Recommendation? Laser Etching Machine

A small New Hermes engraving machine takes up very little room and can usually be found for under $200. They are about 18" X 18".
Type sets run $75-$100. You can make your own patterns if you have the skill. They are very versatile machines. You can use them for your maker's mark, for adding personalization, for tracing patterns to be cut out.
If you get one with the motor, it can't be used to rout metal, but you can use it to make name plates, etc.
 
A personalizer plus is maybe $250, add in $50 for a good supply of stencils and you'll have quite a good setup.
I just have a hard time seeing any laser that cheap being powerful enough... Unless they have started rating lasers like home stereos?
 
Do you mean it will mark but not etch, or are you claiming it won't mark either? I kinda figured marking was burning the ceremark into the metal, and etching was actually removing metal. Please correct me if I'm wrong on this.

Now that we know the cheap laser systems on ebay probably won't do what we need, how about the 3020 Micromills?
s-l1600.jpg
 
Correct- a CO2 laser will mark metal-but not permanently, and it requires a special paint to do so.
Etching requires depth. A CO2 won't do that. They will ablate the anodizing on aluminum, but will not cut harder metals.

The mini "mill" pictured does not have the rigidity to cut metal. A Sherline or Taig "real" mini mill will work, but the CNC versions are pretty expensive.

I don't own a laser engraver, but I have looked into them quite a bit. I do own 3 New Hermes pantographs.
Here are your engraving choices, in order of expense:
Job it out- cheap, but inconvenient.
Pantograph engraver- $200-$300 for basic machine an set of letters. (Used)
Used Gorton/Deckel/Etc. pantograph mill: $1000 plus lettering. Heavy, big, but very versatile if you know how to use it!
CNC mini mill: $3000
Fiber laser: $13,000 up.

If anyone is interested in the pantograph machines I'll be glad to "deal spot" some on Ebay- if that is allowed here. If you want to contact me directly, I can help you find one and help you learn how to use it.
 
^^^ That is the way we usually find out that we can do something that was previously thought impossible, like forge welding in a 2-brick mini forge.

Bill: I've got to question with your statement about the mini-mill not being rigid enough. Plenty of videos of them cutting steel, although maybe not as fast as a bigger mill. For simply cutting your logo before HT, it might be viable.
 
Cermark is a paint that the laser bakes on to the steel.
If you read the entire thread you will learn a few things.
 
On the 3020 CNC question - not sure about it, but I do expect it to be about the same as the 3040 CNC I've got. It works GREAT on steel pre-HT. Just doesn't do much post HT. There is also the learning curve of learning something about gcode to make the designs. Simple text isn't too hard. Here's an example. First step is to engrave metal pre-HT, then after knife is finished, fill with black, sand clean leaving black only in engraving. Looks good and lasts a LONG time. The engraving is usually .003" to .005" depth, depending on desire.

Ivory_Chef_s.jpg
 
You don't need somthing super ridged if your only using tiny endmills like say .0625 ball endmills. But thy are so delicate that you better not have much spindle runout and you need to spin thoes suckers as fast as you can. That's what I used to engrave titanimum tubes and it works great. Also tiny center drills are good engravers as well as mill drills. What rpm does that table top mill do?
 
I have never liked that type of engraving tool. Thy allways seam to rase a bur around the engraved lines; Where a mill cuts cleanly. 10,000 rpm is not bad, I have used them at 4K befor and man is it slow going.
 
@AKC: Thanks for the nice words on the engraving

JT, I'd not thought about a center drill before, but bet it would do good, especially for PCB milling. Now sure how well HSS would hold up milling steel vs the carbide bit..... but, we do use HSS for lathe tools and drilling steel all the time. I've not tried a ball end mill, that might work, but square point end mills I've had a hard time keeping them from breaking when they're as tiny as I wish for engraving.

The engraving bit I like best is one with 4 sides, rather than the one I linked to, but didn't find the one I wanted to show. They seem to hold up longer, and cut a bit cleaner. I know what you mean by the "blur" around the engraving, but usually a good sanding cleans that up pretty good.

Ken H>
 
I use carbide centerdrills. Unlike other carbide/hss tools, carbide centerdrills (Keo brand at least) seem to be ground with a higher rake, freer cutting geometry than the same size HSS. Still it's slow without high speed spindles, if you need to avoid raising a burr.

The biggest problem with centerdrills is part of the reason they work well durability wise, and that's the wide point angle. Your lines get wide really quick as you increase the depth of the engraving. All of my Form 1 stuff was engraved with a carbide centerdrill.
 
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