Engraved name and data plates.

Graziano · #1 25th Jul 2010, 03:49 PM

This is a semi commercial posting so I apologise in advance, if the moderators see fit to delete or move it then do so as necessary.

I've been working on processes to perform engraving to make my own data plates for projects such as my Graziano lathe rebuild and I'm at the stage where the bugs are worked out. This means I can now make high quality engravings in aluminium, brass, stainless steel and mild steel markings with a decent degree of accuracy down to letters about 2mm tall. At this stage I'm looking for people who need a reproduction data plate or label for that obscure machine restoration project. This way I get the practice I need and people get an otherwise unobtainable dataplate or label.

If anyone is interested they can message me for details. The costs involved will be approximately $0.20 per square cm for up to 2mm aluminium , $0.25 per sq. cm of 0.7mm stainless and $0.35 per cm of 1mm thick brass. This includes paint fill of the characters/background and set up of the artwork.

One possible application is custom protractor plates and degree circles for setting angles, complete with vernier.

TIA,
Mark

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Anorak Bob · #2 25th Jul 2010, 06:40 PM

Hello Mark,

Sounds great. Do you have any photos of the engraving you have done?

Can you engrave on cylindrical surfaces or are you restricted to flat surfaces only?

How fine a line can you engrave?

The reason for the questions is that I want to make a couple of fittings for my Schaublin mill and engraving would be the only acceptable (to me) method of creating the divisions required.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards Bob.

Graziano · #3 25th Jul 2010, 08:43 PM

I dropped a load of protractor plates and index wheels off to a guy I engrave them for so I'm kind of short of samples at the moment. I'll go back tomorrow and and take some photos. A cylindrical surface is theoretically possible with a bit of mucking about.

The first photo here is a aluminium test engraving plate for my lathe, which will be done in brass eventually, the smallest text is 2mm tall. The second is of some aluminium parts I etch for a guy, the parts in blue are masked off but not etched and have about a 5cm radius and show the finest detail I'm doing so far. All blue items in the second pic are rejects due to defects in the film.

100_2214.jpg 100_1937.jpg

Groggy · #4 25th Jul 2010, 09:20 PM

This is great! I am involved in restoring four Woodfast lathes at the moment and they are all missing their speed charts. Having them made up like this pic

would be brilliant. I'll head off and see if I can find some original pics.

Anorak Bob · #5 25th Jul 2010, 09:24 PM

Nice work Mark,

Here are a couple of photographs of one of the scales for my mill that I wouldn't mind trying to replicate. The quality evident in your test pieces would certainly be in keeping with the original. The scales that I would like to make would be metric. The original scales are anodised aluminium. Given the hardness of the anodising, would they be best anodised after engraving?

Regards Bob.

Master Splinter · #6 25th Jul 2010, 09:41 PM

What format artwork do you require?

Graziano · #7 25th Jul 2010, 10:02 PM

Bob: I should be able to anodise the aluminium afterwards, I'll include a pic of stainless steel as that would be pretty durable but possibly less contrasty than aluminium. I found bead blasting can give a nice frosty finish to aluminium which makes it easier to read and I assume stainless will be the same too. the finest linewidth is about 1/3mm at present as the longer I etch the wider/deeper the line becomes.

Master Splinter: I draw the artwork in Corel Draw! which lets me import a scan of the original and draw the linework and text over the top clean and distortion free. I may be wrong but I think TIFF files have built in scaling information to actual size.

Groggy: The more information the better with regard to physical dimensions and fonts/letter sizes etc. The trick would be for me to work up the artwork and email it so you can print it and proofread as well as check for fit before final etching, I can also etch dimples for drilling instead of a centre punch.

So a Corel file is first preference, followed by a scan in TIFF format, followed by a scan of the original plate on the flatbed scanner with steel rules for scale. I will need a colour photo/scan for painting information. As much information as possible such as whether it needs to bend around a curved surface would also be handy.

Anorak Bob · #8 26th Jul 2010, 01:27 AM

Thank you very much for the reply Mark.

Regards Bob.

Groggy · #9 26th Jul 2010, 10:51 PM

Mark, I am interested in getting four plates like the one shown, the size is about 90x100mm, I'll get exact measurements for you shortly.

Is it possible to make something like this?

Graziano · #10 27th Jul 2010, 01:53 AM

Hi Groggy, What you have there are ink silk screened onto anodised aluminium as opposed to engraving, the images are tiny so it's a bit hard to see detail. There would be two options I can do:

One: Is to replace the red border and red text with the raised silver lines and silver text so there are only two colours on the metal label: silver (in place of red) and the black background.

Two: Is to frame the red lines and text with a thin raised metal border as I need the border to separate the black paint from the red paint.

In short my method can't have two colours touching without the intervening raised metal border or fence between them.

Bob: I'm attaching a sample of 1mm deep engraving on 4mm stainless steel. Brushed or polished stainless is usually limited in viewing angle because of the light reflections. This example is bead blasted to give a satin chrome-like finish you see on micrometers which gives a very durable finish with a very wide viewing angle and may be suitable for your mill.

Also I've decided to set a minimum charge of eight dollars so if you require tiny labels smaller than say credit card size I will do multiple copies to make up the eight dollars value.

Groggy · #11 27th Jul 2010, 10:12 PM

Mark,

I need 3 speed decals:

100mm high x 80mm wide, black on silver or vice-versa would be fine, in a similar layout to the pic shown in the post below.

I also need:

2 x "Woodfast Model 900" decals about 300mm long x 50mm wide, and
1 x "Woodfast Model 400" about 150mm long x 40mm wide.

All on aluminium would be good.

Graziano · #12 27th Jul 2010, 10:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Groggy

Mark,

I need 3 speed decals:

100mm high x 80mm wide, black on silver or vice-versa would be fine, in a similar layout to the pic shown in the post below.

I also need:

2 x "Woodfast Model 900" decals about 300mm long x 50mm wide, and
1 x "Woodfast Model 400" about 150mm long x 40mm wide.

All on aluminium would be good.

Ok Groggy, if you can private message me your email and we'll get things under way. Once I get some detailed pics I'll draft up the art work for you to take a look at.

Cheers,
Mark

WA Pete · #13 18th Aug 2010, 04:00 PM

Just to say I received my Steam Engine name plate yesterday from Mark and am very happy. Excellent work and very reasonable

http://www.woodworkforums.com/attach...ct-argus-1.jpg

munruben · #14 19th Aug 2010, 01:06 PM

That looks great.

WA Pete · #15 19th Aug 2010, 03:56 PM

Nameplate on base with engine