) [#1]
3 Nov 2006
To: ALL
This may be kind of a dumb question, but it's something I haven't run into before. When I engraved some big numbers for an aluminum address sign last week, the width of some of the numbers was greater than the diameter of the foot, so of course on the second pass, the foot ran on the bottom of the cut until the edge of the foot hit the edge of the number, so I had a deep valley in the center of some numbers. I cut out some styrene numbers and glued in and recut, and it worked okay, not great, but is there a better way to do it and still use my foot? I find when routing metal it is too hard to keep it flat as removing metal from the top caused warping. I need to do some washroom signs this week with raised symbols on a cut away background and it is for sure going to be the same thing and I know I can't get the depth I need in one pass. Is there a way to get around this or is the styrene the best solution? Thanks in advance for any input.
Ian
From: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#2]
3 Nov 2006
To: Ian (IANHR) [#1] 3 Nov 2006
Do you have one of the "Big Foot" nose depth regulators?
If not, Quality One Engravers carries them.
http://www.Q1engravers.com/engraver_tooling.htm
I "think" they're about an inch wide. Is that wide enough?
From: Harvey only (HARVEY-ONLY) [#3]
3 Nov 2006
To: Ian (IANHR) [#1] 3 Nov 2006
That is called excavating. There are a few solutions.
If the machine is capable do not use a nosecone, but set the depth on the machining program, assuming you can keep the piece perfectly flat.
Use a large depth nose, they are available for most machines.
Use only engraving fonts, the more lines the better. Engraving fonts are designed, (when designed right), to start in the middle and work their way outward.
From: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#4]
3 Nov 2006
To: Harvey only (HARVEY-ONLY) [#3] 3 Nov 2006
From what I gathered, from Ian's post, the background of the plate will be engraved away, leaving raised lettering.
That could mean some very wide areas left for excavating.
In a perfect world, engraving, without a nose cone at all, would be the cure.
From: Ian (IANHR) [#5]
3 Nov 2006
To: Harvey only (HARVEY-ONLY) [#3] 3 Nov 2006
Keeping the material perfectly flat seems totally impossible, I think it has to do with surface tension or something like that. The font I used (I use EngraveLab) was filled from the inside out, which worked great on the first pass. The trouble came on the second. On this next job I have excavate a 4 x 4 inch square and leave washroom symbols raised in the center. I certainly wiil investigate the big foot that you and David suggested, though. I guess the other thing to do is pay close attention to the fill pattern and if possible do all my repeats in the center first then move out. Thanks for the suggestions.
Ian
From: logojohn [#6]
3 Nov 2006
To: Ian (IANHR) [#1] 3 Nov 2006
For hugh numbers and logos, I use a bigfoot that is 1 Inch in diameter but sometimes that still is not enough.
Message about the nose I use.
http://www.engravingetc.org/forum/index.php?webtag=EE&msg=323.12
In our hatchfill options for truetype, you can turn off the connect hatch and have it always go in the same direction, top to bottom so there are no places where it has to go back and do a stroke in the middle.
That way there is always unengraved material on one side that is enough for the bigfoot nose cone or even a regular one to rest on.
Noticed you have a Xenetech 16x24 which is what we have.
menu shortcut [ctrl]and hold and [F11]
In the hatch fill set up UNcheck the "sort"
click the connect hatch so it changes to Unidirectional
Then unclick the bi-directional.
I have better luck also checking the box in the bottom left
to engrave the outline FIRST. Outherwise in some inside corners you may get some strange effects doing it last since there is no material on one side anymore.
EDITED: 3 Nov 2006 by LOGOJOHN
From: Harvey only (HARVEY-ONLY) [#7]
3 Nov 2006
To: Ian (IANHR) [#5] 3 Nov 2006
The second pass is a no-no with a nose and big letters just for the reason you described.
Stress (surface tension) will cause warping with the engraved area rising. No great ideas except to engrave full depth with a very slow XY speed, which may not work on many materials either.
Maybe cut the raised areas out of another piece of material and attach them to a substrate. Easier said than done.
From: PenTrophy (PENINSULATROPHY) [#8]
3 Nov 2006
To: Ian (IANHR) [#5] 4 Nov 2006
From: Harvey only (HARVEY-ONLY) [#9]
3 Nov 2006
To: PenTrophy (PENINSULATROPHY) [#8] 4 Nov 2006
Mark,
Now there is a great idea.
Even laminating another level with tape, then weeding would work.
From: Ian (IANHR) [#10]
4 Nov 2006
To: PenTrophy (PENINSULATROPHY) [#8] Unread
I'm not sure what you mean, I'm working in aluminum, brass and copper and I can't weed them. Do you mean using something on top of the metal?
Ian
From: Harvey only (HARVEY-ONLY) [#11]
4 Nov 2006
To: Ian (IANHR) [#10] 4 Nov 2006
Use two plates of the metal, attached to each other by adhesive tape. Cut the profile through the top plate, then peel off what you do not need including the tape.
Either that or get a CNC router, the very expensive way.
From: Ian (IANHR) [#12]
6 Nov 2006
To: ALL
So here is what I learned on this job. As I explained, on this job it was raised washroom symbols with the background cut away, on 1/8 inch copper plate. By bringing up fills on the screen and breaking (ungroup?) the path, I was a able to cut the areas that were going to be a problem first, so the foot always rode on the uncut surface, then I could cut the other areas after. Fortunately I was able to get enough depth with one pass, but I had cut out styrene fillers to glue into the background in case I had to do another cut. Anyway, the job is nearly done and looks very good. I brought a few large letters up on the screen and found I could do the same thing with them, so next time I'm set. Thanks, everybody, for all your input!
Ian
From: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#13]
6 Nov 2006
To: Ian (IANHR) [#12] 6 Nov 2006
Thank you for the update.
It's always good to hear a success story. :-)