Ed,

The metal badges are engraved using a rotating "Metal" cutter, I use a ¼ round cutter.
2 - 3 passes will be needed to go deep enough to get a color fill.

Stay with the single line fonts like Arial or Helvetica if you can.

Depending on your machine you can use a nose cone or not. The chances are greater of scratching the surface if you don't protect it some how. I think your machine will allow you to control the depth without use of the nose cone (for the more advanced engraver).

You will probably want to use an enamel paint to color fill because it will stay in better and will have a gloss finish. Paint it in and wait a few minutes then wipe it across a section of your "old" yellow pages that you have sprayed some WD-40 on, this will clean the surface without cleaning out the paint you want to keep in. let dry and then just minor polishing and you're done.

Be sure to charge enough for your time........ ;-)

~

Hi Ed

For paint filling you need to use a rotating cutter (a carbide cutter with spindle on) - not a diamond.

(Depending on the metal. e.g. anodised aluminium you could use a diamond and use an oxidiser to blacken the engraving rather than deep engraving - paint filling looks much better though)

A depth of about 0.25mm (0.01" ) is generally sufficient for small characters requiring paint filling.

The tip size of your cutter depends on the height of the lettering you need to achieve and also the font used.

The number of passes will be affected by the metal you are engraving, and the capabilities of your engraver. On my machines I generally engrave brass / aluminium in two passes (the first pass doing the majority of the cut and the second cutting a little more / 'cleaning up). I can get away with a single pass with these machine. I have been using 3 passes on hard metals like stainless steel. I have a lightweight machine that needs many passes which I tend not to use for anything nowadays other than diamond work. Not familiar with your engraver to advise.

Do you need a nose cone:
- Is the surface of the item you will be engraving perfectly flat?
- Is your engraving bed perfectly level (not an issue for small badges usually)?
- Can your machine engrave without a nose cone (e.g. can you stop the engraving head 'floating' by locking it), and can the software control the depth of cut?

If yes to all of these then you can engrave without a nose cone. If any of these is a no then you will have big problems getting a consistent depth of cut and the nose cone is needed.

To minimise scratching use a vacuum to remove all the chips, and make sure your nose cone is smooth. You can also mask the surface of the metal to stop any scratching. I use a little bit of vinyl whenever using a nosecone with polished metals. Masking tape may work as well. I have always used a thin vinyl as it tends not to clog and stick to the cutter.

Use the engraving fonts supplied - a single line font would be suitable based on the images you posted e.g. a single line helvetica. Are you using engravelab? If so look through the line fonts.

There are some recent posts on the actual paint filling and David had some excellent images on the technique. I never mask when paint filling - always wipe on, wipe off with a 'squeegie', allow to try for 10 / 15 mins and then clean the surface with some thinners.

just my brain dump!
Andrew