Need help with material choice

Hi

Can someone please advise on the best material to cnc engrave small parts usually logos with 2x1mm letter words engraved to 2.5, 3mm deep ?


I am currently engraving acrylic with .1 and .2mm engraving and ball nose bits but very small details become very fragile and end up breaking so I really need to find an alternative

I have been reading about Epoxy and polyester resin boards for molding industry but I don't know which would be the best option as I'm not familiar with these materials.

Material also has to have some hardness similar to acrylic

Really grateful if someone can help me.

Thank you

Bruno

If you don't have to use any particular material for this, I'd suggest one of the polyurethane tooling boards, like Renshape or Butterboard. This material is available in a range of densities; you'd want the denser material if you want to hold maximum detail. It's a lot easier to cut than acrylic.

Hi Bruno - If material is not important then why not aluminium or brass? They engrave really well. But Renshape cuts easily you just pick the density for your application. Peter

Only requirement right now is that it has to be quite hard, aluminium is not really an option unless requested

I'm going to try the polyurethane boards, can you please advise on what density I should be looking for ?

Thank you both very much, really grateful

Hi Bruno - Getting small amounts of tooling board (or modelling board) is sometimes difficult. Any density will be OK but the denser ones will be less likely to chip. You will have to find a supplier. They tend to stock different densities depending on what industry they supply. If your in the USA Freeman Supply are good. Plus you can buy the ingredients and cast your own billet, sometimes a better way to go....Peter

https://www.freemansupply.com/produc...styling-boards

yes, I have been looking for suppliers but it's been hard to find them in Europe, where I live.

Found one but I'm still waiting for the quotation, apparently they only sell it in 1500x500x25mm boards, so I'm expectant on how much it'll cost

Do you know of any suppliers in Europe ?

Try Base Materials in UK, they have full range of polyurethane and epoxy tooling boards.

Home - Base Materials

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Originally Posted by drl1879

Try Base Materials in UK, they have full range of polyurethane and epoxy tooling boards.

Home - Base Materials

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Thank you, will have a look

I bought a board of POM and so far have been really impressed with it, only tried it on laser though with very satisfying results, this week I intend to try it on the cnc.

Although some 3D printers promise high accuracy, they sometimes fail. Both production methods have geometrical limitations. CNC, for example, can produce very thin walls, but 3D printing has friv limitations in this regard and the size of its terminal unit often determines its capabilities.