Present day offers a wide range of inscribing equipment for a variety of applications. Industrial use or a small workshop, fixed or portable, for various materials and industries. One of the applications requiring special approach from the inscribing equipment is circled and round parts.  In this article we will tell you about the peculiarities of round parts engraving and an electric dot peen marking machine that is designed specifically for this application.

Circled parts can present a challenge to a manufacturer. Etching tools that are not equipped with specific rotary fixtures will be of no use for round parts. Those parts may include bearings, fittings, tubes, flanges, metal bottles, etc. And yet these products are typically required to be identified. This means the manufacturer has to find the most optimal choice for their identification. So what solution is the best for this type of parts?

Dot Peen Marking Technology for Circled Parts

Let’s start with a technology. As the products in question are mainly metal and require no sophisticated graphics, dot peen technology is considered the most optimal choice. The marks are deep and clear, thus the information is easy to understand both for people and for automatic identification tools. The data imprinted will stay accurate and unchanged under the exposure to further processing, heat, environmental conditions and even time.

There are pneumatically and electrically-operated machines that you can choose from.  Pneumatic machines use compressed air to force the engraving pin into the material. For electric machines, the power supply is sufficient. The pin is driven by the electricity, no need for lots of cords and extra fuss.

Dot and Vibro Peen Marking

A strong pin to leave deep traces on the metal material is the basics of all peen engraving. Commonly, the characters and graphics provided by the technology are formed by a series of dots. Dotted letters, numbers, symbols, logos or matrix codes.

With the vibro peen machine type, the pin was made capable of engraving not only dots but also continuous line. Thus, the engravings look neater and more legible. And the graphics appear more attractive.

Why Does Circle Parts Marking Need Special Treatment?

One more feature of peening technology is that this is a contact type. For different applications it can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. With shaped parts, the job is more difficult. To equally distribute the force of the pin and ensure the quality result, the surface must be flat. For circled parts, the manufacturer can use a rotary fixture for the machine. This fixture helps to rotate the part at the speed of the pin. This way, the marks are as good as those on flat surfaces.

But sometimes even the rotary device can appear not enough. Or at least not any rotary device. Some systems are too small for large pipes, tubes or flanges. It’s simply impossible to place the part on the device’s desktop.

For parts like this, HeatSign developed a new electric dot peen marking machine with big rotary chuck and a flexible moving etching head. It allows the manufacturer to mark large circled parts quickly and easily.

What Can Be Marked with Electric Round Parts Marking Machine?

Most of the large circled parts are products that require identifying inscriptions. Manufacturer information and branding, functional information, serial numbers, batch numbers and other codes are usual and even necessary. Any other data containing letters, numbers, symbols or simple graphics is easy to engrave.

This electric solution can inscribe flanges, tubes, fittings and other rounded and conical metal products. All of these applications are strictly regulated by industry standards defining what information has to be engraved and on what terms.

Marking on Pipes

Pipes are expected to hold the information on both the pipe itself and the contents of it. The crucial information on the pipe aside from the manufacturer identifying imprints includes size, thickness, material, flow direction, etc. The secondary identification discloses the contents of the pipe, its color code and whether the contents are hazardous.

Marking on Flanges, Fittings

The standard designations include manufacturer’s data, nominal pipe size, material, batch number, pressure rating, etc.

Along with these typical size, material and other metrics, fittings may also be imprinted with melt designation or grade symbol. If there is not enough space on a part, some information is allowed to be omitted.

Marking on Bearings

The bearings manufacturing industry is used to a certain map of inscriptions. In those map to any designation mark a defined place on the bearing is given. Here the country of origin and date manufactured are also important.

Marking on Tubes

Tubes designation engrave position often in the field of general specifications on steel tubular products. However, more precise requirements may vary depending on application.

Marking on Metal Bottles

Metal (usually steel) bottles inscription is the least regulated of the list. In general, bottles may contain information on date, product codes or barcodes.

Why Is Heatsign’s Electric Dot Peen Machine the Best?

HeatSign’s electric dot peen solution with rotary chuck was developed specifically for large circled parts like tubes, bearings or flanges. Its flexible etching head allows inscribing products without the need to adjust the machine.

Some other advantages of this electric system include:

• This is a unique solution among dot peen marking machine suppliers
• Allows engraving on large rounded parts, tools, pipes, fittings, bearings, tubes, metal bottles, etc
• High quality imprints with dotted or straight line pattern
• In-built touch screen
• Electric device does not require an air compressor or computer
• Delicate to thin metal parts
• Long working hours
• Low power consumption

If you need to find out whether the solution fits your application, feel free to contact us. Finding the best solutions catering your needs is our primary goal!