Gallery, Projects and General > How do I??

Engraving aluminium question

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RobWilson:

--- Quote from: AdeV on November 16, 2015, 02:36:39 PM ---Hi Rob - I've seen a few places offering those "D" style engraving bits; are they reasonably strong at the sub-0.5mm size? As in, stronger than a typical PCB routing bit, for example?



--- End quote ---

Hi Ade , yip there fairly robust as Phil mentioned  , I was using them on MS and SS  so Ally should be no problem , the thing with small milling cutters is getting rid of the chips,more so with ally  , its not a real problem with a single lip cutter .

If your engraving is large ,knowing you it will be  :loco:  , may I suggest doing it sections ,just a thought .


Rob

AdeV:
It's not a massive engraving - fits within a 95mm x 40mm box - but to get the level of detail I need I do need to use a tiny cutter - 0.3mm tip is the biggest I can use so it cuts the entire area. I could possibly rough it with a 0.5mm then use the 0.3 to finish off, I'll have to see if CamBam supports doing that.

Depth just needs to be deep enough to hold paint & allow me to take a tiny skim cut at the end - 0.1mm should do it. Or, I could skim it first & then engrave & paint, I'd just need to be careful not to let paint stay on the top surface. I was originally thinking 1mm deep, but I could get away with 0.5mm or thereabouts. The end mill I was looking at would do 0.6mm DOC.

Phil - the reason for the ridiculous stick-out is because I'm engraving directly onto a cam cover, which has a big lump sticking up to cover the drive sprocket - right by the bit  I want to engrave. I only have a 100mm flat space between the sprocket cover & the start of the ribbing, so I need to get within 1/2" (or less) of the bit that sticks up... since the spindle on my mill is quite large (BT30), getting close means a long tool...

modeldozer:
Hi Ade.

Maybe one of these ER11 chucks,
http://www.ctctools.biz/er11-20mm-x-150mm-long-nose-shank-chuck-f66/
no afiliation, just a happy cutomer.

Abraham

philf:
Ade,

I can picture your problem now.

An ER11 Straight Shank Collet Chuck would give you the reach for not too much money.

http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogue/Collets/ER-Milling-Collet-Chucks-Straight-Shank

12mm Dia 150mm Long with only a 16mm nut diameter. Gets a bit more expensive if you haven't already got the ER11 collets. With a single lip engraving cutter you could set the cutting point to suit any runout - something you can't do with a spiral multi tooth end mill. (As you have already pointed out you would need to be within a midges.)

Have a look at http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10Pcs-3-175mm-10-20-Degree-0-1-0-3mm-Carbide-PCB-Engraving-Bits-CNC-Router-Tool-/371423014591?var=&hash=item567a896ebf:m:mul23ugmKRspv9PNAHQtCtw Cheap as chips.

As for setting the height I made a height setter for my CNC which seems very repeatable. The most simple of these is a piece of pcb sat on top of your work and the tool touching it makes a circuit. There's no give so you have to be very careful. Mine allows 2mm overtravel but breaks a circuit when the tool touches the top. I use a Mach3 routine which approaches it quite slowly until it sees an open circuit. It then backs off a little and approaches even more slowly.

Good luck.

Phil.

[Edit: I see Abraham has suggested something similar whilst I was typing.]

efrench:
Would etching be a better choice for this?

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