Type of Bit to engrave

1

I was asked if I could put a persons name on a name tag. It had a soldered attach pin on the back so I cut a hole in a piece of pine to set the pin into and clamped it on both sides. I tried various bits on a cheap piece of flooring and all came out good even with a 60 v bit. I tried the bit you can see in the picture and it seemed to melt the name tag. Any thoughts would be great. Thanks

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239313893_414801716656322_6902378934528164290_n (1)1504×2016 136 KB

2

Winston Moy’s drag engraving demo comes to mind Engraving Brass Dogtags with a Diamond Tip Drag Tool - #119 [CNC] - YouTube

I’m fairly certain it should work on plastics although I’m not sure what kind of material you’re working with there.

Cheers!

3

This works well for carving stuff like that. I use this one all the time.

2 Likes
4

Thanks, I tried that bit and it didn’t work. Maybe if I set it to multiple passes to get down to the white. Only had one chance to get it right. Thanks for your reply. Stay safe.

5

Hello Daniel,
I have worked with Lakeshore Carbide over the years and they have a great staff there that may be able to help you.
Although this engraving bit comes to mind(link below) I have not personally used it but it may be worth giving them a call(ask for Carl).

Hope this helps.

6

Thank, thats worth a try.

7

What were your settings as far as doc and feed rates? It should have cut the plastic and not melted it.

8

I think it was 3 on Makita and 50 feed 20 doc

9

50ipm is way slow and could be the source of the heat. Bits transfer heat into the cutting chips as it moves forward. If the feed speed is too slow then there are smaller chips and less heat is transferred from bit to chip so the bit heats up. I would recommend moving it to around 120 ipm and see if you get a cleaner cut. Plastic is a relatively soft material so you need higher speeds to shed heat away from the bit.

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I’ll keep that in mind, thanks. It was just a one shot deal on a name Tag that was really small. This piece was extremely hard. Dont have any material to try it on. I did have great success doing the same name on a composit flooring that you can’t even scratch. Thanks again…