Settings for etching/engraving

[Dranos]

Hello,

I purchased some Bur-Lane material to see what was possible with my Shopbot but I cannot seem to get it to not cut through the material.

The material is the AwardMark series. It is just .020" thick with and engraving depth of .003".

I purchased the Onsrud 37-50 for this exercise. Can someone suggest an ideal setting?

Thanks.

[knight_toolworks]

man your talking tight tolerance. you would need a absolutely flat surface to put the material on. that would be the hardest part. you need a spring loaded drag bit for this job using spring pressure to control the depth.

[jimboy]

Adrian, If I am understanding your question correctly, you need to set your start depth and max depth to the same number. ie. 0.02, 0.02 for the example in the picture. Your entries might be 0.003, 0.003. Make sure your surface is perfectly flat and zero to several locations. My example the bike is set to 0.02 and in oak, but I see no reason it couldn't have been within your limits(0.003). You most likely need to go a little deeper than that I think. Maybe 0.006 or 0.008. Good Luck :)

[jimboy]

Here are the setting that produced the bike.

[Big-Tex]

If you need narrower bit try Whiteside SC-50

[widgetworks_unlimited]

The total cut depth should be .004 or deeper. You can use start depth 0 and flat depth .004

As Steve mentioned, it's going to be hard to get good results with a standard engraving cutter due to the tight depth tolerances. If you use a steeper angled cutter that will help hide variations in cut depth.

The easiest thing to do is to change to a small up cut/straight sided bit. You can get them in diameters < 1/32 if needed.

Vacuum with stops around the edges is about the only reliable method for hold down. 2-sided tape and or screws will all cause variations in the top surface height, which will show in your final engraving.

If you don't have a vacuum table... wait a few days and watch the forum. I have a new clamping solution that will be available by the end of the week.

[jimboy]

Here is an example of what I am talking about

[myxpykalix]

here is a glass etching video that might help you with depths and toolpaths. It is for a legacy cnc but i think there is good info there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8RY01M7BFQ&feature=player_embedded#!