9/4/2023 0 Comments Laser engraving peek plastic![]() ![]() We also grind two flutes into the cutters for additional productivity. That sounds like a tiny feature but it adds a lot of durability to our cutters. We grind a small radius on the tip of our engravers, between. When put together, these are low-productivity cutters that you need to be very careful with (luckily, they're cheap).Īs a comparison, we make a couple of dedicated engraving cutters, specifically for our Shapeoko and Nomad machines (though they work well on any CNC milling machine). Second, a flat-ground cutter only has a single cutting flute so each rotation can only cut one tiny chip. This flat-ground flute is great for creating a low-cost cutter, but it's not as great for performance.įirst, the tip of a cutter is the most delicate part and the sharper any corner is, the more delicate it is. The cheapest engraving cutters are ground to a sharp tip and have a large flat ground onto them to create a cutting flute. ![]() Engraving cuttersĮngraving cutters are very similar to V-bits but they're made of solid carbide and they're much smaller. We make a series of V-bit for CNC Routers, including our Shapeoko. Smaller angles create finer detail while larger angles create wider but shallower features. They're available in a range of tip angles to give your project the look you want. A V-bit is a pointed cutter, typically made of a steel core with carbide edges brazed onto it. ![]() The most common cutter for engraving on wood is a V-bit, and it's usually in a CNC router. ![]() Each has advantages, from performance to materials to cost. There are three common categories of cutters used in CNC engraving machines, V-cutters, engraving cutters, and ballmills. What cutters or bits do I need for engraving? Dull tools and slow cutting speeds can create friction which leads to melted blobs of plastic stuck on your engraving bit. In all plastics, it's important to use very sharp tools and dial in your speeds carefully. Softer plastics, like polyethylene and LDPE, will work but will require more care. While it's possible to engrave almost any plastic, you'll definitely have better luck with harder plastics, including: Engraving metalĪlmost all common metals can be engraved on a CNC machine, including:Įven if your CNC machine is not able to cut all the way through a block of metal, it's probably capable of engraving it because the cutting forces are a lot lower when engraving. You can engrave on any type of wood but you should plan to make the size of the engraving larger on softer woods to get enough detail. Because of that, you'll typically end up engraving wood deeper, and using larger bits, than you might use to engrave plastic or wood. Engraving woodĬompared to metals and plastics, wood is a soft material so it cannot hold a ton of detail. What materials can I engrave?Ī CNC engraving machine should have no problem cutting wood, plastics, or metal. So, what machines work well for engraving? Our Nomad Desktop CNC machine is perfect for engraving small items and our Shapeoko CNC Router works well for larger items and wood in particular. Otherwise, the depth of engraving will vary along the object, leading to a poor result. Engraving is typically very shallow so it's important for the machine to be setup so that the cutter moves as parallel to the object to be engraved as possible. The second thing you need is a fairly accurate and flat CNC machine. You can absolutely engrave with a lower RPM, but it's not going to be very efficient for high efficiency, you're going to need lots of RPM. It's important to have a high-speed spindle because most cutters used for engraving are very tiny, and tiny cutters need a lot of RPM to move through the material at a reasonable speed. There's not a clear definition of what that means but we'd say that anything over 12,000 RPM is "high-speed". Ideally, a CNC machine used for engraving would include a high-speed spindle. What CNC machines are used for engraving?Īlmost any CNC machine can be used as an engraving machine, whether that's a CNC Router or a desktop CNC machine, although there are a few features that can make a particular machine more suitable for engraving. In most cases engraving is decorative so it's more important to make the final part look good than to hit specific dimensions, which give you a lot of freedom to pick the machine and cutter that will be most productive for you. Engraving can also be used to add markers, measurements, or alignment points to mechanical items. Engraving is frequently used to add text for personalization or other information, like branding or serial numbers. Engraving is a shallow cut into your part to create fine detail. ![]()
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