[Tony Mac]

Below is the result of a design toolpathed using VCarve Wizard and engraved into brass on a Roland EGX 600.

The job is 50mm (2") diameter and was engraved using a 60 degree (included angle) cutter with a 0.2mm (0.008") Tip diameter. Spindle speed was 25,000 rpm and a feed rate of 2mm / sec (0.080" / sec).

The detail is 1.5mm (0.060") deep and this was engraved in multiple Z level passes of 0.25mm (0.010") per pass.

The material is free cutting brass and dosen't need any coolant or lubrication.

Engraving Video

(This may take a few moments to download)

Best Wishes to everyone for the New Year!

Tony Mac

[kram242]

That is really cool! Thanks for sharing it. Im close to getting a cnc machine built and post like these really keep me hyped to get it done.
Mark

[Mcgyver]

very nice, how long was the whole sequence?

[the_paco]

Nice part Tony!

Double side tape hold-down?... cutout first before engraving?...

[Tony Mac]

The job was engraved using the one cutter, so the stepovers had to be pretty small, and this took about 2 hours. I should really have used a larger tip diameter cutter to rough the job out then finish the detail with the 0.008" tip cutter. I guess the time could then be reduced to under 1 hour.

Well spotted Paco - Yes, I used double sided tape to hld the job down and it works really well. The main problem is actually getting the material off the table after machining, because it sticks so well!

Tony

[Jason Marsha]

Top video Tony! Keep them coming.


Jason

[dighsx]

Looks good Tony. Gives me some ideas for future projects.

[jdbaker]

Wow, this looks really great. Does anyone have a good source for some of that free cutting brass? I had never heard of that before but think it would be fun to use.

[automizer]

wow that is really cool thank you for the video. Hows that for a mess looks like you have brass all over the place, wouldn't having a coolent keep the dust and mess down to a min?

[rcazwillis]

Nice piece. Where do you get V bits such as the one in the video. I want to do some letters on a part I am making and am not having a lot of luck finding the cutters.

[Tony Mac]

Not sure if these suppliers may be any use,

http://www.2linc.com/engraving_tools.htm

http://www.bitsbits.net/index.php?ma...97ae10f0d328b5

http://www.gspinc.com/products/route...s_engrave.html


Tony

[rcazwillis]

The largest shank I see is 1/4". I have a HF mill with a MT2 taper. Is there a holder that will accept a 1/4" bit?

[AMCjeepCJ]

We use brillium, is that the free cutting brass you're talking about?? We use it for bushings in the bottling industry... It cuts like 7075 aluminum...

[johnhamm]

Tony,
I'm interested in this "cutting brass" that you mentioned. I want to make my own "Magic the Gathering" life counters. They are disks about 2.25" in diameter, and keep track of your life by using a second disk with a pointer that sits on top of the first.

Cutting brass sounds perfect for me - I have a wooden CNC router so I can't use coolant, but I would like to have the life counters made out of some kind of metal.

What special setup would I need to use the cutting brass? I was unable to find any more information on it - would I search using a special string?

Thanks for posting your video,
John

[Tony Mac]

Hi John,

Your idea sounds very interesting and I'm sure it will look good in Brass.

You will need to source Free Cutting Brass or Brillium as AMCjeepCJ mentioned, as these materials cut relatively easily and don't require any coolant. If you can find a company supplying brass to engineering companies / jewellers they should know how to source easy cutting brass.

You don't need any special setup but I would suggest calculating multiple z level toolpaths (around 0.010" z steps) to reduce the load on your machine.

Hope this helps,

Tony