Full Version: Best cutter for general purpose
From: Mike (SPACE_ENGRAVERS) [#1]
25 Mar 2007
To: ALL
Hello all,
We just purchased a mechanical engraver ( Roland EGX-30 Desktop Engraver ) and wanted to know what size cutter would be the best all purpose cutter to use with this.
We plan on using this for plastic and anodized aluminum for craft fairs and such.
Thanks everyone.
Kerri
From: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#2]
25 Mar 2007
To: Mike (SPACE_ENGRAVERS) [#1] 25 Mar 2007
It's difficult to say what cutter will be the optimum size, because that would depend on the average size letter, logo, or image that you'll engrave.
You should have a variety of cutter widths, with a small variety being, .010, .020, .030, .040, .060, .090, for starters.
Obviously, the smaller tip widths would be for small letters.
From: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#3]
25 Mar 2007
To: Mike (SPACE_ENGRAVERS) [#1] 25 Mar 2007
From: Harvey only (HARVEY-ONLY) [#4]
25 Mar 2007
To: Mike (SPACE_ENGRAVERS) [#1] 25 Mar 2007
Cutters for plastic and aluminum are very different. For plastics you will need a FLX or ACR cutter, (ACR stands for acrylic). They are almost identical, but after cutting just a few names into acrylic, the cutter is not sharp enough to use on flexible engraving stock anymore. It will however still work on acrylic for some time.
Aluminum requires a BAL, (Brass and Aluminum), cutter, or a diamond drag, or a diamond burnisher. You would be very unhappy with the results using a carbide burnisher. Carbide and aluminum do not like each other.
From: Mike (SPACE_ENGRAVERS) [#5]
25 Mar 2007
To: ALL
Thanks for the help guys. Can you tell me where I can read about which cutters to get for which materials, when to engrave verses diamond drag, etc. All the basics of mecanical engraving...we've been lasering but this is all new to us.
thanks
From: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#6]
25 Mar 2007
To: Mike (SPACE_ENGRAVERS) [#5] 25 Mar 2007
Here's some information for you to digest. :-)
http://www.antaresinc.net/2004EngFact.html
From: Andrew [#7]
26 Mar 2007
To: Mike (SPACE_ENGRAVERS) [#5] 30 Mar 2007
If you have a good selection of engraving fonts, you can reduce the amount of cutters you will initially need. When I started out I had about 4 cutter sizes and by selecting a single line, 3 line or 5 line version of the same font, allowed me to engrave quite a good span of engraving sizes. Also if your software allows use of truetype fonts you can use these and create a fill. Downside of not having a good selection is that your engraving time will increase as will cutter wear (often dramatically).
There are some resources about such as "The Engravers bible" by Rich Zydonik which is a basic guide to Mechanical engraving. I bought a copy recently - it would of been really useful to me about 2 years ago - now with knowledge gained through experience it still has some useful info. I believe there is also a DVD/Video available.
Regards
Andrew
EDITED: 26 Mar 2007 by ANDREW
From: Harvey only (HARVEY-ONLY) [#8]
26 Mar 2007
To: Mike (SPACE_ENGRAVERS) [#5] 30 Mar 2007
From: UncleSteve [#9]
26 Mar 2007
To: Harvey only (HARVEY-ONLY) [#8] 26 Mar 2007
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if David gets HIS little ducklings in a row, that is.... (devil)