I had a lady call the other day looking to have some spoons she bought in Sweden or someplace, engraved. A jeweler told her they had to be hand engraved as the engraving was done inside the curved part. I told her I couldn't do it but after thinking about it for a few days - is this the type thing I should have asked here if someone wanted it and sent it out?

I'm thinking that providing a service sometimes means just that, even if you don't do it yourself or make much profit on it.

Any advice for me?

Jim

Jim,

Your IS400 Volume should handle that one with ease. When the jeweler said inside the curve, did he or she mean the scoop side of the spoon? If so, how large of an area is to be engraved?

1. Do the layout as normal to hit the item in the right place.
2. Set your depth in the machine driver to .100 and the lift to at least .300.
3. Send it to the engraver.
4. 'Z' at the highest point on the spoon.
5. Engrave the first pass.
6. Make any letters that did not engrave fully a different color.
7. Send only the new color and 'Z' to the highest point of those letters.
8. Repeat 6 and 7 and you will have all engrved. (You should not need more than three passes hopefully.

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

When you finally understand it completely... it changes.

David and Harvey,

Soooooo much to learn so little time. I'll have to call her back and get more info. It confuses me a little though. On the laser we deal with depth of field and adjust the focus to adapt to a reange or depth of field which will be in focus. On the engraver you have a straight shaft coming down into an arc or onto an arc, depending on which side of bowl you are trying on. I assume then that there is a limit to the number of letters you can do as you approach the edge of the bowl and the angle between the arc on the tool becomes too great.

I'll have to put the changing colors on my learn to do list now and I'll call the customer back. I'll have to confirm it but I think the spoons are not replaceable and that really concerned me.

Thanks!

Jim

David,
I used your tape method on the $ shaped moneyclip and it worked grrrrrreat. If I can get hold of the spoon lady, I will definitely use the tape. The moneyclip came out great but for only my 2nd mechanical paying order it was a beast front and back. For you guys it would have been a walk in the park or a day at the beach but I sweated it until I was done. The cust loved it so I'm happy now.
Jim

David,
Found the lady with the spoons, she found a jewler yesterday who thinks he can do them so I screwed that one up. Will take some spoons from the drawer and practice, good opp to learn something new.
Thanks to all!
Jim

Jim
An investment in a pen writer from Q1 will save you
lots of sweat. Gravograph also has one and I think
the one Q1 is longer and you can set it up just as you
do your drag cutter.

I just put a piece of scotch Magic tape on the item
I'm going to engrave and write on it with the pen
writer. If every thing looks good put in the diamond
set the pressure. Engrave

Sure works great for jewelry items, we do the engraving
for 3 different jewelry stores.

Ed

Ed,
Thanks for the info! I hate showing my greenness but I seem to be pretty good at it and we all have to be good at something or we wouldn't be here. What is Q1?
Thanks,
Jim

Q1engravers it is! Thanks! I had done a search on Q1 and on QualityOne and on Engravers but not in the right combination.
Jim

Jim,

I use the Q1 Penwriter (whatever it's named). It's a great little tool. There are the other economy methods mentioned above that work just fine in a pinch. I'd just mention to your wife that it would make for a nice stocking stuffer. :D

Dave,
I ordered abunch of stuff from Q1 including the penwriter. I hear from someone else the pen thigies break a lot but will give it a try anyhow. If I was using a pen today instead of the real graver, I would not be looking for a jeweler to fix my inadvertent engrave.

I wonder if anyone has used their Heated Pen Foil Marking? It sounds interesting.

Thanks!

Jim

Jim,

I use my Q1 Penwriter almost daily. It's 6 years old, but as good as new. If it ever does break, it will not be from product defect, but from operator error.

I know that John Stangle purchased and has used the Heated Pen Fol Marker. He indicated that it did a decent job with regular text, but larger fill areas generated very mixed results. He said he still hasn't used it much.

Back to work. Christmas deadlines calling! :-) :-) :-) :-)

I have the IS400 also.. You mentioned changing the color of letters that didn't engrave and then just engraving those...
Didn't know anything about that... would you be able to further explain that point? Thanks much ...
Right now I just re-engrave the whole line if something misses...

Best,
Steve

On the left hand toolbar is an icon with three color squares right near the bottom of the bar. Click on that, it is the tool selection and setup pop-up.

First highlight the letters, then double click on the color to change it. You have to then select 'Properties' and set it up as another bit, making sure you set the depth and on the other tab set the motor and the bottom icon which is pause to change tools. Why it defaults to 0.000 depth and not to pause when you set up another tool is beyond me.

This is in Gravostyle98, not sure if it is there in the other Gravostyle versions.

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

When you finally understand it completely... it changes.

Thanks.. I'll have to try it next time I "fazool" a line.

Steve